Hi Tom,
I think you have mixed it up a bit about Scandinavians, Sami and Finns.
Being a Swede (with a Danish mother), who has worked several years in Denmark, Norway and Finland, I have some insight in the different languages and peoples
Quote:
"To clarify my language and thinking on this matter; Danes and Norse are Germans. Turks and Kazaks are Tartars. Innuits and Eskimos are North People (currently Nunnavut). Finns, Lapps, and to a lesser degree Swedes seem to fall somewhat in between, culturally, genetically, linguistically, and all of this is as one would expect from a map. "
Swedes, Danes and Norwegians are Scandinavian people with Scandinavian languages (part of the Germanic language family where also f.i. English belongs).
However I don't think Englishmen see themselves as Germans
Scandinavia + Finland and some small islands = The Nordic countries.
Finns have a different root with a completely different language (related to Hungarian).
When I am in the Scandinavian countries I can figure out the languages (like Italian and French) but when in Finland I always speak English.
Unless I meet a Finnish Swede (= somebody who has had a Swedish ancestor who migrated to Finland when it was a Swedish colony and still speaks Swedish).
I hope this clarifies the confusement about Scandinavia/Nordic countries etc.
Michael