Script guide › Latin
Finnish vs Swedish
Finnish and Swedish sit in the same corner of the writing-system map — Grafle's Latin group — and players mix them up constantly. Here's the fastest way to tell them apart.
The tell
Both write ä and ö — but Finnish runs long and vowel-heavy with doubled vowels (aa, ää) and barely uses b, c or x; Swedish keeps words short, with å and tell-words like och.
Side by side
Finnish
Kaikki ihmiset syntyvät vapaina ja tasavertaisina.
Hyvää huomenta, kuinka voit?
Ei kukaan ole seppä syntyessään.
Finnish's own tells
- Long words full of doubled letters (kk, pp, ää) and lots of ä.
- Almost never uses b, c, f or x — and no õ (that's Estonian).
On signs in:
- Finland
Swedish
Alla människor är födda fria och lika i värde.
Hej! Trevligt att träffas — hur mår du?
Borta bra men hemma bäst.
Swedish's own tells
- Uses å, ä, ö. If you see ä and ö but never æ or ø, think Sweden.
- 'och' (and) is a quick Swedish tell.
On signs in:
- Sweden
- Finland