If you find yourself with a document that needs translation into Finnish, you may want to pause to think before cutting corners. Finnish has a reputation as one of the most difficult languages in the world, and this is exactly why you should leave translation to the professionals.
Whether it’s a website, a presentation, an official document or a paper for your studies, there are multiple reasons it’s vital to hire a professional Finnish translation service for your work.
1. Finnish differs from almost every other language.
The Finnish language belongs to the small family of Finno-Ugric languages, which also includes Estonian and Hungarian as well as a few rare variations spoken among minorities like the Sami people of Lapland.
This niche group of languages has many major differences compared to the Indo-European languages, which include Germanic and Scandinavian languages and English. Translation tools such as Google Translate may work fine for languages with similar grammar, but you’re sure to run into trouble when using them for Finnish!
2. Finnish grammar is not for the fainthearted.
The difference between Finnish and English is evident at first glance: Finnish has significantly fewer words, but they can be long and quite intimidating! This stems from the fact that Finnish combines prepositions, auxiliary verbs and other grammatical elements into one word rather than separating them. As an example: a simple verb such as nukkua (to sleep) can be changed to nukkuisimmekohan (I wonder if we were to sleep) — all that crammed into one word!
3. Even if you do speak Finnish, there are tons of rules to follow.
Even a native Finnish speaker might not always be able to create a text that is grammatically correct in the way a professional Finnish translation service could. Many Finns have been influenced by the way they see English text written and have long since forgotten what they learned at school about correct punctuation and grammar. For example, a Finn might write “one thousand” as 1000 or 1,000 — but the correct way of writing the number in Finnish is 1 000. This may seem trivial, but it can make a huge difference in how professional your text appears.
4. Localization is key.
A professional Finnish translation service will guarantee that the small nuances, cultural references and tone of the text aren’t lost and the message isn’t misunderstood. You want the Finnish audience to understand, absorb and enjoy your message, and this can only be achieved when the translation is done by someone who understands Finnish language and culture well.
Looking for a Finnish translation service?
Our professional team of native Finnish translators has extensive knowledge of the language and its grammar and localization. We’d be delighted to provide the expert translation you need!