The Advent of Finnish Emojis: Happy Holidays, Headbangers

5 years ago - Ultan Ó Broin on December 18, 2015

Language in the News, Personalization and Design, Travel and Culture

culture, Emoji, Finland, Nokia, Suomi, Unicode, user experience (UX), 絵文字

The Finnish government has released its own set of emojis (絵文字) that capture just what it means to be so Finnish. Reflecting the season that’s in it, you can view these emojis advent-calendar style on the web.

The emojis’ release was covered by National Public Radio’s (NPR) All Tech Considered radio program from the U.S. It’s worth listening to.

Headbanger emoji: “In Finland, heavy metal is mainstream. There are more heavy metal bands in Finland per capita than anywhere else.” (Source: xmas.finland.fi)

These emojis capture a wide range of Finnish cultural nuances and emotional states across a spectrum of subjects: headbanging (there are more heavy metal bands in Finland per capita than anywhere else, apparently), saunas, woolly socks, legendary Nokia mobile phones, how Finnish people behave at the bus stop and that Finnish kids know not to lick metal things in the cold, it’s all there. And more.

Check out those Finnish emojis. What a great way to be at the forefront of technology and educating the world about culture at the same time. Let’s see more of this approach!

So, it remains for me to wish you all the happiest of seasonal greetings, where ever, and whatever, you are.

Here’s to 2016.

Suomi Mainittu!

Tags:culture, Emoji, Finland, Nokia, Suomi, Unicode, user experience (UX), 絵文字

Ultan Ó Broin

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Ultan Ó Broin (@localization), is an independent UX consultant. With three decades of UX and L10n experience and outreach, he specializes in helping people ensure their global digital transformation makes sense culturally and also reflects how users behave locally.

Any views expressed are his own. Especially the ones you agree with.

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