The significance of the Russian language in Finland

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to study the present significance of the Russian language for Finnish entrepreneurs who do business with Russia. During the past several years these two countries are trying to cooperate with each other in different ways that allows them to build mutually advantageous economic relations. Today, business between Finland and Russia is growing very fast. Entrepreneurs from both countries are willing to work together and launch different projects in development and innovation. Russia is the closest fast-growing international market in relation to Finland and it offers many investment opportunities for Finnish entrepreneurs. Also, Russian tourists are visiting Finland quite often and this factor positively influences the Finnish economy. However, the objective was to analyze whether services in the Russian language in Finland would attract more Russian tourists or whether this does not matter.

The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part consists of the theoretical background of this study which is based on the literature that has been reviewed by the author and observes mainly relations between Finland and Russia in both economic and business fields, statistical data about Russian tourists in Finland and the role of language and communications in international business.

The second part contains quantitative and qualitative research that has been conducted among Finnish entrepreneurs learning Russian and Russian tourists who are visiting Finland.

At the end of the thesis the findings of the study are presented along with the author’s opinion and suggestions on how to improve services oriented to Russian customers in Finland.