Language Ambassador Juho Rasa: “It's an advantage to speak Swedish, no matter what you do”

Rasa grew up in a Finnish-speaking family in Hämeenkyrö, a small municipality in Pirkanmaa. In lower secondary school, he wasn’t interested in the Swedish language or school in general. However, in upper secondary school, he developed an interest in both and realized the benefits of learning Swedish.

“I received top marks, laudatur, in Swedish in the matriculation exams. Many Finnish speakers who hear this automatically think that studying in Swedish might not be their thing. But that's not true at all. Your Swedish doesn't have to be perfect whatsoever to start studying in Swedish. It helps if you have a good base, but it's not a requirement.”

Rasa, who wanted to learn fluent Swedish, started studying economics at Hanken in autumn 2019.

“I'll be honest: the first six months were quite challenging because it took a while to learn the language but after that I felt almost reborn. The reason was that I decided to start speaking Swedish without caring if I say the wrong thing. After that I made great progress with the language. People don't care, they understand the most important things. Dare to make mistakes!”

Languages opens doors

Rasa has already had many concrete benefits from knowing Swedish. For example, during his internships in Stockholm, Germany and France.

“When you know Swedish, it is also easier to learn other languages. I have benefited enormously from knowing Swedish when I studied German at Hanken. I got my internship in France because it was a German company that wanted to expand to the Nordic countries. If you know Swedish or any language, you have more opportunities wherever you are in the world.”

Rasa points out that many other subjects besides economics can be studied in Swedish in Finland, such as law and psychology.
 
“My message to all Finnish speakers is: if you want to challenge yourself and try something new, choose a Swedish-language school. You will thank yourself. I have already done so many times.”

According to Rasa, the best thing about Hanken is that the school is international with an open environment. He particularly emphasises the compulsory exchange or internship abroad.

Visited over 200 Swedish lessons

Rasa considers the language issue so important that he chose to become a language ambassador in 2021. The Language Ambassadors (Kielilähettiläät) is an organisation whose main goal is to encourage Finnish students to learn Swedish. Rasa, who is the organisation's most active ambassador, has so far visited over 200 Swedish lessons around the country. He says that the reception in schools has been very positive and that it is easier to get the audience's attention when he himself comes from a completely Finnish culture.

“I have been as far north as Kajaani. Of course, it can be more difficult to convince students in schools in eastern or northern Finland to learn Swedish. During all my visits, I tell the students that even though I don’t know what they will do in the future, I am certain that knowing Swedish will be an advantage for them, regardless of what they will work with in the future.”

Text: Jessica Gustafsson
Photo: Gustaf Hafström
 

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