Will Romanian Churches Save the Day? The Survival of the Romanian language in Chicago

by Costanza Vallicelli

Costanza Vallicelli is a MA student in Italian studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the future, Costanza hopes to continue her graduate studies and become a professor, specializing in understudied Romance languages and heritage speakers. She wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023.

On Sunday mornings at Bethany Church, also known as Biserica Betania, a Romanian Pentecostal church in the northern suburbs of Chicago, dozens of people, most of them of Romanian origin, gather for the Sunday service. At the entrance of the church, people of all ages greet each other in a mix of English and Romanian. Once the service starts and the entire congregation joins together to celebrate their faith, their language of choice is one, and unified: Romanian. The church leaders conduct sermons in Romanian, the choir sings in Romanian, and members of the congregations pray aloud in Romanian. They might not be aware, but their religious practice is keeping the Romanian language alive in this immigrant community.

[1] By Holy Nativity Romanian Orthodox Church Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5636750723049939&set=pcb.5636751139716564

Churches like Bethany play a crucial role in maintaining the Romanian language in Chicago. Among the 70,000 Romanians living in the Chicago area[2], many ethnic Romanians are members of one of the fifteen active Romanian churches. Most of these churches are Pentecostal, Orthodox, or Baptist. These churches offer services in Romanian, their websites are both in English and Romanian, and they provide ample opportunities for people of Romanian background to gather and socialize in their heritage language. Some churches even organize Romanian language courses for children during Sunday School. Not only do churches promote Romanian culture within their local community, but they also connect people to the larger Romanian American community, by fostering interfaith communication and organizing nationwide conferences among Romanian congregations in North America. Churches also play a crucial role in maintaining connections with the homeland, by funding charity actions for churches and religious missions in Romania.

Several studies show that religion plays an important role in language maintenance. For example, Charles Ferguson (1982) noted that religious observance helped maintain languages after immigration, as in the case of German and Japanese immigrants in Brazil. While both groups are shifting to Brazilian Portuguese as their mother tongue, heritage languages are still used in their Christian and Buddhist religious programs and associated schools. Heinz Kloss (1966) and Marion Huffines (1986) observed that among German-Americans the most successful at maintaining the German language were separatist religious sects. Seon Lin Ding and Kim Leng Goh (2020)’s recent study on the role of religious practices in the maintenance of Hakka as a heritage language in Malaysia, found that those who use the language frequently during religious services maintain the language better than those who do not, and that intergenerational shift is slower in these individuals. They also found that those who attend religious services often maintain the language better compared to those who do not.

Bilingual Romanian-English sign in front of Saint Mary Romanian Orthodox Church (Chicago, IL)[3]

To explain why language and religion are so strongly intertwined, the scholar Sipra Mukherjee (2013) offers two fundamental reasons. The first is that language is of crucial importance for religion, as people engage with religion through language. Language is necessary for the expression and transmission of religion and religious ideas. It is through language that religion is passed on. Mukherjee (2013) even claims that religion exists in language, as reflected in the significance of religious languages and religious texts. The second reason is that both religion and language are markers of identity that express the beliefs and experiences of a community. They both change and evolve with society.

The language of religion (i.e., a language used in religious practices) may change over time, depending on the changing language ideology or language-religion ideology (cf. Fishman 2006:18). And there are significant changes occurring among Romanian-Americans: younger generations are shifting to the dominant language of society, English, and gradually losing their heritage language. This is part of a nationwide trend: according to the latest American Community Survey (2021)[4], 57.2% of people of Romanian origins above 5 years old only speak English, while 42.8% can speak another language (most likely Romanian). While this data does not provide any information about specific age groups it highlights that only less than half of the Romanian population in the United States still uses Romanian. The loss of Romanian mirrors the loss of many other heritage languages in the USA. Studies on heritage languages show that immigrant children in the USA tend to become English-dominant and even monolingual English speakers by the time they reach adolescence (Nesteruk 2010). This raises a follow-up question: How will this language shift affect the use of Romanian in religious practices?

Service at the Romanian Baptist Church of Chicago (Des Plaines, Illinois), the congregation is singing in Romanian[5].

Romanian Churches in Chicago, like many others around the world (cf. Ding & Goh 2020), now face an important dilemma: is it possible to keep their faith alive within the community without sacrificing their heritage language or will they have to transition to the dominant language of society to accommodate new generations of English-speaking Romanian Americans? Primarily, the mission of churches is the promotion of religion to a larger community and the assurance of intergenerational transmission of faith. Within this paradigm, these fundamental priorities surpass the importance of heritage languages and even traditional culture.

Churches though should be aware that they can make a difference in this pattern of language shift. Language practices in churches have an impact on the family language choice and the language of socialization among peers. Consequently, changes in the language of religion can have a strong influence on the language of the community. Upholding the use of Romanian as the primary language of religion is likely to support language maintenance in the long run. As in the case of German and Japanese speakers in Brazil, if the language continues to exist in public, religious spaces, it has a chance at survival, even if individuals do not use it in the home. It is only when Romanian will lose its role as a language of religion, that its future as a heritage language will be inexorably endangered.

Celebration for the 83^rd anniversary of Holy Nativity Romanian Orthodox Church, people are wearing traditional Romanian clothing (Chicago, IL)[6]

[1] By Biserica Betania Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/bisericabetaniachicago/photos/pb.100064435730407.-2207520000./1900969183352571/?type=3

[2] This is an estimate within the community https://romanianmissionchicago.org/our-history

[3] By Ion Bocuci on Google Maps Images https://goo.gl/maps/28Q5TgJrgsp5iRNr7

[4] https://data.census.gov/table?q=romanian&tid=ACSSPP1Y2021.S0201

[5] By Romanian Baptist Church of Chicago Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=478253877749738&set=pb.100066953900067.-2207520000.&type=3

[6] By Holy Nativity Romanian Orthodox Church Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5636750723049939&set=pcb.5636751139716564

References

Ding, Seon Lin & Goh, Kim Leng. 2020. The impact of religion on language maintenance and shift. Language in Society, 49(1): 31-59

Ferguson, Charles A. 1982. Religious factors in language spread. In Robert L. Cooper (ed.), Language spread: Studies in diffusion and social change. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 95–106.

