British professor takes on Finnish national myths

Professor David Kirby says Finnish is an easy language, and women are eager to prepare coffee

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By Annamari Sipilä in London
     
      Professor David Kirby speaks excellent Finnish.
      Best not to praise him much, though, and it's certainly not a good idea to wonder how a Brit has managed to master such a difficult language.
      "Finnish is fairly easy. The grammar has clear rules. It is much more difficult to learn Swedish", Kirby confides.
     
Kirby feels that the emphasis that Finns put on the difficulty of their language is typical for a small nation. There is a need to find something unique in the nation's existence and history to distinguish it from the others.
      Kirby knows what he is talking about. Before he retired from University College London, Professor Kirby was a researcher in Finnish history.
      His first contact with Finland was in the early 1960s as an English teacher.
      Kirby's recent book, A Concise History of Finland, is anything but the brief presentation that the name might suggest.
      "Finnish history has been quite fascinating", Kirby says. He refers to the historical proximity of the great crises - the Civil War, and the Winter and Continuation Wars - as well as the interaction with the large neighbour.
     
However, Kirby will not sign on to the favourite beliefs that Finns have of themselves. For instance, he does not see Finnish women as particularly emancipated.
      "Finnish women rarely take part in discussions as equal partners with men - not even in academia. Women have voluntarily taken on the role of preparing the coffee."
      Finns also lack the desire to lead.
      Kirby recalls how [former Social Democratic politician and Prime Minister] Kalevi Sorsa said in the early 1970s how he would have wanted to give up his work as Prime Minister and go back to study. The present Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, has also expressed public unhappiness at having ended up in his position.
      In Kirby's view, only former President Urho Kekkonen and SDP politician Väinö Tanner have had the real fire of leadership inside them.
     
This general reticence in the face of leadership positions may have been a blessing for Finland. Cautious leadership makes it easier to avoid making the wrong moves.
      "Finland seems to have always made the right decisions, although the Finnish Civil War might perhaps have been avoided", Kirby says.
      The Finnish style of politics lacks an aggressive nationalism. Even the longing for the ceded areas of Karelia exists only on the emotional level.
      However, Kirby believes that it will be a very long time before Finns will be able to have a normal attitude toward the Russians. This is partly due to history, and partly to Russia's present instability.
      "Finns have a tendency to exaggerate perils linked with Russia, such as crime and AIDS", Kirby claims.
     
Kirby learned his practical Finnish on a hay field in the Savo region, on the farm of the family of his Finnish wife at the time.
      He had actually met his wife earlier, on an English farm; his future spouse had travelled to Britain to learn the language.
      "Finland still feels like home. It is most enjoyable to talk with Finnish friends over coffee."
      However, Kirby maintains that he has yet to learn to understand "the Finnish soul".
      The lack of small talk in Finland was difficult to get used to. Finns also take offence at the strangest things.
     
Finland, and especially Helsinki, has changed a great deal in the past 40 years.
      Kirby's first impression of the Finnish capital was that of a grey city. The corpulent waitresses of large restaurants maintained strict discipline: "They were probably a distinct species of female."
      In a park a drunk threatened to beat Kirby because the British visitor had the audacity to sit on his bench.
      "Now everything is different. Of course Finland has its problems, but what country doesn't?"
      Kirby summarises the story of Finland and the plot of his book in a single sentence: "It is the story of a small European country which becomes a success story in spite of its difficulties."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 29.8.2006

More on this subject:
 Historian sees Finnish history as fluctuation between defiance and obedience

ANNAMARI SIPILÄ / Helsingin Sanomat
annamari.sipila@hs.fi