English makes inroads into colloquial speech of Finnish youth
English expressions increasingly frequent in Finnish Internet chat
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English expressions are increasingly mixing in with Finnish in the colloquial speech of young Finns.
Linguist Anu Muhonen says that the role of English in the lives of today’s 15-20-year-olds is different from what it was for their predecessors. In her view English is not so much a foreign language for the age group as it is a second language.
Muhonen is writing her doctoral thesis at the University of Stockholm on the use of English and Finnish in radio programmes and on Internet message boards.
Muhonen has noticed that English language interviews on Finnish radio programmes are increasingly left untranslated.
In Internet chat rooms Muhonen has noticed that exclamations and spontaneous expressions of emotion are increasingly expressed in English.
Pirjo Hiidenmaa, head of the Finnish Language Office (Kielitoimisto), says that the culture of Finnish discourse has changed in a way that makes it easier to incorporate English language slogans, expressions, and wordplay. When this happens, English is able to influence the culture of Finnish speech even further.
Among older Finns, English tends to be restricted to official connections, rather than colloquial speech.
Teachers of Finnish have noticed an increasing influence of English in the language used by their pupils.
Mervi Murto, the chairwoman of the League of Mother-Tongue Teachers, is not worried about the increase in the number of individual English-language words that pop up in Finnish speech. However, she is concerned about foreign syntactic structures that make their way into texts written by Finnish youngsters.
"For instance, English punctuation and incorrect case endings appear in compositions."
More Finnish kids want to read their literature in English.
For instance, one major Helsinki book store reports an increase of about one third in its sales of English-language paperbacks.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 9.8.2004 - TODAY |
 English makes inroads into colloquial speech of Finnish youth |
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