The Institute for the Languages of Finland (Kotimaisten kielten keskus or Kotus) is an expert authority specialised in languages. The Institute, founded in 1976, reports to the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Our tasks include the planning of Finnish and Swedish, providing linguistic counselling services, compiling dictionaries, as well as conducting research related to language planning and dictionary compilation. Our language planner’s work mainly covers standard language; however, even Finnish and Swedish used in administrative contexts and onomastic issues are given special focus.

The Institute coordinates the work of the Finnish and Swedish Language Boards, as well as the Sami, Romani, and the Sign Language Boards. The goal of the activity is, as a language expert, to promote the use of languages ​​within the institute's field in society.

The Institute’s approximately 70 employees are experts who work in three departments and two units. We boast a high level of education. Most of our employees have permanent posts or employment contracts. The employees of the Institute carry out diverse tasks requiring special expertise. They compile dictionaries of the Finnish and Swedish languages or work as language planners. Our employees are deeply committed to their tasks and stay with us for a long time. The work we do is interesting and significant for the linguistic climate and language use in the entire Finnish society. The Institute works in close cooperation with the Nordic countries and Estonia in particular, but also with other relevant linguistic institutes in Europe. We take care of our employees’ wellbeing by, e.g., organizing staff training, supporting them in their endeavours to attain qualification, and offering opportunities to do sports. Our employees also have the option of doing distance work.

The Institute also maintains extensive linguistic corpora and a library. The Institute for the Languages of Finland is located in Hakaniemi, in Helsinki.