In the light of current research, people learn new things throughout their lives. You can practice your language skills like any other skill. It is also known that language skills develop well in everyday interaction.

The City of Helsinki has many work communities where multilingualism is commonplace and Finnish or Swedish is learned alongside and through work. Developing a professional language at work is a meaningful and effective way to learn. When the work community supports the language learner, the development of language skills is smooth. The City of Helsinki wants to support employees’ language learning.

The Kivelä Senior Centre has several work communities where this can be seen in practice. Sufyan Al-Gburi from Iraq works as a care assistant. Jay-Ar Alimbuyao, in turn, was recruited from the Philippines in December 2023 for the training path of a nurse who would qualify for Finland and the Kivelä Senior Centre.

In addition to professional skills, health care and social welfare professionals must have sufficient oral and written language skills required for the tasks they perform . The training path of a qualifying nurse developed in Helsinki appreciates a degree completed abroad and utilises the competence of the qualified nurse. The path speeds up the nurse’s ending up in their own profession in Finland. Supplementary training emphasises studying Finnish alongside tailored work tasks.

Sufyan first lived in Lieksa for eight years and during that time completed the qualifications of a care assistant. Sufyan started working as a care assistant in Kivelä last August after moving to Helsinki. Sufyan studied Finnish for four years while living in Lieksa. Now Sufyan no longer attends Finnish language courses, but learns more in everyday life and at work.

“Learning a language is more difficult at school, and I learn best when talking to people. In Helsinki, I noticed that there are also differences in the Finnish language, so that the word ’selevä’ was used in Lieksa, unlike here,” says Sufyan.

In addition to work, Jay-Ar’s training path for a qualified nurse also includes school days in Metropolia. Jay-Ar studies Finnish at school and says that she also learns Finnish through television and films, for example.

“Especially at first, it was difficult to understand what the client, for example, was saying, but my colleagues helped by repeating or explaining things in different words, and I gradually began to understand more. One of my colleagues also speaks Tagalog, which is nice. This also gives me support in learning Finnish words,”Jay-Ar says.

Through the school, Jay-Ar has also received a Finnish-Swedish-English workbook containing nursing phrases. Such booklets are used in different work units in Kivelä.

Ensuring common understanding 

“Our unit is quite multicultural. We have received employees from Sri Lanka, Kosovo, Russia, Estonia and Thailand, among others. However, we speak Finnish together in the unit. English is only used as an auxiliary language when necessary,” says Jay-Ar’s supervisor, head nurse Sari Harakka.

“Sometimes people from two different language backgrounds may find it difficult to understand each other, and there may be misunderstandings, or a word is not familiar to both. Then third party interpretation can help, “ Sari describes.

Johanna Karlsson started working in Kivelä last summer as the head nurse of the Swedish-speaking unit. Linguistic and cultural diversity also shows in her unit.

“We have received employees from at least Kenya and the Philippines. Of course, learning two languages, Finnish and Swedish, alongside work brings an additional challenge in our unit. We also use the Finnish-Swedish-English phrase book on nursing, “ Johanna says.

“It is great to follow the improvement of language skills. Our employee from Kenya has learned Finnish very well. They just graduated as a nursing assistant, got a permanent position from us and next they will start learning Swedish as well,” Johanna praises.

The development of professional language is supported in Kivelä especially verbally: speaking clearly and still ensuring common understanding by asking, for example “How did you understand this?”.

“We advise employees about holidays and sick leaves in detail and show them what they should click on in the system. We may also switch to English to make understanding easier, “ says Sari Harakka.

Multilingualism benefits client work 

Multilingualism and culture can also be surprisingly useful in client work. The whole of Helsinki is becoming more and more culturally diverse, and so is the client base of the Kivelä Senior Centre.

Sufyan tells about a colleague who works in the same unit, who is originally from Egypt, but has lived in Russia for almost 15 years.

“We had a client who spoke Russian and only poor Finnish, so my colleague was able to talk to them. Another client came from Iraq and did not very much speak other languages, so I was able to communicate with them, ” says Sufyan.

“Clients’ cultural differences come up in many situations. Among others, preparing a deceased person for leaving the centre is a very different process in different cultures, and it is a sensitive and important matter to take into account. In addition, cultural backgrounds have an impact on everyday life, such as diets or other everyday choices. Even from that point of view, it can help if there are employees from different cultures, so we can better understand these differences and take them into account,” Johanna Karlsson says.

Sari Harakka feels that the City of Helsinki has begun to pay more and more attention to the management of multilingual and multicultural work communities.

“Various materials are available, and among others, the action plan of the Senior Centre has been translated into English. It is also possible for employees to participate in Finnish language courses in spring and autumn,” Sari says.

Tips for learning a language and leading a multilingual work community 

Jay-Ar’s tips for learning Finnish: 

• Watch TV with Finnish subtitles.
• Read picture books.
• Remember to practice, also at home with the family.

Sufya’s tips for students of Finnish: 

• Do not hesitate to talk to people, even though Finns are shy.
• You cannot learn a language from a book alone.
• Do not think that learning is too difficult. Learn with an open mind.

Sari’s and Johanna’s tips for leading multilingual work communities: 

• Involve everyone in the work community by ensuring that they have the opportunity to participate in joint meetings and express their opinion on common issues.
• Organise common activities for the work community.
• Understand and accept that people may become tired of learning a new language. Working in a foreign language in everyday life is really hard and requires more resources than working in your mother tongue.
• Also, make sure to have one-on-one moments, and check whether the person needs support or help in some issue.
• Be easy to approach and tell it directly to the employees. In some cultures, the supervisor cannot be spoken to as directly as in Finland.
• Remind the rest of the work community to advise and show how things are done so that misunderstandings do not arise.

Meri Koskinen, Tanja Namrood and Outi Paasonen.

The authors work in the HR department of the City of Helsinki. The City of Helsinki wants to be an attractive employer for everyone. Our goal is to ensure that people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds find it easy to come to and work for the City of Helsinki.

In the picture from left to right: Jay-Ar Alimbuyao, Sari Harakka, Sufyan Al-Gburi, Johanna Karlsson. Photo by Meri Koskinen.