I have been the director of Kotus, the Institute for the Languages of Finland, since August 1998. Kotus is part of the Ministry of Education and Culture and operates in accordance with the law and decree regarding its activity. Kotus is responsible for language planning and counselling in Finnish and Swedish, lexicographical work and research on related topics. Kotus also co-ordinates the work of the advisory boards of Sami, Romani and sign language.

Kotus is an institution for the whole population and everyone interested in the Finnish and Swedish languages, and collaborates with universities, government agencies and municipalities in particular. The University of Helsinki is a close partner: the expertise of people working at Kotus has been useful on many courses, and some of our experts have also supervised Masters’ and PhD theses, given statements on dissertations and been involved in appointments procedures. The representatives of the subjects of Finnish, Finno-Ugric languages and Scandinavian languages are important for Kotus, not only as producers of high-quality research. In participation with the university, Kotus has produced Iso suomen kielioppi ( ‘A comprehensive Finnish grammar’), discussed topics of language policy as well as published the action programme Suomen kielen tulevaisuus (‘The future of the Finnish language’). As for working with data, the FIN-CLARIN consortium is invaluable for Kotus, with its digitalisation of vast amounts of language material.

Kotus is very visible online and much of its work is freely accessible, which is important also for the work of university scholars, teachers and students alike. In April 2015 two usage guides, Kielitoimiston ohjepankki and Ordförrådet were published and are growing all the time. The Kielikello and Språkbruk archives are open to everyone with a knowledge of Finnish and/or Swedish. During the past few years, special attention has been paid to the language and terminology used by public authorities.

Two dictionaries, the New Dictionary of Modern Finnish, Kielitoimiston sanakirja, and the Karelian dictionary, Karjalan kielen sanakirja, are available online in their entirety. The online versions of the Finnish dialect dictionary, Suomen murteiden sanakirja, its Swedish counterpart, Ordbok över Finlands svenska folkmål and the Dictionary of Old Literary Finnish, Vanhan kirjasuomen sanakirja are growing year on year. Kotus also has a large collection of various kinds of language data, which are being made more readily accessible all the time.

Kotus has close connections to the partner institutions in the other Nordic countries and also co-operates with the Eesti Keele Institute of Estonia. Kotus is a member of the worldwide Clarity association, which promotes the use of plain and readily understandable legal language in the communication of both authorities and companies. Kotus is also a member of the European Federation of National Institutions for Language and part of the ENeL project (European Network of Lexicography).

Many of those who work at Kotus have also worked at the University of Helsinki and vice versa. There are no hard and fast boundaries between these organisations; of upmost importance is the co-operation between the people involved. A sensible division of labour does not distance the two but promotes the achievement of a shared goal: to maintain the diversity of the Finnish and Swedish languages in all domains of social interactions.