Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.
Note: this is mostly about the Kven language and culture.
I’m of Kven ancestry and our family culture is very strong in Kven influence. The Kven people are kind of like an old diaspora from Northern Finland going often centuries back, living in Northern Norway and speaking the Kven language that is quite similar to the Finnish language. I’m a proud Kven ❤
If my ancestors had been able to keep the native languages we had likely spoken Kven and North Sámi as well as Norwegian. There are forced assimilation policies mostly in the past but make no mistake it’s actually still somewhat of a problem especially for Kven people due to the perception we are just really immigrants and not ‘urfolk/indigenous’ to Northern Norway, no such prejudice toward the Sámi as they/we are already recognized as indigenous/urfolk in Norway.
Me and my maternal grandmother have strong attempted to learn the Kven language from language course and we are passionate members of the local Kven group and the national ‘Norske Kveners Forbund’ that fight for Kven topics in general and awareness of our culture, including the languages. I also want to learn North Sámi language and standard Finnish as well.
Honestly I still am not fluent in Kven language, but I truly am going to practice a lot with my Kven identified family members to know more, and not to mention it’s also fun ❤
Thanks for listening ❤
cloudB 