Young Finns snub their mother tongue by reading in English

"Growing numbers of young people in Finland are buying books in English rather than in their mother tongue, raising fears among publishers over the future of translated literature. One in four titles sold in Finnish bookshops last year were written in a foreign language, according to figures from the country's association of booksellers. In the vast majority of cases, that language was English."

"Young readers do not want to wait for a Finnish translation to come out to take part in the BookTok conversation. Instead, they are simply buying the English-language version. As is the case in neighbouring Sweden, the dominance of English across the internet, social media, film and TV also means it is seen as aspirational for young people to be seen to speak and read in English."

"With a population of only 5.6 million, translated fiction has been a vital part of the Finnish publishing industry. Finnish language titles brought in just 26m (23m) of the 57m generated by all fiction book sales across digital and print last year. Among the most popular English language titles were works by the US authors Rebecca Yarros and Colleen Hoover."

Growing numbers of young people in Finland are buying books in English rather than in Finnish, reducing demand for translated literature. One in four titles sold in Finnish bookshops last year were written in a foreign language, mostly English. BookTok, a reading community on TikTok, and the dominance of English across internet, social media, film and TV drive immediate demand and aspirational English reading among youth. Young readers often purchase English editions rather than wait for Finnish translations, complicating publishers' decisions to invest in translation rights and scheduling. Finnish-language fiction generated 26m of the 57m in fiction sales last year, making translated fiction vital to the market.

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