Tag Archives: helsinki

language choice, language audience

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photo-3 (2)Today, while shopping at my neighborhood grocery store, I noticed this sign for the first time, although it must have been there for at least a couple of months.

(I am noticing that the photo is rendered here in a terrible quality. There seems to be some sort of automatic setting on the university blog pages that reduces the quality of images, no doubt to save space. You’ll have to take my word for it that the text in my original photo was actually legible.)

OK, I live in Finland. In downtown Helsinki, to be exact. The two official languages in Finland are Finnish and Swedish. Although it’s hard to make out in this photograph, you can see that the most prominent language on this sign, placed on top, is Russian. There is text in Finnish, as well, but it is much smaller and appears underneath the Russian. It says: “Dear customers, please don’t take shopping carts outside the store area.”

The official message of this sign is pretty basic — mundane, even. But think about the subtext and what it says about the society I live in. The Finnish is there almost as something gratuitous — it’s there because it kind of has to be; it is in Finland, after all. Yet it’s smaller and not prominent: the underlying message is that Finnish people don’t need to be told to not take shopping carts outside. And Swedish speakers? Not a chance! Everyone knows that Swedish speakers don’t shop at Lidl, anyway — they are in their swanky neighborhoods shopping at the Finnish equivalent of Whole Foods or Dean and Deluca, right?

Nor is the sign written in English, which, of course, is the international lingua franca. The underlying assumptions here seem to be that a Russian-speaking customer a) is likely to walk out of the store with a shopping cart, and b) will not understand an admonition not to do so in any language other than Russian.

It would be interesting to know if the Russian text on the sign is actually grammatical, and, if so, if it is pragmatically appropriate for this setting. Is the the language choice on this sign politically correct? That’s a question I can’t even begin to contemplate.

Incidentally, I have actually noticed Russian customers at this particular grocery store, stocking up on staples such as toothpaste and other dry goods. That is a harsh reminder of how politics (ie, the embargo to Russia) affects the everyday lives of people who still need to find a way to keep their teeth clean. And, apparently, that they need a reminder to not take the shopping carts home to Russia with them.

 

 

 

 

 

Finnish Parliament (and some words of wisdom from a social welfare state)

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Today I was lucky to be able to participate in a tour of Finnish Parliament, courtesy of the American Women’s Club of Finland.

We live near this gorgeous building, and I walk by it every day, so it was quite nice to actually see inside it.

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We were able to walk through the gallery, which is known for its sparse but elegant Nordic style, as well as its row of busts of past presidents.

Gallery, Finnish Parliament

Gallery, Finnish Parliament

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also got to see where all the action happens. As someone who started out in journalism, it was interesting to see the press area of the voting forum, pictured below. Guess what? Members of the press share lunchroom and even sauna facilities with Members of Parliament. Sounds cozy, doesn’t it?

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Here is the speaker’s area, with five statues that symbolize the morals and development of Finnish society. The figure in the middle is a female holding an infant. The woman is facing backward, and the infant faces forward. This is meant to symbolize the past and the future. But it turns out that that’s not the whole story. In 1931, when the building opened, it was considered quite risque to portray a nude woman from the front. Yet the men, of course, are shown in all their glory. (Interesting that this is quite the opposite trend that we see today, for example, in Hollywood films. Isn’t there some big media interest right now about Ben Affleck showing his privates on film?)

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Underneath the right-most statue you can see a blue box. That’s the sign that shows the votes: “yes,” “no,” “abstained,” or “absent.”

One of the women in our group had a good question for our host, Dimitri Qvintus, the Communications Manager for the Social Democratic Party. She asked him to name the three biggest issues the Finnish government is facing today. He said 1) the reformation of the healthcare system 2) the reformation of retirement (both issues having very much to do with the current economic crisis in Finland), and 3) security issues dealing with so much social and political unrest so geographically nearby(e.g., East Ukraine).

Here were a few more highlights from our discussion with Mr. Qvintus:

  • “In Finnish government, we say that sooner or later, everybody’s sauna burns down.” This means that every political party (or every politician, for that matter), gets their own turn for chaos and defeat.
  • He said that the longer he is in politics, the more he is convinced that it is NOT all about one’s political party. “I think what’s best for our country is also what’s best for our party,” he said. At this point, many of the American women were nodding their heads in agreement, wishing that American politicians could take a page out of his book.
  • Here’s a strong statement: “[The American healthcare system; a private system] is responsible for more deaths of Americans than any terrorist organization.” Ouch. That really stings, but his point rings out loud and clear …

 

English for whom?

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A picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture from downtown Helsinki speaks volumes about the symbolic use of English in Finland

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You know what I absolutely love about this window signage in downtown Helsinki (on Kalevankatu, for anyone who really likes the specifics)? I love that it’s in English, but it’s not written for an English-speaking or an international audience, it’s written for Finns — or least for non-Finns who have lived in Finland long enough that they know what narikka means. That’s right, you’re reading along in English — “here is the bar” … OK. Their opening hours. OK, got it … wait a minute: NARIKKA?! What does that mean? And suddenly you know that this is actually an insider’s place. Narikka is one of those classic Finnish words that can’t really be translated — well, it can, be not very neatly or nicely, which is why it’s better to just use the Finnish word, which is what the business owners have opted for here.

This is a narikka:
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What it means is that you have to pay to check your coat at the door. Usually it’s a fee of something like 2 to 5 euros, and it’s mandatory. It’s part of the Finnish pub tradition, you could say.

But the times are changing, and so is narikka, which apparently is a selling point for this establishment, which is so modern that not only does it use ENGLISH on its window messages, but it doesn’t have a narikka. I love it.