Fishman, Joshua A. 2006. A decalogue of basic theoretical perspectives of a sociology of language and religion. In Omoniyi & Fishman (eds), Explorations in the sociology of language and religion. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 13–25.

Kloss, Heinz. 1966. German-American language maintenance efforts. In Joshua Fishman et al. (eds.), Language loyalty in the United States: The maintenance and perpetuation of non-English mother tongues by American ethnic and religious groups. The Hague: Mouton, 206–52.

Huffines, Marion L. 1986. Language-Maintenance Efforts Among German Immigrants and Their Descendants in the United States. In Frank Trommler & Joseph McVeigh (eds.), America and the Germans, Volume 1: An Assessment of a Three-Hundred Year History--Immigration, Language, Ethnicity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 241–250.

Mukherjee, Sipra. 2013. Reading language and religion together. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 220: 1–6.

Nesteruk, Olena. 2010. Heritage language maintenance and loss among the children of Eastern European immigrants in the USA. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 31(3): 271–286.

Will Romanian Churches Save the Day? The Survival of the Romanian language in Chicago

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Does a new language catch up? Translation traction in Spanish and Croatian with Evidence from three EU corpora

by Yinglun Sun

Yinglun Sun is a doctoral student in Linguistics at the University of Illinois. She uses quantitative and corpus methods to uncover patterns in human language production, and is particularly interested in the interactional nature of language use. She wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023.

One of the fundamental values of the European Union (EU) is the observance and respect of linguistic diversity. This is reflected by regulations that define 24 official languages for the EU, and provisions for the right of EU citizens to write to any of the institutions or bodies of the EU in one of these official languages, and to receive an answer in the same language. In addition, the major institutions of the European Union – such as the European Parliament, the Court of Justice of the EU, the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank – all operate at some level of multilingualism in their written communications. Most importantly, legislature documents and public communication material are routinely translated into all of the official EU languages, to ensure understanding by the people, and to promote transparent decision-making. To be able to meet the translation demands with efficiency, the EU institutions employ a sizable translation staff, and over the years have developed their internal translation infrastructure, such as machine translation memories and terminology databases.

Despite the regulatory equal status of all of EU’s official languages, they do not necessarily enjoy the same level of translation capacity and productivity in the EU (Fernández-Parra, 2021) – some official languages may have more translation traction than some other official languages. One of the reasons is that the EU has not always had 24 official languages in its history – new official languages are adopted through enlargements, or when a new member state becomes an official member of the EU. It is on these occasions that translators for the new official languages will be trained and hired, and documents will start to appear in the new official languages. Typically, this preparatory phase lasts for a few years leading up to the accession of the new member state. Most of the translation work during this phase will be translation of the acquis, or existing common rights and obligations that constitute the body of EU law. Then, after the accession of the new member state, translators will start translating into and from the new official language on a daily basis, in accordance with existing practices for official EU languages. Thus, the longer a state has been a member of the EU, the more likely that there will be a stable, experienced team of translators capable of working in the language(s) of that state. Another reason is that a large part of day-to-day translation activities in the EU involve terminology consultation, or situational queries to existing translated documents and terms. This is to ensure that the translations of commonly used terms and names of people, places and entities remain consistent and accurate. Thus, the larger a body of existing translations a language has, the more likely that translators will be able to rely on existing translations rather than inventing and deciding on new translations for terms.

Such an asymmetry in translation traction is demonstrated between Spanish and Croatian, in EUR-Lex and IATE (InterActive Terminology for Europe), two of the most frequently used consultation resources for EU translators. Both Spanish and Croatian are non-procedural languages in the EU, but Spanish has been an official language of the EU since 1986, and Croatian only since 2013. Figure. 1 plots the total quantity of translated legislature documents in EUR-Lex in each year, from 1952 to 2022, published in Spanish (orange) and in Croatian (blue).

Figure 1 Total number of EUR-Lex documents by year, in Spanish and Croatian

Figure 1 clearly shows that while the quantity of legislature translation into Croatian is lacking prior to Croatia becoming an official member the EU, it catches up immediately to that of Spanish since Croatia’s accession in 2013. This seems to suggest that at the very least, translation of law documents into a newer official language is as productive as translation into an older one. However, when we examine the wider range of domains covered by the translations in the IATE, it becomes apparent that not all areas of translation are equally productive: for example, not only the total number of Spanish terms in IATE is much larger than that of Croatian (about 7.5 times), the majority of terms in Spanish pertain to scientific and technical domains that are vital to modern industrialized nations, such as law, chemistry, finance, medicine, IT and air transport. Meanwhile, the terms in Croatia seem to focus on international political issues such as migration and rights, as well as non-industrial sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and wildlife. Even within the domain of law translation, there is still asymmetry in productivity among different types of law documents. For example, in EUR-Lex, two types of law documents are particularly scarce in Croatian: EU parliamentary questions, and national transpositions. Parliamentary questions are questions addressed by members of the European Parliament to other EU institutions and bodies, while national transpositions are documents that incorporate EU directives into the national laws of EU member states. This seems to suggest that compared to Spanish, the Croatian language is particularly underrepresented in active, democratic interactions between the EU member state and the major EU institutions.

Overall, the results suggest that while the quantity of translation in legislature for Croatian was able to catch up to that of Spanish upon Croatia’s accession, the quantity of documents and terminology in specific areas are still not as productive for Croatian compared to Spanish. The asymmetry in translation traction is substantial in the range and type of activities that the member state appears to engage in. In other words, the translation of a new official language of the EU may catch up in quantity, but not necessarily in its functional domains.

References

Fernández-Parra, M. (2021). Every Second Counts: A Study of Translation Practices in the European Commission's DGT. Institutional Translation and Interpreting, 111-127.

