Your impression of Finland and Finnish men as a UK woman?

[CantankerousCrab]

What is your impression of Finland and Finnish men as a UK woman (compared to UK men)? Has someone in your family/social circle either befriended or married a Finn and how did that turn out? I suppose Finnish Millenials (and largely continental European Millenials) are capable of conversing at a near-fluent level due to the prevalance and influence of Anglosphere media.

I've been listening to this nearly every day since Eurovision. It's a great energy booster

Used to be, it went all downhill.

This is a gloriously niche thread and I am HERE for it 😂

Um. They’re blond, like saunas, sell peas by the side of the road… I’m out 😁

Really? That's a shame.

I heard somewhere that the Finnish education system became good when it was quite trad - then it became very easy-going - and that the apparent good results that were thought to be because of that were really an overhang from earlier trad times. But I can't remember where I read that.

Two friends moved to Finland for work. They both married Finns, had kids and stayed there. Language is very hard unless you're linguistically able and motivated. The winter is very hard, and gets harder the older you get.

I think Klare, from Fleabag

Klare and Claire show the U.K.-Finnish thing can be a dream 💕

Ha ha, nice try OP - there's no such place 😋😜

Not to stereotype but I think a lot of finnish men are into nature, outdoorsy, like rock music and are well educated.

I know the Finnish education system is supposed to be the best in the world.

That's it, that's all I've got.

My first thought was AI. Something about the way the post is written

Very good looking.

Never given it great thought, but I think you're wrong about Finnish command of English.

The phonemes are presumably very different from in IE languages because in contrast to Scandinavian, Dutch and, to some extent German, second-language speakers, who speak not only with native fluency but also near-native accents, many Finns speak good English but have very distinctive and harsh accents which makes them quite trying to listen to.

The company I worked for was bought out by a Finnish company, the majority of the men were like Joseph Stalin, serious, bland, humourless and a bit like communists. The women were great and fitted in much better.

Big drinkers, sauna, very deadpan, good English, outdoorsy

This is so niche 🤣 🇫🇮

I'm Finnish although have lived in the UK longer than I lived in Finland.

I miss how clean everything was, including the fresh air and nature. The school system was very relaxed back in my day at least, some of our teachers were more like friends. I lived in a big city but it still felt a bit like living in a village where everyone knows your parents...

I met a Finnish bloke in 1996 or so. (He was 19 ish?) He was a bit square and smug but mostly inoffensive.

I don't think I've ever met a Finnish man in person and don't really have an opinion on the Finns. I did see Lordi a few weeks back 😁, they were great.

'Batshit but lovely' is the best way to describe all the Finns I've met and been friends with.

But batshit is probably how I'd describe all my friends and this may not be a reflection on Finnish people!

I worked for the London office of very large Finnish company for 6 years so worked with a few Finn's including a former Finnish MP and visited head office in Helsinki twice
They worked hard but seemed to lack multitasking. Very good inn their own narrow field but as soon as their was something out of the ordinary they couldn't cope. I had to make sure the printer was full on a Friday in case someone came in at the weekend as they couldn't change the paper (back when it was green stripy computer paper )
Some were lovely and some not so nice.

The only Finnish men I have met were soldiers in a European conflict late 1990's. Very intense. Very. Focused. Pale blue eyes. You wanted them on your side. Very serious.

The one Finnish man I knew smoked like a chimney and smelt of dogs (think he had 4.)

I met a few Finns on a visit there. I found them very friendly and with a similar sense of humour. I bet a very charming handsome Finnish chap too.

In my very limited experience:

They tend to speak good English, which is a relief, as Finnish is pretty impenetrable to visitors. However, they often drop the ‘n’s from the end of English numbers, e.g. they might pronounce 15 as 50. Strangely, the Dutch do the same thing.

They like to go on booze cruises to Estonia and sing merrily on the ferry home.

As a nation they are excellent at weightlifting/Strongman.

My mum is Finnish but I'm not that connected to the country, I haven't been for about 10 years.

Agree with the reserve / introversion which I've inherited. Also
Finns tend to be big drinkers and love nature - it's such a beautiful country. The language is indeed extraordinarily difficult.

What they said.