Ainu Feodoroff to sit rare Skolt Sámi exam

Ainu Feodoroff, 19, will take the Skolt Sámi language exam in Finland’s matriculation examinations this autumn, Yle reports. She is one of only two people registered to take the endangered language exam.

Feodoroff, who lives in Turku, began studying Skolt Sámi remotely when she was nine. The city had never before organised lessons in the language, which has about 300 speakers, so classes were held online in the evenings after the school day.

As a child, Feodoroff sometimes resented the extra lessons when friends wondered why her school day was so long. She recalls complaining that her mother had forced her and her brother to study Skolt Sámi.

She now says she is grateful to her mother for keeping them connected to the language. Feodoroff has studied it through the city of Turku for eight years.

Feodoroff is among the few students to take Skolt Sámi as a foreign language under the short syllabus. She says the opportunity to sit the exam is more important to her than the grade.

“It is very important and valuable to me that I can write our small language. Skolt Sámi has a greater meaning to me than English or Swedish,” she said.

Skolt Sámi is rarely taken in the matriculation examinations. Last spring, two people took it as a short-syllabus subject, while no one took it in several earlier years. In 2019, a record 13 people registered for the exam.

According to the Matriculation Examination Board, no one has registered for the Skolt Sámi mother tongue and literature exam for 12 years. The last time the subject was taken as a mother tongue was in 2014, when four people sat the exam.

Feodoroff has studied Skolt Sámi exclusively through remote learning. She says teachers changed frequently and learning materials have always been scarce. When she began upper secondary school, the available textbooks were intended for third-grade pupils.

During her upper secondary studies, the remote lessons became a source of support because they allowed her to spend time with other Skolt Sámi young people. Speaking with people who understood the language’s vulnerable position was important to them.

Learning the language has also played a significant role in Feodoroff’s identity. Having always lived in southern Finland rather than in Sápmi, she says the language has strengthened her sense of belonging to her community.

Her weekly phone calls with her grandmother are now among her most important forms of exam preparation. Feodoroff also practises with old exams and reads Skolt Sámi news and children’s books.

She says more films, music, television programmes and books aimed at upper secondary students would make studying easier. For the autumn exam, however, the grade is not what matters most.

“I am writing Skolt Sámi for my future and for my future children. The most important thing is that I can write the language of my grandmother and grandfather,” Feodoroff said.