Does a new language catch up? Translation traction in Spanish and Croatian with Evidence from three EU corpora

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Post-Diaspora Borders and their Effect on Hindi-Urdu Differentiation in London

by Siddharth Ravuri

Siddharth Ravuri is an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in Political Science and Linguistics. Siddharth’s future plans including traveling, practicing international law, and using multiple languages. He wrote this blog post for 418 “Language and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023.

In the fall of 2022, a series of violent incidents between Muslims and Hindus in Leicester, England took place, to the shock of much of the global community who believed these differences to be conflicts of another continent entirely. Investigations of the incidents found that they had been caused by misinformation campaigns ran out of India in order to incite violence in Leicester (Chandra 2022). Why is the UK a battleground for the Hindu-Muslim conflict?

The 1947 Partition of the British Raj caused the largest mass migration in human history, cleaving the Indian Subcontinent by religious divisions imposed by old colonial authorities. The two new major powers of the region were the Indian and Pakistani states, defined by territorial delineations of Hindu and Muslim majorities respectively. runs deep now, and still flares up geopolitical concerns with two nuclear-powered neighbors holding such animosity.

A particular focus of much postcolonial study is the distinction of Hindu and Urdu. European philologists entering the Indian Subcontinent in previous centuries saw the languages as part of the same Hindustani oral continuum. A Hindi speaker can converse with an Urdu speaker on a variety of topics, but mutual intelligibility is not extended to everything. The differences between the two languages stem from a similar historical clash. Hindi today is written in the Devanagari script as descended from Sanskrit, whereas Urdu is written in a Persian-derived script which itself is ultimately Arabic-derived. The parts of Urdu vocabulary unknown to the Hindi speaker are likely those derived from Islam and the Persian language, whereas those likewise unknown to the Urdu speaker are likely those derived from Hinduism and the Sanskrit language. As a result of national conflict, “each faction wanted to ‘purify’ its language from the influence of the other (121 Belmekki 2010), and so the two languages have consciously diverged further since the mid-century.

Following the Partition, newly nationalized Indians and Pakistanis began to migrate to the rest of the world, with a significant population taking up residence in the United Kingdom and London in particular. This should not be a surprise, as a similar process occurred in many other postcolonial relationships with the old colonizer. The capital links are not only economic but linguistic, and South Asians have a much deeper history with the British than any others in Europe, be it for better or worse.

The question which immediately arises is whether these new immigrants in London, and over the following decades, if being speakers of Hindi and Urdu, might have come into some form of linguistic conflict. Languages are frequently a point of national pride, and conflicts frequently erupt over the use of language. With the added influence of language regimes, as the British policies on foreign languages would undoubtedly play a role, Hindi and Urdu present a unique case study for how national tensions could erupt in diaspora through language conflict. It is clear that Hindu-Muslim violence is nothing new to South Asia, and that in today’s world it spills over into the diaspora communities of the United Kingdom. What linguistic conflict has arisen as a result?

Interestingly, conflicts and differences between Indian Hindi speakers and Pakistani Urdu speakers have arisen primarily through the language regime of the UK rather than direct confrontations between communities. The impact of Indian and Pakistani national identities are conflated by the natives of the United Kingdom with Hindu-Muslim and Hindi-Urdu identities respectively.

“A facet of the economic and social marginalisation of British South Asian Muslims is their continued educational underachievement (269 Abbas, Jacobsen 2018)”

As this quote from a study on this discrepancy succinctly states, the economic underachievement of Pakistani and Bangladeshi students in London has long been compared to their Indian counterparts. Institutional racism is viewed as a predominant factor in why this occurs, as teachers are known to comment things along the lines of:

“Language is the biggest issue, there is no doubt about that.
- Male Senior Teacher, White-British, 38” (282 Abbas, Jacobsen 2018)

But this is shown to be more closely caused by the teachers’ views on Islam rather than the Urdu language, a trend which reoccurs frequently in exogenous views on Urdu. Just as when the subcontinent was initially partitioned, people think of Urdu and Pakistan and Islam as the same thing, just as they think of Hindi and India and Hinduism as the same thing. The capital flow of the United Kingdom has a predisposition towards disliking Islam, just as in much of the rest of the West. This predisposition seems to tend towards an economic disadvantage for British South Asian Muslims, now Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, providing for some of the differences between their experiences and their Indian counterparts.

What all of this seems to point towards is a lack of conflict where we might expect it. Language is frequently tied with nationality and its Geist. When national conflict arises, so too does linguistic conflict typically. So then when examining the British case of South Asian diaspora, where there is clearly much national conflict between Hindus and Muslims or Indians and Pakistanis, why is there not a similar conflict between Hindi and Urdu?

I hypothesize that the factor causing this effect is a legacy of the caste system. The caste system has long been recognized as a societal form for coagulating the different ethnic groups of South Asia into a hierarchical system, as genotypic differences and ethnic variations are found between caste descendants. Some researchers have gone so far as to report “a trend toward upper castes being more similar to Europeans, whereas lower castes are more similar to Asians” (1 Bamshad 2001). For quite some time, the caste system has had a legacy of preventing ethnic intermixing which might have otherwise occurred in South Asia.

Judith Brown says in Global South Asians that “there persist[s] throughout the diaspora broad understandings of ritual and social status, even among Sikhs and Muslims, and particularly strong is the wish to construct marriage alliances for one’s family within one’s caste or at least within one of similar status (83 Brown 2006)”, denying the traditional idea that caste is solely a Hindu idea. The caste system and its legacy are not limited to modern Indian borders.

Among “normal” diaspora conditions, or at least in the absence of caste’s legacy, South Asian populations speaking the Hindustani oral register would need no pidgin to communicate, and thus might merge in some form to create a true South Asian diaspora identity. However, I believe that with the effects of caste, South Asian groups have remained rather cliquey even in the diaspora, leading to communities which do not interact frequently enough for conflict and clash. These age-old ethnic and caste distinctions would hold apart South Asians even without their modern national identities of Pakistani, Indian, or Bangladeshi.

