Finnish
Alternative name(s): Fins (nl), finska (sf)
Language family: Uralic
Language Group: Finnish-Ugrian
Geographical use: Finland, Sweden and parts of Russia
Information: In 1809 Finnish became the official language of Finland and the Republic of Karelia. It is closely related to Estonian, and to a lesser degree also to Lapp and Hungarian.
The first written sources date back to the 16th century,
when the New Testament was translated into Finnish.
Finnish is characterized by a harmonious vowel system. The vowels spoken
in front (ä, ö and y) can never occur in the same word
as vowels spoken in the back (a, o and u). Finnish has 15 cases.
