Finnish Help Center Translation: Complete Guide for Support Teams

Finland punches above its weight in tech. Home to Nokia, Linux, Supercell, and thousands of innovative SaaS companies, this Nordic nation has one of the world's most digitally advanced populations.

But Finnish is unlike any language you've translated to before. It's not Germanic, not Romance, not Slavic. Finnish belongs to the Finno-Ugric family, sharing roots with Estonian and Hungarian. This means translation approaches that work for other European languages will fail spectacularly with Finnish.

This guide covers everything you need to translate your help center to Finnish effectively.

Why Finnish Translation Matters

Finland by the numbers:

• Population: 5.5 million (small but wealthy)
• GDP per capita: $53,000 (8th highest globally)
• Internet penetration: 93%
• Smartphone penetration: 85%
• English proficiency: 70%+ (one of Europe's highest)

Despite excellent English skills, Finnish customers prefer native language for complex interactions. A 2023 study found that 65% of Finnish B2B buyers prefer product documentation in Finnish when making purchasing decisions.

For SaaS companies, Finland offers:

• High purchasing power
• Tech-savvy early adopters
• Gateway to Nordic expansion (similar values across Nordics)
• Quality over price sensitivity

Finnish: A Unique Challenge

Finnish differs fundamentally from English and other European languages:

Agglutinative Grammar

Finnish builds complex meanings by adding suffixes to root words. One Finnish word often equals 3-4 English words:

Finnish	English
talo	house
talossa	in the house
talossani	in my house
talossanikaan	not even in my house

This affects everything from character counts to layout design.

15 Grammatical Cases

Where English uses prepositions, Finnish uses case endings:

• Nominative: talo (house - subject)
• Genitive: talon (of the house)
• Partitive: taloa (some of the house)
• Inessive: talossa (in the house)
• Elative: talosta (from inside the house)
• Illative: taloon (into the house) ...and 9 more.

Machine translation frequently gets these wrong, producing grammatically incorrect Finnish that native speakers find jarring.

No Articles or Gender

Finnish has no "the" or "a/an." No masculine or feminine nouns. This simplifies some aspects but means direct translation from English adds unnecessary words.

❌ "The customer can find the article in the help center" ✅ "Asiakas löytää artikkelin ohjekeskuksesta"

(Literally: "Customer finds article help-center-from")

The Formal vs. Informal Decision

Sinä (Informal)

Modern Finnish business communication uses informal "sinä" (you) almost universally:

• Tech companies
• Startups
• Consumer products
• Most B2B SaaS

Example:

"Miten voimme auttaa sinua?" (How can we help you?)

Te (Formal)

Formal "Te" is reserved for:

• Government services
• Healthcare and elderly care
• Very traditional industries
• Addressing groups

Example:

"Miten voimme auttaa Teitä?" (How can we help you? - formal)

Recommendation for SaaS

Use sinä. Finnish business culture is egalitarian. Even CEOs address employees informally. Using formal Te in a modern SaaS context sounds stiff and outdated.

However, maintain respectful tone. Informal doesn't mean casual or sloppy.

Finnish Text Behavior

Unlike most languages, Finnish often produces shorter text than English:

Content Type	Typical Change
UI strings	-5% to +5%
Technical docs	-10% to +10%
Marketing copy	-15% to 0%

But here's the catch: individual words can be very long.

English: "I wonder if I should even be at your house" Finnish: "Talossasikokaan" (one word, meaning approximately the same)

This creates layout challenges: tight spaces work fine on average, but individual words may overflow.

Layout Implications

• Allow flexible word wrapping
• Test with longest possible Finnish words
• Buttons need dynamic sizing
• Avoid character limits on input fields

Four Translation Approaches

1. Machine Translation Only

Cost: Free to ~$20/month Quality: Poor for Finnish Best for: Internal understanding only

Finnish grammar defeats most machine translation. Google Translate and even DeepL struggle with case endings. The output is understandable but noticeably non-native.

2. DIY with Finnish Team Members

Cost: Staff time Quality: Usually good Best for: Companies with native Finnish speakers on staff

If you have Finnish employees, they can produce quality translations. However, ensure they have writing skills, not just speaking fluency.

3. Professional Translation Agencies

Cost: $0.15–0.30 per word Quality: High Best for: Initial translation of large content volumes

Finnish translators are well-trained and accessible. Expect to pay 20-50% premium over common European languages due to the specialized skill required.

A 50-article help center at 800 words/article = 40,000 words = $6,000–12,000 for initial translation.

4. Hybrid: AI Translation with Human Review

Cost: $348–600/year Quality: Near-native with thorough review Best for: Ongoing translation with regular updates

For Finnish specifically, AI translation requires more human review than other languages. Plan for 15-20 minutes review time per article versus 5-10 minutes for German or French.

