Finnish Kalo is a Northwestern Romani language spoken mainly in Finland, and also in Sweden. There are about 13,000 Romani people in Finland. Half of them can understand Finnish Kalo, and about 30% of them, or 3,900, can speak it fluently. The majority of fluent speakers are over 50 years old. There are also about 1,650 speakers of Finnish Kalo in Sweden. The language has been heavily influenced by Finnish.
Finnish Kalo is also known as Kalo Finnish Romani, Fíntika Rómma, Kaalo or Roma. The native name is kaalengo tšimb ("Language of the Roma people"). There are two dialects: East Finnish Romani and West Finnish Romani.
There are courses available in Finnish Kalo at the University of Helsinki, and in a number of other places. Since 1995 it has been possible to study Finnish Kalo in some Finnish schools, although there is a lack of teachers and resources.
Finnish Kalo was first written in 1893 by Adam Lindh, a teacher from Lappeenranta. He translated some religious writings and complied a grammar of the language, however his work was not published. The first printed work in Finnish Kalo was published in 1982, and since then some literature, vocabularies and grammars have been produced.
The letters C, Q, W, Z and Å are used only in loanwords from other languages.
Download an alphabet chart for Finnish Kalo (Excel)
Details provided by Michael Peter Füstumum
No douva iek kentos hin ja niiku kasvattipoika ja dauva hin
sitt lesko tšäi dauva
Niin niin daari me hin aaȟtom
Hinko daari aaȟtas ȟaaniba?
Mo hin daari ȟaaniba
Source: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomen_romanikieli
Information about Finnish Kalo | Numbers
Information about Finnish Kalo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish Kalo_language
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomen_romanikieli
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/rmf
https://www.academia.edu/1523925/Lyhyt_Suomen_romanikielen_kielioppi_Consice_grammar_of_Finnish_Romani_
https://fi.glosbe.com/fi/rmf
Caló, Domari, Erromintxela, Finnish Kalo, Kalderash, Lovari, Romani
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page created: 03.06.21. Last modified: 05.07.23
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