Finnish is spoken by approximately six million people worldwide, the vast majority of whom live in Finland, where it is the official language along with Swedish. A significant number of Finnish speakers also live in Sweden, North America and the Karelian region of Russia.

The modern Finnish language first began to appear during the 16^th Century in the writings and translation of the Lutheran Bishop Mikael Agricola. Finnish did not start down the road to gaining official status, however, until the 19^th Century when Finland was released from its six-century long rule by Sweden. Finnish finally reached an equal footing with Swedish in the early 20^th Century with the Finnish Constitution of 1919.

To learn more, please download the full eBook.