Finnish Localization Checklist

Before translating:

• Choose sinä (likely) vs. Te - document in style guide
• Create terminology glossary - especially technical terms
• Identify loanwords - many tech terms stay English (software, email, app)
• Review layouts - test with long Finnish compound words

During translation:

• Verify case endings - critical for natural-sounding Finnish
• Check compound words - Finnish creates compounds differently than English
• Test layouts - especially buttons and navigation
• Native speaker review - essential for Finnish

After translation:

• QA on actual devices - desktop and mobile
• Monitor feedback - Finns will notice grammatical errors
• Plan for updates - new content needs the same rigorous process

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Trusting Machine Translation

Finnish machine translation is notably worse than other European languages. Always have native review.

❌ Machine: "Tuki tiketit" (Support tickets - grammatically broken) ✅ Human: "Tukipyynnöt" (Support requests - natural Finnish)

2. Assuming Finns Don't Need Finnish

The "everyone speaks English" myth. While true for basic communication, complex technical content benefits from native language.

3. Using Swedish for Finland

Swedish is an official language in Finland (5% native speakers), but Finnish speakers don't read Swedish. These are completely separate markets.

4. Ignoring Finnish Keyboard Layout

Finnish keyboards include ä and ö. Ensure your interface handles these properly, especially in:

• Search functionality
• User input fields
• URLs and slugs

5. Direct Translation of Idioms

English idioms don't translate. Rewrite for Finnish readers.

❌ "Hit the ground running" ✅ "Pääset heti vauhtiin" (You'll get up to speed immediately)

Finnish SEO Considerations

Research Finnish search terms:

• "Ohjekeskus" (help center)
• "Tukiartikkelit" (support articles)
• "Asiakaspalvelu" (customer service)
• "Opas" (guide)
• "Ohje" (instruction/help)

Finnish SEO benefits from:

• Lower competition than English
• Specific long-tail opportunities
• Local search preference on Google.fi

Step-by-Step Implementation

Week 1: Preparation

1. Decide sinä vs. Te (likely sinä)
2. Create Finnish style guide
3. Build terminology glossary
4. Identify English loanwords that stay unchanged

Week 2: Translation

1. Translate highest-traffic articles first (top 10–20)
2. Native speaker review is mandatory
3. Test layouts with long compound words
4. Verify all case endings

Week 3: Launch & Expand

1. Publish initial translated content
2. Set up language detection for Finnish users
3. Translate remaining content in priority order
4. Create process for ongoing new content

Week 4+: Maintenance

1. Translate new articles as they're published
2. Native review for every update
3. Monitor Finnish user feedback
4. Refine glossary based on learnings

Measuring Success

Track these metrics after launching Finnish help center:

Quality metrics:

• Native speaker review scores
• Customer complaints about language quality
• Time spent on articles (engagement)

Usage metrics:

• Finnish user engagement
• Language preference settings
• Self-service resolution rate

Business metrics:

• Finland market expansion
• Finnish customer satisfaction scores
• Sales conversion in Finland

How TranslateDesk Helps

Since Intercom doesn't include native translation, TranslateDesk fills the gap for Finnish help center translation:

• AI translation with review workflow - essential for Finnish quality
• Terminology management - maintain consistent technical terms
• One-click publishing - push translations directly to Intercom
• Change detection - know when source articles update
• Layout preview - see how Finnish text fits before publishing

Start with a 5-credit free trial. Most teams translate their top 10 articles for free to evaluate quality.

Get started free →

---

Key Takeaways

1. Use sinä (informal) - formal Te sounds outdated for SaaS
2. Expect longer individual words - agglutination creates compounds
3. Native review is essential - Finnish grammar defeats most MT
4. Finns appreciate local effort - showing up in Finnish matters
5. Don't conflate with Swedish or Estonian - separate languages entirely

Finnish customers value quality and attention to detail. Getting your help center translation right shows you take their market seriously.

More Language Guides

Expanding to other markets? Explore our complete guides for each language:

• German Help Center Translation Guide: DACH markets, Sie/du, compound words
• Spanish Help Center Translation Guide: Spain vs LATAM, formal/informal, largest market reach
• French Help Center Translation Guide: France vs Quebec, vous/tu, Bill 96 compliance
• Japanese Help Center Translation Guide: Keigo formality, character systems, premium market
• Chinese Help Center Translation Guide: Simplified vs Traditional, market access

---

Ready to translate your help center to Finnish? TranslateDesk integrates with Intercom and helps you deliver quality Finnish content that native speakers trust.

Start translating →