COMMON MANNERS
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RELIGION
Most Finns belong formally to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church (about 83%), while 1.1% belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church; but people in general are fairly secular in their views. Despite this, the Church and its ministers are held in high esteem, and personal religious views are respected.
Meeting new people
Social customs of Finland are similar of the European people. However, there are some variations that we should take into a count:
PUNTUALITY
1. Puntuality is one of the most important things for Finnish, so they always be on time especially when they meeting someone new, because they want to make a good first impression.
HANDSHAKE AND EYE CONTACT
2. The handshake and eye contact is the normal form of greeting.
AT HOME
3. Finnish could ask people to remove their shoes If they invite their to her/his home because most of the houses usually have carpeted or parquet and as in Finland snow and rain, Finnish have this costume in order to keep the house clean. So, if people don't do that it could be a lack of respect.
LENGUAGES
The Finn's mother tongue is Finnish, Swedish (5.6% of the population are Swedish speakers) or Saami (some 8,000 native speakers). Finns take care of their linguistic communication by maintaining a wide range of foreign languages in the school curriculum.
English is widely spoken in Finland and in the business community some companies use it as their house language. German is no longer widely taught but many Finns in their 50s or older learned it as their first foreign language at school. French, Spanish and Russian have grown in popularity both in schools and among adult learners.
INTRODUCING THEMSELVES
Finns will say their forename followed by their surname. Women who use both their maiden name and their husband's surname will state them in that order. Although Finns are conscious and proud of any official titles they may have, they rarely mention these when introducing themselves.
GENDER
There is a high degree of equality between the sexes in Finland, as can be seen in the relatively high number of women holding advanced positions in politics, women in academic posts, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland accepts the ordination of women, and there are women priests in numerous parishes.
