The Department of Scandinavian Languages researches and teaches Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic. Swedish language is at the centre of the teaching and research and it is studied from the point of view of structure, usage, history, and culture.
The studies of Scandinavian Languages have been designed primarily for students whose native language is Finnish. The studies will provide a solid base for a career in teaching Swedish in Finnish-speaking schools or institutions, or in the field of translation, or in other fields requiring language expertise. The studies will also provide the basic abilities needed for a career in Scandinavian languages research.
Research in the Department of Scandinavian Languages emphasises the learning and assimilation of Swedish as a second or foreign language, so research materials consist mainly of spoken or written Swedish produced by Finnish speakers. Research is also being conducted on the differences of Swedish spoken in Finland and Sweden. The historical development of the Swedish language and nomenclature is researched with the help of old manuscripts and parish registers, among other things. Blog entries, for example, are used when researching contemporary Swedish language.
The operational environment of the Department of Scandinavian Languages is multilingual; the main working and teaching language is Swedish, but Norwegian and Danish courses are conducted in the respective target languages. The research environment of the discipline is theoretically wide and values both traditional philological methods as well as research based on the newest linguistic theories.