Works Cited

Bamshad, M. “Genetic Evidence on the Origins of Indian Caste Populations.” Genome Research, vol. 11, no. 6, 8 May 2001, pp. 994–1004, https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.gr-1733rr.

Belkacem Belmekki. Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the Muslim Cause in British India. Berlin, Klaus Schwarz, 2010.

Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians. Cambridge University Press, 31 Aug. 2006.

Chandran, Rina. “How Tweets, Lies from India Fuelled Hindu-Muslim Unrest in UK.” Reuters, 4 Oct. 2022, www.reuters.com/article/britain-tech-religion/how-tweets-lies-from-india-fuelled-hindu-muslim-unrest-in-uk-idUKL8N30R28Z. Accessed 9 Apr. 2023.

“Prevailing Religions of the British Indian Empire, 1909,” Wikimedia Commons, 1909, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brit_IndianEmpireReligions3.jpg.

Jacobsen, Knut A, and Pratap Kumar. South Asians in the Diaspora. BRILL, 14 Aug. 2018.

ShonEjai. “Hindi,” Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/background-texture-abstract-grunge-1853251/.

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English as the “caveman” language within the NHL

by Lindsay Nottingham

Lindsay Nottingham is a recent University of Illinois graduate with a BS in Geology and minors in French and Anthropology. She now attends Fort Hays State University where she is pursuing a Master's Degree in Paleontology and Museum studies. In the future, she hopes to work in museum paleontological collections. This blog entry draws on her love of ice hockey and all things Finland. She wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023.

Figure 1: (L-R)Pekka Rinne, Mikko Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen, and Sebastian Aho posing at the 2019 NHL All Star Game
Source: Getty Images

The National Hockey League(NHL) is a professional ice hockey league with 32 teams across North America—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada.

Figure 2: Map of the 32 NHL teams' locations across North America.

Colors refer to divisions- pink for Pacific, yellow for Central, blue for Atlantic, and green for Metropolitan Source: Wikimedia Commons(backdrop) and Wikipedia (labels)

The NHL is considered to be the top-ranked professional ice hockey league in the world. Because of this elite status, the league attracts players from around the world. One country with significant representation in the league is the nation of Finland. Compared to the general population, players in the league are from Finland at a much higher rate. Finland makes up 0.07% of the world population,1 but 5.1% of the players in the NHL.2 These players often end up living in areas without a significant Finnish population.

To start, we’ll look at the environment Finnish players are coming into in the United States. According to the US Census, Finnish Americans make up a whopping 0.20% of the US population with ~650,000 individuals.

Of the 51 Finns in the league, 44 play for US teams, where they make up 5.7% of the players.3 And of these 44, half of them play on one of five teams. From this, it seems that Finnish players seem to congregate on certain teams, as opposed to being evenly distributed throughout the league, which would be expected.

The five teams with the most Finns are the Carolina Hurricanes with five, Colorado Avalanche with four, Dallas Stars with five, Florida Panthers with five, and Nashville Predators with three.

The states of these teams make up only 12% of the Finnish-American population. Notably, the states with the highest number of Finnish Americans— Minnesota and Michigan, which make up 30% of Finnish Americans— are not represented.

With the lack of a sizeable Finnish community in the states they play in, the players of these five teams become their own communities. Language makes up a large part of any cultural identity, and Finnish is no exception.

This is compounded by the fact that Finnish is a very unique language. Finnish is one of the four EU languages not a part of the Indo-European language family, alongside its sister language Estonian, as well as Hungarian and Maltese, of which the first three belong to the Uralic language family.

While not officially the national language of the United States, English holds the same relative status as a national language. Amongst NHL teams, the same is true: despite there being no “official” league language, English holds that same relative status. This is a result of English having an extremely high utility, as for the majority of the league, mutually intelligible versions of English are the vernacular language. (The exception here is that of the Montreal Canadiens, where alongside English, French has a high utility and is the vernacular language of many staff).

But for scenarios involving foreign players, English changes from a vernacular language to a vehicular language, as parties no longer share the same vernacular language. In this case, it becomes a sort of ‘lingua franca.’ When a team has players with four or five native languages, and those languages are often variable based on rosters, having a ‘lingua franca’ allows everyone to communicate in a streamlined way. And being in the United States/Canada, where English is the default language, making English the ‘lingua franca’ for teams makes sense, as it has such a high value for utility. Thus, foreign players are expected to communicate in English on-ice.

As English is not their vernacular language, there is less ease of communication, which brings in another hallmark of a ‘lingua franca’—as the goal is efficient communication, correctness is not of the highest priority.

As put by Braden Holtby, for whom English is his vernacular language, but on-ice is communicating mainly with people for whom it is not: “We're like cavemen, really, with one-word answers. We're really dumbing things down here.”

Coming from the other side, Tuukka Rask, for whom Finnish is his vernacular language, conveys a similar experience: “It took me probably a few months to say the right words…It's just a couple words you need to say, but you're thinking Finnish words instead of English words.”

Both Holtby and Rask were goaltenders4 which is a position in which communication with teammates is paramount, as you are the last line of defense, and usually play the whole game and need to communicate your actions to all teammates.

They both also touched on another important characteristic of using English as a ‘lingua franca’: it varies according to context, speaker, and purpose. The words and phrases used by each player are going to vary based on what they need to communicate, and by nature of the goal being efficiency, the vocabulary will be that that is most relevant to the players, not necessarily the basics of the language itself.

David Crystal touched on this when speaking in Belgrade about World Englishes. The version of English any non-native speaker speaks is one that is relevant to them. Hockey English is going to have its own vocabulary and specialized terms that an outsider might not understand because they don’t have the background that the players do. Language use is inherently tied to the culture of the speaker, in this case, first and foremost, the game of hockey.

While they become better at communicating in English over time, the identity status of English never changes. Their native, vernacular tongue remains that with the most subjective capital.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, a Finnish player for the Carolina Hurricanes, was recently acquired from the Montreal Canadiens, where he had one Finnish teammate. In a recent interview, he discussed the concept of coming to North Carolina and the Hurricanes and how the community of Finns is a strong aspect of the team.

