Leif Rantala (26 December 1947, Liljendal – 8 January 2015, Rovaniemi)[1] was a Finnish-Swedish linguist, and a specialist of Sami languages, cultures of history, especially of the Kola Peninsula.
[3] He worked at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, mainly as a teacher of the Northern Saami language.
[1] Rantala often had to work as a translator, when the civil servants in Finnish Lapland did not know Saami.
“I have sometimes had to translate texts, when people have complained about the non-existent command of Saami of e.g. the police.
I don’t think there are too many of them.” According to Rantala, society should use various perks to motivate civil servants to learn Saami.