Daily Discrimination Stories | category

Anonymous

October 5, 2023 / Race, Immigrant, At school/uni, Language

I was attending one of my courses at uni and the whole class got into a conversation about when it’s appropriate to speak Finnish or English to someone. One of my Finnish classmates said that if the person “looks like a foreigner, [she] will automatically speak English to them.”
I’m a first generation POC American with immigrant parents, so hearing this statement made my blood boil. I quickly responded, asking her ” Ok , but what does a foreigner looks like?”
After hearing her answer of “darker skin, dark hair, brown eyes…” I then made the example that our white Dutch classmate sitting in the room is also a foreigner and does not speak Finnish. “So how would [you] know whether to speak Finnish or English to him?”

I could see in her face that she was feeling shy and embarrassed to answer that, but I explained that foreigners have all different skin colors, hair colors, and eye colors and that even in the country I was born in, grew up in, and identify with culturally, people still assume I cannot speak my native English because I also look like a foreigner. I then suggested to her that if she speaks to someone, she should speak Finnish first because we are in Finland, regardless of what the person looks like. If the person does not understand and asks you to speak English to them, then switch to English.

Anonymous

September 29, 2023 / At work, In business, Immigrant, Language

I have been living in Finland since 2017. I found job just 4 months after my arrival and at first the boss told me to learn Finnish but he was really kind and open to speak in English. When my boss retired and a colleague became the new boss everything changed. After being in maternity leave, she was expecting me to speak like a native speaker or refused to talk to me saying things like “hey please, can you speak to her because she didn’t understand” or excluding me from conversation about projects in which I was directly involved! I told her about this disrespect attitude but I don’t know if this changed. It’s an international company but still the Finnish language is compulsory. Even if now I am able to use finnish at work, after many courses and efforts made by myself, she refuses to speak slowly or help if needed. I cannot even think to grow or have a career because of the language and this is not nice at all. I hope things will be different instead of being present in meetings where everyone says “we should find new people but please Finnish should be the first language”…. It’s really frustrating 🙁

Anonymous

September 29, 2023 / Race, At work, In business, Immigrant, Language

I (a brown skinned woman) was hired as a Service and UI/UX designer at a company in Helsinki. They paid well and the person who hired me was kind and valued my skills but left the company in my first month. When I was hired, I was promised that I could attend meetings with clients that have projects that involve UI in English or are from outside Finland. I got inducted into many projects and I helped with the UI of each of these. However, every time I asked to join a customer meeting or workshop that was going to be conducted in English, I was promised an invite which never came. Instead I would get silly excuses about technical errors. I was given instructions on what UI to make after these workshops from a Finnish colleague. Over time I realised that I was being used as a diversity hire who could do all the backend work but never be worthy enough to be customer facing.

anonymous

September 29, 2023 / Race, Immigrant, Near home, Language

In the very early 2000s, only a few weeks after I had moved to Finland, I was walking my dog in Punavuori in front of the Aleksanterin teatteri when an elderly woman clad in a full-length mink coat and mink hat stopped to fawn over my handsome and friendly companion. I awkwardly smiled and nodded, as one does when you have no idea what is being said or how to respond, given that I knew very little Finnish.

When she said something I knew was a question, I replied rather sheepishly that I didn’t understand Finnish. She immediately proceeded to spit on me and shout at me, which my Finnish spouse would later translate for me as being hateful of foreigners at a time when the non-Finnish population of Finland was roughly 2%.

It made an indelible impression on me of how Finns view foreigners and is largely why I never feel as though I’ll ever be accepted whilst living here, especially now with the current government, even though I’m white, highly educated, have learned the language, have mostly integrated, have a number of Finnish friends, and even love salmiakki. I looked around corners for her for years whenever I was walking my dog, both wanting to avoid her and also to confront her.

Anonymous

September 28, 2023 / At work, In business, Immigrant, Language

I have twice applied for new jobs advertised internally where I am employed. I have been passed over twice because of my “lack of Finnish language skills.” We are a large international company and our company language is English, Finnish is not required. The big boss didn’t want to hire me because it meant he would have to speak English and that made him uncomfortable.

I only stay where I am because even though I hate my job, I make good money and have flexible hours. I am not motivated to try and advance my “career” because I won’t ever be worthy enough in the eyes of my employer. Why bother?

I have decided to make my impact outside of my job, in which I have been incredibly successful. It makes me wonder why I waited so long.

anonymous

September 26, 2023 / Race, In public, Immigrant, Language

The other day I was biking with my friend in the city, ofc talking in English, a middle age Finnish women shouted at us: “Puhu Somea”. :))))

Anonymous

September 26, 2023 / Gender, At work, Immigrant, Age, Language

I, a 25 year old girl, was hired by Etteplan as an embedded software engineer. It is a consulting company. Knowledge of Finnish language was not required for this position. I was assigned to a project where there were only mid-age Finnish men. At our first daily meeting they hardly spoke English, and since I was someone who did not yet know the project and could not contribute to the discussion, they switched to Finnish at some point. At the next daily meeting they started speaking Finnish immediately. After that I complained to my team lead and he replied something like, “They are not used to speaking English.” At that point I checked the job description again to make sure that Finnish was not required. It wasn’t. I started looking for a new job less than a week after being employed there. I found a decent option after only two months and was more than happy to quit my probationary period in one day.

P.

September 25, 2023 / At work, Language

I was in the final stages of a recruitment process for which there was only me and one other person under consideration. The job was for an external role (meaning that it was outward-facing from Finland…dealing with those who are outside of Finland). The role did not specify a requirement for Finnish language because the people who this person would be working with did not speak Finnish. As one of the final two, and with a lot of experience in this type of role both in Finland and outside of Finland, I had great hopes. But when the answer came, it was a no. They decided to go with the Finnish candidate because they could speak Finnish (not a requirement for the role) “just in case someone wasn’t comfortable” inside the organisation. Looking back, maybe I should have appealed the decision, but I was just so disappointed.

Anonymous

September 23, 2023 / Immigrant, Language

As a newcomer to Finland, I was in need of income and was eager to work. I was open to trying positions I didn’t have prior experience in, and a position at a restaurant caught my eye. If I got the job, it would have meant that I would need to commute more than I really wanted to, but I wanted to give it a shot. So I called the number. I fumbled through my broken Finnish (and probably added some English too) to introduce myself, ask more about the position, and tell them that I was interested in the joining the team.

The reply I received is something I’ll never forget. A frustrated voice answered me, and without even asking more about who I am or even my work experience, said something along the lines of, “We want a *real* Finn to work here!” I’m pretty sure they used the words “aito suomalainen.”

I was not welcome there.