How did you really feel about leaving Montreal?

It felt great to get a new opportunity (with the Canes). I was excited to get to play with a bunch of Finnish guys here and be a part of the culture with them. Of course, there are people in Montreal that I miss. It was a good three years there, but I'm really happy to be here.

Now that you're here with the Finnish guys (Aho, Puljujarvi, Raanta, Teravainen), what's your favorite aspect of it?

You can converse with anyone in English, but sometimes you just need to feel like home. And as Finns, we get to do that. We get to talk about how things are back home and other things. It helps.

What teammate was the hardest to say goodbye to [...] when you left Montreal?

Probably Joel Armia … We're from the same hometown and we were really close. He lived right underneath me so we'd hang out every day and we had a good bond.

The sentiment from Kotkaniemi is clear: being on a team with other Finns makes it feel like a home away from home. While his English is clearly good enough to communicate with others, he expresses that it still is a vehicular language for him. Being on a team with several players with the same vernacular language as him allows them to use the language that has a higher sense of identity for them, which is an important aspect of maintaining personal identity far from home.

Overall, language use by Finnish players is variable based on the scenario. When they have the chance to communicate in their vernacular language, they jump at the chance to do so. That language is inherently tied to their culture and sense of identity. But as a league, English is the main language, serving for some as a vernacular language, and some as a vehicular ‘lingua franca.’ And as the goal of a ‘lingua franca’ is the efficiency of communication with those who do not share the same vernacular language, there is little reason for players who share a vernacular language to use the ‘lingua franca’ amongst themselves. So while far from home, in a place with not many other speakers of the same language, they are able to form a tight-knit community between the few that do.
---

1 Population 5.6 million

2 51 players out of the 999 who have played an NHL game as of March 23 2023

3 44 players out of the 770 who have played an NHL game as of March 23 2023 and play for a US team

4 Rask recently retired, and Holtby is currently injured and unsigned

---

Sources

Images:

Figure One:

1) 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game - Metropolitan v Central

SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 26: Pekka Rinne #35 of the Nashville Predators, Mikko Rantanen #96 of the Colorado Avalanche Miro Heiskanen #4 of the Dallas Stars and Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes pose following the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game at SAP Center on January 26, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images, https://www.nhl.com/predators/news/photos-best-of-2019-nhl-all-star-weekend/c-304224576)

Figure Two:

1) Uncleben85, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

2) “NHL.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL.

Text Sources:

1) Derhemi, Eda. FR418 Slides

2) Kaplan, Emily. “Lost in Translation: How Players Bridge Hockey’s Language Barrier.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 31 Oct. 2017, www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/21236032/nhl-lost-translation-how-players-bridge-hockey-l anguage-barrier.

3)NHL.com. “Official Site of the National Hockey League.” NHL.Com, www.nhl.com/.

4) QuantHockey,

5)

6) www.quanthockey.com/.

7) Ruff, Walt. “Mailbag #56: Jesperi Kotkaniemi.” NHL.Com, NHL.com, 19 Mar. 2023, www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/mailbag-number-56-jesperi-kotkaniemi/c-342314568.

8)"David Crystal - World Englishes." YouTube, uploaded by BritishCouncilSerbia, 7 Dec. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_q9b9YqGRY.

English as the “caveman” language within the NHL

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Will 27 Years be Enough? Vietnamese struggle for acceptance in Polish Society

by Szymon Kozioł 

Szymon Kozioł is a junior in Political Science and Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Szymon’s future plans include applying to become a Foreign Service Officer for the US State Department, traveling, and learning new languages. He wrote this blog post for 418 “Language and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023.

60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Poland and Vietnam (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland)1. 
www.flickr.com/photos/polandmfa/4343433086.

Already starting in the 1950s “Vietnamese students coming for scholarships to communist Poland… with a peak of 800 beneficiaries per year at the beginning of the 1970s (Grzymala-Kazlowska, pg. 468), began arriving to Poland. This marked the first time in a while (with the exception of the Lipka Tatars), where a whole race, culture, and new language, started residing in Poland. The reason? Well let’s say it has to do something with Poland’s past.

Since the beginning of Poland’s existence as a state in the year 966, the Central-Eastern European country has never been fully homogenously ethnic. Sure, Poland today seems to resemble that reality. With a population of 37 million (according to WorldoMeter.com), 96.9% of the population identifies as ethnically Polish, and 98.2% declare themselves as speakers of Polish. Yet when looking back in the history books, one can find Poland to be a land of multiple ethnicities and languages. One in particular that has relevance now would be the language and people of Vietnam. A people whose language and culture becomes the victim of an ever increasingly nationalistic government led by Poland’s Law and Justice party.

Looking back into the tragic history of 20th-Century Poland, one would be hard press to deny the fact the Poland had sizeable minorities. One of the most notably being that of the Jews. Yet as Poland fell victim to the atrocities of the Nazis, who in turn wiped out Europe’s largest Jewish minority and with it the largest second language in Poland, Yiddish. Poland would later experience a redrawing of its borders, leaving many of Poland’s former East Slavic minorities inside the borders of the USSR. These two events explain Poland’s unprecedented mono-lingual and ethic situation, and marks the first ever time (emphases on the ever) that Poland became a mono- ethnically, mono-lingual country.

Celebration of Tết by Vietnamese students in the University of Warsaw between 1967 and 19732 (https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/jednostka/-/jednostka/5952892/obiekty/379729)

However, this was not to last. “The first group of 20 Vietnamese students came to Poland that same year. The scholarship program was set up to encourage Vietnamese students to study at Polish universities so they could spread socialism back home.” (Premiyak). This communist program was in many ways not too different from the student exchange programs we have today. The key difference being that it was motivated by the goal of spreading of Marxist-Leninist ideals, and much less so with the education.

