​The Finnish language belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, which also includes languages like Estonian and Hungarian; this Finno-Urgic language group includes Hungarian, Sami, Estonian, as well as some lesser known languages in Russia. The language roots date back thousands of years, with evidence of the language being spoken in what is now Finland for over a millennium; scholars think Finland has been inhabited by speakers of this Finno-Urgic language since 3,000 B.C if not prior. Finnish likely developed from a common Uralic ancestor language around 2,000–3,000 years ago. The first written records of Finnish appear in the 16th century, notably with the publication of the New Testament by Mikael Agricola in 1548. Agricola is often regarded as the father of the written Finnish language, and his work laid the foundation for the modern written form of Finnish.

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Throughout the centuries, Finnish existed primarily as a spoken language and had a limited written tradition, especially as Sweden ruled Finland for much of the Middle Ages and early modern period, leading to Swedish being the dominant administrative language. However, during the 19th century, a national awakening in Finland sparked a movement to elevate the Finnish language as a symbol of national identity. This movement was fueled by prominent figures like Elias Lönnrot, who compiled the Finnish national epic Kalevala in the 1830s, and the language reforms that followed eventually led to Finnish becoming one of the official languages of Finland in 1863. Since then, the language has continued to evolve, and today it is spoken by around five million people.

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Today, there are roughly 5.4 million native Finnish speakers, most of which live in and around Finland. The Finnish writing system uses the Latin-script alphabet derived from the Swedish alphabet. 

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To learn more about the Finnish language, Click Here and Here.