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The Finnish Broadcasting Company airs news in Latin, and apparently host a Latin website with news from Finland and abroad.



So what is it with Latin in Finland? In my family we have the oddest story concerning this: back when my mother was a kid, sometime in the 1950s, my grandfather, who was a schoolteacher and therefore taught Latin to his students, found a youngish student-type foreigner wandering around the streets in Madrid, completely lost, slightly agitated, and unable to communicate in Spanish, or French, of which my grandpa had a smattering. My grandfather was concerned about this young man's situation and took him home nearby, so that the guy could have some food, some rest, and hopefully they could work out where he was meant to be going.

Over lunch, although no one at the house could speak anything much other than Spanish, they all managed to communicate with signs, and when they showed the man an atlas he pointed out Finland as his country. In the process of trying to find out more about him my grandpa had the lightbulb idea to try some Latin words, and voilá! The Finn could understand it and speak back! Before my maternal family's astounded eyes, my grandpa and this foreigner launched into this weird Latin conversation, which well-declensed or not, allowed them to establish that the man was trying to make his way to Andalucía, to see Córdoba and Granada. The rest of the story is kind of shrouded in the mists of time, but apparently they managed to put him on a train for his destination eventually, my grandpa happily going clackety-clack in Latin all the time.

Random story, I know, but this is how my family learnt that Finns learn a lot of Latin, and that my grandfather could do much more than just teach it!