Tongue-tied - Part Three
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By Anu Nousiainen
The small but thoroughly nasty panel has now listened patiently to the politicians' video-clips for close on four hours. There is still work to be done, but Eddy Hawkins is getting desperate for a cigarette break. He and William Moore head off to the balcony upstairs.
In the meantime, it might be apposite to ponder the triumphal march of the English language.
English is now overwhelmingly the most common language in the world, if, that is, one includes also those languages that are spoken other than as a mother-tongue.
One in three inhabitants of Planet Earth speaks English at least to some extent. This is an astonishing figure when one considers that according to the linguistics scholars there are more than 6,800 living languages in the world.
There are already a great many more non-native speakers of English out there than there are people who speak the language as their mother-tongue.
This "new" English is known as lingua franca English or ELF, and is spoken in countless different accents.
If English is today to be understood as a motley collection of "Englishes", then is it not a bit over the top to demand that Finnish politicians should have the sort of language skills a native speaker is blessed with by accident of birth?
The question is answered by Andrew Chesterman. He chose not to take part in the work of the panel, even though he would have been a highly competent judge, since he is Professor of Multilingual Communication at Helsinki University's Department of General Linguistics, and has also lived in this country for several decades.
Chesterman would agree, however, to assess the language skills of Finnish politicians on a general level, but he frames his answers carefully.
"If a politician does not know English very well and speaks slowly in short sentences, then he or she will not be taken very seriously. If a politician does not feel completely comfortable when using English, then an interpreter is a better way to go."
In Chesterman's view it is always worth bearing in mind that if one is supposed to be thinking about something important, then in all probability it will succeed best in one's own language.
Languages can in some way be compared with clothes. One changes clothes to suit the situation. The same goes for language.
"Two or three thousand years ago in India, we had a 'multilingual' situation, and there was no need as such for translations. Now most people in Europe are bilingual. It requires a bit of flexibility."
Chesterman himself speaks English to his daughter, while the daughter speaks Finnish to him.
"The fact that there are now more speakers of English as a foreign language than there are native speakers has an impact on the langiuage itself. It loosens the codes and norms. We have had to learn to adapt, as the grammar bucks and bends [under this pressure]", says Chesterman.
"We have to accept that nobody owns English in the way that the Finns own Finnish. English is like mathematics; it's a universal, a common denominator."
In the samples shown to the panel, the Finnish politicians speak English as flatly and without energy as they do Finnish. Chesterman, too, has noticed this feature.
"The Finnish language has a quite distinct phonological structure. There is a very specific rhythm to it, and a very specific intonation. When speaking English, the Finns should pay attention to intonation: the rising and falling variations of pitch in the delivery."
He notes that the rising intonation pattern has started to filter more into Finnish usage.
Maybe the "upsinging" effect at the end of sentences that is said to be creeping into the speech of young girls is partly derived from English patterns.
"Among young people the ancient rhythms of the Finnish language are no longer so clearly evident", says Chesterman.
"The toughest thing in speaking a foreign language is to shrug off one's natural accent. It is the part of language that seems to be carved most deeply into our brain. There has been research done that claims even a foetus in the womb can differentiate between its mother's intonation patterns and those of a spoken foreign language."
Finns also have difficulties with forming certain sounds that are alien to the language, for instance the "th"-phonemes, both voiced and voiceless (this, then; thing, thought).
Then again, research studies have indicated that faulty pronunciation of this type does not usually make understanding that much more difficult.
It gets trickier if one cannot diferentiate between long and short vowels (sixty, sixteen).
As far as Chesterman is concerned, the Finns are more than welcome to keep their accent.
"Language skills do not have to be perfect, as long as they are functional. Take Henry Kissinger, for instance. Kissinger has lived in the United States ever since he was 14, but he has still not lost his pronounced German accent."
And one doesn't always have to speak English, even if the ability is there.
For example in the chamber of the European Parliament it would be better in Chesterman's opinion to stick to Finnish.
"It is important to show them that Finland exists. English can be used in the corridors and in places where there is no interpretation provided."
In the final part of this lengthy article, the weary panel return to their labours, and take on the MEPs. Will the panellists be able to get through an entire six-hour session without giving a single 10?
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print in the October 2009 issue of the Kuukausiliite monthly supplement.
More on this subject:
 Tongue-tied
Tongue-tied - Part Two
Tongue-tied - Part Four
ANU NOUSIAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
anu.nousiainen@hs.fi
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