Elvis - A Lighted Candle

[Rainbow Light]

Finland makes Latin the King
By Jonny Dymond
BBC News, Helsinki



A Finn has translated Elvis Presley songs and sings them in Latin


Elvis songs in Latin
Finland is one of the quieter members of the EU. But now its turn at the EU presidency has thrust it into the spotlight - and exposed an unusual passion.


Like the boy at the party with cheese straws stuck up his nose, it has been caught doing something vaguely disturbing - indulging a penchant for Latin.


It is the only country in the world which broadcasts the news in Latin.

On its EU presidency website one can find descriptions of meetings in Latin. But love of the language of Rome goes deep.

'Eternal language'

I am in a hotel somewhere comfortably north of Helsinki. It is off-season, so the place is deserted. There are dark brown mock logs, lining one side of the room. Fake beams on the ceiling, chocolate-box pictures on the walls.

There is also a man in the corner of the room singing Elvis Presley's songs in Latin, like Can't Help Falling In Love - or Non adamare non possum.

It sounds a little like Italian but rather more stilted - like Italian sung by a Finnish person.

We are a long way from Memphis.

The singer is Dr Jukka Ammondt, an academic whose twin passions, it appears to him, march in lock-step.

"The legend of Elvis Presley lives for ever, and it's of course very important to sing Elvis Presley's songs in the Latin language, because Latin is the eternal language," he says.

Mia Lahti, who edits the EU presidency website, is like many Finns an optimist at heart. But why do a website in Latin?

"The website is in English and French," she says.

But they have their secret language: Conspectus rerum Latinus, or "Latin News in Brief".

"I know there are people who are angry because, for example, in their childhood they had to read compulsory Latin. But also I think it might be interesting to read the news in brief in Latin," Ms Lahti believes