Activities in different languages

There are about ten thousand people living in Tampere whose mother tongue isn’t Finnish or Swedish. There are nationals from about 125 different countries living in Tampere. The number of different spoken languages is slightly higher, approximately 130. The languages most commonly spoken after Finnish and Swedish are Russian, Arabic, English, Estonian, Chinese, Persian, Kurdish, Vietnamese, Turkish, German and Albanian.

The Evangelical Lutheran parishes in Tampere regularly offer activities in English, Russian and Chinese. In addition, occasionally there are events, at which Dari, Kurdish and Arabic are spoken.

Immigrant work is a part of the international work that the parish does. It’s based on the love for one’s neighbour and Christian values. You can participate in the activities even if you’re not a Christian. All human beings are created by God, which is why we should treat all others the way we would like to be treated ourselves. The objective is to help the immigrants who have come to Tampere to make the town their home, to get a job and to find their own community. In addition to the actual multicultural activities all immigrants are welcome to take part in the Finnish and Swedish language activities offered by the parish.