Guidelines

Kotus issues user guidelines and recommendations for standard language. Our website includes the guideline database of the Finnish Language Office, recommendations from the Finnish Language Board, name planning guidelines and plain language guidelines. In addition, there is information on written guidelines, as well as language and name quizzes.

Guideline database

The guideline database of the Finnish Language Office is a free online service where you can search for guidelines about spelling, grammar and names. The database contains the key guidelines for language and name use from the Institute’s publications and web content. The service is available in Finnish.

Finnish Language Board

The Finnish Language Board is an expert body on language and name use guidance in Finnish. In addition to issuing general recommendations and guidelines on the usage of Finnish, the Board is a policy authority in questions relating to the Finnish language. The Board’s recommendations are published on Kotus’s website (in Finnish).

Guidelines on name planning

Name planning constitutes part of urban and regional planning. When areas, services, authorities, organisations etc. are developed or changed, new names may be needed. Just like all planning, name planning requires expertise and consideration. On its website, the Institute has compiled general guidelines for the planning of authorities’ names as well as names for urban planning and addresses.

Guidelines for plain language

The Institute provides guidance and tools for public authorities to help them improve their language usage. Many of the guidelines are also applicable in businesses and organisations.

The Institute has also formulated “doctrines” of the key points for plain language. In particular, they summarise the guidelines for how to organize text production and how to write comprehensible texts.

Written guidelines

The Institute’s website contains literature lists on linguistic and onomastic guidelines. The lists comprise publications from Kotus and other parties.

Language and name quizzes

The Institute’s website contains several language quizzes in Finnish about abbreviations, symbols, punctuation, the meaning of words, etc. In addition to these, there are two name quizzes and several plain language quizzes.

Some of the quizzes are tailored to meet practical needs: A plain language quiz helps the writer to determine if a text is suitable for its intended use or if it needs editing. A quiz for charting plain language work helps to establish how the conditions for writing affect the quality of administrative language and whether they could be better organised.

A name planning quiz reveals if the toponymical planning results in well-defined, understandable and correct place names. A name quiz helps to establish the quality of a name.