Creating Images through English on Yellow Pages: Multilingual Practices in Advertising in the Helsinki Region

Abstract

In recent years Finland, like the other Nordic countries, has experienced an explosion in the use of English in various domains of public and private life. This trend has caught the attention of linguists and laymen alike, and has become a popular topic of scholarly investigation in several language departments and the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland,1 in addition to being a topic of lively public discussion. With increasing internationalisation, English has become an essential part of the professional life of a steadily growing number of Finns in various fields, be it politics and government, science and education, business, communication and media, transportation, tourism, sports, culture or entertainment. Those Finns who are not actually involved in international affairs are also heavily subjected to English through the mass media, being thus passive consumers of the language.