Yet, the extraordinary outcome was instead the beginning stages of mass emigration of Vietnamese people to Poland in the 1950s, and later in the 1960s and 70s, who were genuinely motivated by the pull of Poland and the Push of Vietnam in terms of economic matters. The push factor being primarily determined by the situation of Vietnam found itself in after the Vietnam War as quote “Back home, Vietnam was recovering from war and experiencing its grueling “subsidy period” (Thời Bao Cấp), that lasted from 1976 until 1986, during which time the government controlled every aspect of the economy and Vietnamese people relied on coupons and food stamps to get by.” (Premiyak). Thus, initiated by the Vietnamese students, whole families from the northern provinces of Vietnam moved into Poland, in particular its capital Warsaw, bring their culture as well as language with them.

The largest non-European migrant diaspora in Poland continues to be the Vietnamese community. (Premiyak). However, due to Poland's recent, yet lengthy past of mono-ethnicity and monolingualism, many Poles are unfamiliar with the concepts of multiculturalism and multilingualism. Polish media coverage of the community reflects this ignorance of the Vietnamese population's existence. Photographer Magorzata Stankiewicz Rabikowska claimed that she started her photo project out of frustration with Poland's anti-migrant rhetoric. (Premiyak). Since 2015, anti-immigrant sentiment has grown, with phrases like "Today's immigrants are tomorrow's terrorists" appearing in public spaces.

An effect of this anti-immigrant attitude in Poland, has led to many immigrant groups living in Poland, including the Vietnamese, to begin emphasizing the education of the Polish language to their children. The role of various forms of bridging capital for immigrant adaptation and upward mobility is discussed in this poll from the academic article, “The case of Ukrainian and Vietnamese immigrants settled in Poland” by Aleksandra Grzymała-Kazłowska, where Vietnamese people were seen as prioritizing Polish language education, quote “Polish skills were perceived as something important in life by 84% of the Vietnamese” (Grzymala-Kazlowska, pg. 474). This reality demonstrates Poland's linguistic monolingual state and the near impossibility of the development and use of additional languages.

The reason for this discrepancy might lie partly in Poland’s constitution, as it recognizes national and ethnic minorities under its Act of 6th of January 2005. According to which, Article 2 states that a national minority in Poland is defined as a group of Polish citizens who are numerically smaller than the rest of the population of the Republic of Poland, significantly differ from the remaining citizens in language, culture, or tradition, strive to preserve their language, culture, or tradition, are aware of their own historical national community and are oriented towards its expression and protection, have ancestors living on the present territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 100 years, and identify themselves with a nation organized in their own state (Republic of Poland's ACT of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages). The Act recognizes nine national minorities: Belarusians, Czechs, Lithuanians, Germans, Armenians, Russians, Slovaks, Ukrainians, and Jews. The Act also recognizes four ethnic minorities and their languages: The Karaim, the Lemko, Roma, and the Tartar languages. Yet Poland does not seem to have any recognition of Vietnamese as a minority langauge. Given that the earliest Vietnamese arrived in Poland in the 1950s, this would mean that it would take the Vietnamese immigrants and their language 27 more years, until it can be approved for full recognition as a minority. Something given recent events regarding judicial changes made by the Law and Justice party, might not be enough time to protect this ethnic minority and their language.

In Poland, the Vietnamese community and its language are treated similarly to other non-minority or “nonnative” immigrant groups found within Poland. Acceding to Aleksandra Grzyma-Kazowska study, she claims there can be seen a similar treatment of those minorities and immigrants who don’t have the recognition status within the country. For example, following its accession talks with the European Union, Poland tightened its immigration policy by enacting stricter rules and regulations after having a liberal admissions policy toward immigrants in 1989. The first Aliens Act, passed in 1997, tightened border controls and reduced the number of legal entry points for migrants. The right to reside and the use of visas were further restricted by a new Aliens Act that was passed in 2003 (Grzyma-Kazowska 467). This point presented by Grzyma-Kazowska, points to the fact of how closed Poland is to outsiders who try to reside within their country.

The immigration policy of the Polish state also makes distinctions between European and non-European nations. Particularly, in light of the demand for workers in the secondary sector, as well as Poland's anticipated population decline, Ukrainians are viewed as necessary and unproblematic migrants. The Vietnamese, on the other hand, are treated with suspicion and are seen as rather hostile. This position of the Polish government and the majority of Polish citizen towards these immigrants, makes these immigrant populations, like the Vietnamese, to be more reserved and closed-off in attitude. In addition to being under the watchful eye of the Polish government, these immigrants also experience high levels of informal social control within their own group, preventing them to reach for common understanding, and bridge building between the two groups (Grzyma-Kazowska). Vietnamese immigrants face many of these obstacles, as a lack of communication between the state and the majority population leads to the development of closed communities.

Vietnamese restaurants on Aleja Bohaterów Warszawy, Szczecin, Poland 
8 June 20113 Image Credit: Alfons Åberg, via Wikimedia Commons. 
License available here.

Polish society has benefited greatly from the Vietnamese community's contributions, particularly in the restaurant and small business sectors. The Wola district of Warsaw, where there are numerous Vietnamese-owned restaurants and shops, is where the community is most noticeable. (Premiyak). However, Vietnamese people in Poland also encounter difficulties, such as linguistic barriers, discrimination, and restricted access to social services with their own languages, just like many non-minority status immigrant communities found in Poland. Yet the Vietnamese community has and continues to be persistent and help contribute to greater Polish society in spite of these obstacles.

References:

Liza Premiyak, Zula Rabikowska. “Doesn't Allow Me to Feel Polish.' Stories from Warsaw's Vietnamese Diaspora 'Society.” The Calvert Journal. https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/11951/vietnamese-diaspora-poland-photography.

“Poland Population (Live).” Worldometer. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/poland-population/.

Poland demographics profile. https://www.indexmundi.com/poland/demographics_profile.html.

Grzymała-Kazłowska, A. (2015). The role of different forms of bridging capital for immigrant adaptation and upward mobility. The case of Ukrainian and Vietnamese immigrants settled in Poland. Ethnicities, 15(3), 460–490. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796813518314

“Act of 6 January 2005 on National and Ethnic Minorities and on ... - Gov.pl.” Accessed April 9, 2023. https://www.gov.pl/attachment/f6197e7c-2c12-45e5-8fa2-77dcb3b9657c.

