Editing Helsinki (section)

=== Language ===

{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|direction=row
|caption = Population by<br/>mother tongue (2024)<ref name="statistics-finland-population-2024-final"/>
|label1 = Finnish
|value1 = 74.1
|color1 = #002F6C
|label2 = Swedish
|value2 = 5.4
|color2 = #FFCD00
|label3 = Russian
|value3 = 3.1
|color3 = #D52B1E
|label4 = Somali
|value4 = 2.2
|color4 = #4189DD
|label5 = Arabic
|value5 = 1.6
|color5 = #165D31
|label6 = English
|value6 = 1.5
|color6 = #FFFFFF
|label7 = Estonian
|value7 = 1.4
|color7 = #0072CE
|label8 = Other
|value8 = 10.6
|color8 = #C5C5C5
}}
The city of Helsinki is officially [[bilingual]], with both [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] as official languages. {{As of|2024}}, the majority of the population, {{formatnum: {{Data Finland municipality/native language Finnish|Helsinki}}}} persons ({{Percentage|sigfig = 3|{{Data Finland municipality/native language Finnish|Helsinki}}|{{Data Finland municipality/native language total|Helsinki}}}}), spoke Finnish as their first language. The number of [[Swedish-speaking population of Finland|Swedish speakers]] was {{formatnum: {{Data Finland municipality/native language Swedish|Helsinki }}}} persons ({{Percentage|sigfig = 2|{{Data Finland municipality/native language Swedish|Helsinki}}|{{Data Finland municipality/native language total|Helsinki}}}}) of the population. 

In addition, the number of people who speak [[Sámi languages|Sámi]], Finland's third official language, was only {{formatnum: {{Data Finland municipality/native language Sami|Helsinki }}}} persons ({{Percentage|sigfig = 1|{{Data Finland municipality/native language Sami|Helsinki}}|{{Data Finland municipality/native language total|Helsinki}}}}) of the population. Although few people speak the Sámi languages as their mother tongue, there are 527 people of Sami origin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stat.fi/tietotrendit/blogit/2021/oulusta-on-tullut-suomen-suurin-saamelaiskyla/ |title=Oulusta tullut Suomen suurin saamelaiskylä – Helsinki on viides &#124; Tieto&trendit |language=fi|publisher=Stat.fi |date= |access-date=5 May 2022}}</ref> There are 93 Tatar speakers in Helsinki, almost half of the total number of Tatar speakers in Finland.

[[Helsinki slang]] is a regional dialect of the city. Historically, it was a combination of Finnish and Swedish, with influences from Russian and German. Nowadays it has a strong English influence. Today, however, Finnish is the common language of communication between Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers and speakers of other languages ([[New Finn]]s) in everyday public life between strangers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Immigrants Learning Swedish over Finnish Run into Problems|date=4 November 2010 |url=https://yle.fi/news/3-5664606}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Helsingfors blir allt mer flerspråkigt: "Svårt att klara sig på svenska"|url=https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-1316759}}</ref>

The city of Helsinki and the national authorities have specifically targeted Swedish speakers. Knowledge of Finnish is essential in business and is usually a basic requirement in the labour market.<ref name="yle.fi">{{cite web |title=Immigrants Learning Swedish over Finnish Run into Problems &#124; News &#124; YLE Uutiset |date=4 November 2010 |url=http://yle.fi/uutiset/immigrants_learning_swedish_over_finnish_run_into_problems/2114684 |access-date=16 September 2011 |publisher=yle.fi}}</ref> Swedish speakers are most concentrated in the southern parts of the city. The district with the most Swedish speakers is [[Ullanlinna|Ullanlinna/Ulrikasborg]] with 2,098 (19.6%), while [[Kyläsaari|Byholmen]] is the only district where Swedish is the majority language (at 82.8%). The number of Swedish speakers decreased every year until 2008, and has increased every year since then. Since 2007, the number of Swedish speakers has increased by 2,351.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hbl.fi/artikel/har-bor-de-svensksprakiga-i-helsingfors-se-hur-det-ser-ut-i-ditt-omrade/ |title=Här bor de svenskspråkiga i Helsingfors – Se hur det ser ut i ditt område |publisher=Hbl.fi |date= 20 May 2018|access-date=5 May 2022}}</ref> In 1890, Finnish speakers overtook Swedish speakers to become the majority of the city's population.<ref>{{cite web |title=Helsingin nimistön vaiheita |url=https://kaino.kotus.fi/www/verkkojulkaisut/julk125/helsinki/ |access-date=13 April 2010 |publisher=Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus}}</ref> At that time, the population of Helsinki was 61,530.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kysy.fi &#124; Helsingin kaupunginkirjasto |url=http://igs.kirjastot.fi/iGS/kysymykset/haku.aspx?word=Viipuri |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504201358/http://igs.kirjastot.fi/iGS/kysymykset/haku.aspx?word=Viipuri |archive-date=4 May 2012 |access-date=17 February 2014 |publisher=Igs.kirjastot.fi |language=fi}}</ref>

Foreign languages were spoken by {{Formatnum: {{pct|{{Data Finland municipality/native language other|Helsinki}}|{{Data Finland municipality/native language total|Helsinki}}|1}}}} of the population.<ref name="statistics-finland-population-2024-final"/> As [[English language|English]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon. At least 160 different languages are spoken in Helsinki. {{As of|2024}}, the most common foreign languages are [[Russian language|Russian]] (3.1%), [[Somali language|Somali]] (2.2%), [[Arabic]] (1.6%), [[English language|English]] (1.5%), [[Estonian language|Estonian]] (1.4%), [[Chinese language|Chinese]] (0.7%) and [[Persian language|Persian]] (0.7%).<ref name="statistics-finland-population-2024-final"/>