Language and dialect

Åland is a monolingual Swedish-speaking area, unlike the rest of Finland which is bilingual. In practice many people speak Finnish, but not everyone by a long way. However, most people, in fact nearly all of them, speak English.  

Written communications and other material, such as what government authorities send to Åland, have to be in Swedish. Instruction in all schools that receive public funding is in Swedish. 

The Ålander dialect

It is often thought that people speak Finland-Swedish in Åland, but the fact is that the dialect is actually closer to what is spoken in Uppland. The Ålanders themselves don't usually characterise their dialect as Finland-Swedish. It is interesting that Åland's international contacts have had an effect on the language spoken on the islands; even English has had an influence. 

A typical Ålander expression is: Vemses flicka/pojke är du då? (whose daughter/son are you then?), implying that in a small community chances are that the person will know the child's parents.