1.Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. “60th Anniversary of Establishing Diplomatic Relations between Poland and Vietnam 10.” Flickr, Yahoo! www.flickr.com/photos/polandmfa/4343433086.

2.“Studenci Wietnamscy z Wydziału Matematyki UW Podczas Śpiewu. Z Lewej Widoczna Kamera Filmowa.” Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe, www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/jednostka/-/jednostka/5952892/obiekty/379729.

3. File:Vietnamese restaurants on Aleja Bohaterów Warszawy, Szczecin, Poland.jpg." Wikimedia Commons. 28 Sep 2020, 09:29 UTC. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Vietnamese_restaurants_on_Aleja_Bohater%C3%B3w_Warszawy,_Szczecin,_Poland.jpg&oldid=474177423>.

Will 27 Years be Enough? Vietnamese struggle for acceptance in Polish Society

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The French pronoun “iel” and what it reveals about the French’s relationship to their language

Image by Ted Eytan/Creative Commons 

(https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/27937114851) 

by Amy John

Amy John (she/her) is a recent University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign graduate with a double major in French Studies and Psychology. She plans to continue using French and to pursue a career in social work or a social work adjacent field. She wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023.

So, what is “iel” and why is it important?

“Iel” is the French version of the English singular gender-neutral pronoun “they.” It is a combination of “il” (he) and “elle” (she) (Wagener, 2021). “Iel” and “they” are important for similar reasons. It helps us refer to people when we don’t know their gender without assuming their gender. Often, “he” or “il” are the automatic pronouns used to refer to an unknown person. For example, board game instructions often explain the game in terms of “he” as opposed to “they.” Doing this excludes everyone who doesn’t use these masculine pronouns and further ensures the idea that men are the most important gender to exist. In addition, many people do not fit with feminine or masculine pronouns, so it is essential to have other pronouns that are not in that binary so everyone can feel true to themselves and as comfortable as possible.

Why are people angry?

In November 2021, the online dictionary Le Robert added an entry for “iel.” This quickly sparked an outrage among the more conservative French people. One example of that is François Jolivet, a member of the National Assembly of France, writing a letter to l’Académie Française, which is a government organization that oversees the French language, and then posting that letter to Twitter. In this letter, he complains that le Robert is trying to add new words into the French language and is promoting a “woke” agenda (Jolivet, 2021). This is fairly representative of what most people’s complaints are. People are concerned that le Robert is secretly a liberal group with the goal of changing the language maliciously and making French more “woke.” Others are concerned that “iel” is an anglicism, and many French people do not like when English or other languages start to influence their own. However, some of the same people who complain about “iel” being an anglicism also think it is a sign of “le wokisme” which is itself an anglicism, so they are being quite contradictory in their complaints.

The real reason behind the entry

To put it simply, dictionaries are not prescriptive, they are descriptive. Shortly after the new entry, le Robert issued a statement on the pronoun. They pointed out that the reason they included it was two-fold: one, the usage of “iel” has been growing, and two, “iel” can’t be understood from just reading it, otherwise known as it is not “transparent” (Bimbenet, 2021). Therefore, as a dictionary it was their job to have an entry for it so people would know what it means when they come across it. They are not trying to make any grand statement about the word, they are just acknowledging that it is being used in day to day life and so it should be included with all of the other words.

Pictured: L'Académie Française

Image by Jorge Láscar/Creative Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise_(22487682151).jpg)

What this tells us about the French's relationship to their language

France is very resistant to change, especially when it comes to their language. That is where l’Académie Française comes in. On their mission page on their website, the first thing you see is “défense de la langue française” which means “defense of the French language” (Académie Française, n.d.). Their goal is to preserve the French language where it is with minimal changes. They are generally against anglicisms and try to find other equivalents to use instead. French people have a universalist point of view - this means they think that individual differences are not as important as the overall cohesion of the country. “Le wokisme” is something they define as being American, and not French, and therefore bad and it goes against their universalist beliefs (Shock Rule, 2022). The French’s value of universalism also explains why they might not see the purpose behind having a gender neutral pronoun. Individual differences are not as important to the French as they are to Americans, so they just don’t care as much.

Many linguists say that the French should embrace these changes since language is not supposed to be something solid and fixed, but rather fluid and show the progress and changes of society (Timsit, 2017). So, when people begin to realize that non-binary people exist, and have existed for a long time, but they don’t have the right words to describe it, of course the language will change and adapt. In the same way that “iel” is a new word, so is “perfluoré” which is when a carbon chain is totally fluorinated. And yet, there was no big fuss made about “perfluoré.” This is likely because it is not seen as a threat to societal norms and is instead just a new word that has come to be because science has evolved and the need for a new word arose. This shows that while yes, the French are very protective of their language, they do so selectively and only when it suits their own agendas, morals, and beliefs.

References

Bimbenet, C. (2021, November 16). Pourquoi le Robert A-t-il intégré le mot “ iel ” dans son dictionnaire en ligne? Le Robert Dico en Ligne. https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/dis-moi-robert/raconte-moi-robert/mot-jour/pourquoi-le-robert-a-t-il-integre-le-mot-iel-dans-son-dictionnaire-en-ligne.html

Jolivet, F. [@FJolivet36.] (2021, November 16). Le Petit Robert, dictionnaire que l'on pensait être une référence, vient d'intégrer sur son site les mots « iel, ielle, iels [Image attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/FJolivet36/status/1460629818446422016

Les Missions. Académie Française. (n.d.). https://www.academie-francaise.fr/linstitution/les-missions

Shock Rule, M. (2022, March 17). New volume on gender-neutral language sheds light on political controversy in France. UW News. https://www.washington.edu/news/2022/03/17/new-volume-on-gender-neutral-language-sheds-light-on-political-controversy-in-france/

Timsit, A. (2017, November 24). The push to make French gender-neutral. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/inclusive-writing-france-feminism/545048/

Wagener, A. (2021, December 8). No need to 'iel': Why France is so angry about a gender-neutral pronoun. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/no-need-to-iel-why-france-is-so-angry-about-a-gender-neutral-pronoun-173304

The French pronoun “iel” and what it reveals about the French’s relationship to their language

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Friend or Foe? How the English language is shaping modern Denmark

Source: Wikimedia Commons

by Bridget Handley

Bridget Handley is a Senior majoring in Accountancy and minoring in Political Science at the University of Illinois. Bridget is passionate about travel, having been to around 45 countries and recently studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark over the summer of 2022. Bridget recently was accepted into the Masters of Accountancy Science program, and aspires to be a corporate attorney.  She wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023.

