I interviewed my German friend Peter. He works as a software engineer in a consulting company in the capital region. He has lived in Finland for nearly ten years. He moved to Finland to be together with his Finnish partner. Integrating into Finland has not been so hard for him, as German culture is not so different from Finnish.
He finds the work environment quite similar in terms of work ethic and structure. He likes that Finnish people are on time and punctual in their work. The working language is English, so he didn’t need to learn Finnish for the job. He enjoys the greenery and nature that surround his hometown Espoo. Finnish culture is nature oriented, and Peter found it helpful when he first moved as he also likes to be outdoors.
Peter says that getting to know people and finding friends was difficult. He had friends through his partner, but it took several years before he found good friends of his own. He feels that Finns are quite reserved, and many people stick to friend groups they have formed during their school years.
Learning Finnish has taken many years and is still a work in progress. He knew some already when he moved, but because of busy work and family life he hasn’t had time to attend lessons and properly learn the language. Over the years he has managed to learn it well enough to get by in everyday situations and to read the newspapers. He thinks that learning the language at least on some level is important to really adapt and understand what is going on in the country.
Peter is from a similar culture, so his integration has been straightforward, but the key measures are probably similar wherever an immigrant comes from. Language is always important and helps the person to integrate. Work, study or some other productive activities are significant in integrating. Having a voice on the matters that affect you gives people a feeling of belonging. To help integration, there should be open discussion between immigrants and locals.