Denmark, a Scandinavian Country with a rich history and culture, is in a position of increasing globalization. Welcoming millions of tourists annually, and, according to Statista data, facing increasing amounts of immigration from 2020-2023 (with a notable 71% increase in immigration from 2021-2022), Denmark has been adjusting to various changes, practices, and cultures foreigners bring.  One of the largest impacts tourism, immigration and globalization through media, technology, innovation, and academia and more, has brought to this Scandinavian country is the spread of the English language. Currently, approximately “86% of Danes speak English as a second language” (Thornton, 2022) and Denmark has been ranked as a country with the “third highest proficiency in the world in speaking English as a second language” (Thornton, 2022). 

But how exactly does the widespread use of English impact Denmark? More specifically, how will it shape, and continue to shape, Danish educational institutions, politics, culture, businesses and more? 

 

The stress for Danish students to reach proficiency in English has been solidified within Danish higher education. In fact, within the higher education in Denmark, “the number of English medium programs increased sharply from the early 2000s…practically all university degree programs were offered in Danish (Dimova et. al., 2021)” and “At its peak in 2018, 48% of Masters’ programs in Danish universities were offered in English (Lonsmann & Mortensen, 2021) and labeled as ‘international programs’” (Adriansen , Hanne, et al, 2022). 

Not only does the English language have the role of being the top foreign language within Danish higher education, but it has also taken the spot of being the associated language of science – particularly natural science (Adriansen , Hanne, et al, 2022). This is due to the notion that English is seen as the global language of science within Denmark academia, and program directors believe having their students write reports and theses in English will ready them to work in the global sphere. Adding onto this, educational institutions have implemented the idea that their students “must be able to use English ‘nationally and globally in their current and future lives” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022) – English usage is to be expected in Denmark, among Danes, not just tourists and travelers. Another observation of the influence English has within Danish academia is the general student attitude towards English, which have been positive among the younger generation; “…Danish students associate the use of English loanwords with modernity, adolescence, competence and reliability (Anderson 2002: 41).” (Korpal, Pawel, 2013). Finally, the use of English in higher education allows for Danish educational institutions to draw in foreign students and researchers, which promotes the overall quality of the Danish education system (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). All these factors indicate the continued prominence, and growth of English within the Danish education system. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

English has also had its influence in past and current Danish politics. The English language has been viewed as both a threat, but also a language that brings opportunity, in the eyes of the Danish government. There has been the recent conflicting argument that there needs to be measures in place “to secure Danish or…[emphasize] the need to embrace a multilingual identity in order to secure Denmark’s place on the global market” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022) – most notably in global business and education markets. In recent times, past 2009, language policy discussions have been nearly nonexistent – “While the use of English has not decreased, the public-official conversation about English in Denmark in the form of reports and political proposals is almost silenced” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). This silence is a heavy indicator that the English language, rather than being seen as a threat to the modern Danish culture and language, has taken the turn of now being embraced as a collective linguistic identity (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022) and less of a political debate. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

English has also found a way to integrate itself into Danish culture. While the older generation is weary of English and its effects on Danish culture and language, “… some young Danes…[use]…English even when talking to each other. The reason or that was that they felt that English is a language of international prestige” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). The positive attitude towards English among the younger generation could also be attributed to the dominance English has in global media in the form of streaming services, social media, news outlets and more commonly used by younger generations (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). The dominance of English within global media has influenced modern Danish arts. More Danish musicians write, sing, and publish their songs in English, or label their bands with English names, to potentially help their work becoming renowned globally (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). English has made its presence within the Danish language as well, as it has been “highly influenced by English…[even] noticeable at the level of phonology, spelling and morphosyntax” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). There has also been an increasingly rising amount of English “loanwords” found within Danish vocabulary; in fact, “almost 40 [percent] of new words which emerged in Danish in the second part of the 20th century have been borrowed from English” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). The younger generation’s positive attitudes towards the language most likely will result in an increased climb in English “loan-word” usage; in fact in a research study, it was found that “48% [of young Danish participants] fully accept the presence of English loanwords in Danish while only 10% of them have a negative attitude towards these borrowings” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Finally, the English language has becoming increasingly prevalent within Danish business functions. A recent increase in employment-driven migration into Denmark has presented Danish companies with the task of navigating increasingly diverse linguistic environments. To combat this challenge, English has taken the role of being the central lingua franca, with some companies declaring English to be their “corporate language” in order to help ease international client and corporate communication (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). In fact, a survey taken across Danish Industry members (Ostrynski 2007) showed that “Among companies with more than 100 employees, over 70% reported having English as the company language. The survey also showed that over 90% indicated a need for English within the next five years.” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). When English is used as the corporate language, it means English is used for many written functions, to aid in communication in the case written documentation is sent out and could be interpenetrated by clientele, employees or others who may not speak Danish. For example, “All emails are formulated in English, all minutes are written down in English, and all meetings take place in English. This is the reality in several Danish companies where English has been introduced as the corporate language (Ostrynski 2007)” (Lønsmann, Dorte, et al., 2022). As one can clearly see, the reliance of English as the corporate lingua franca is not only prevalent but is on the rise. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

English has clearly integrated itself within Danish society through its influence in education, culture, business, politics, culture, and even native Danish attitudes. Its presence has not only made a profound impact on these areas but will continue to grow as globalization increases. It’s already heavy prevalence in Danish society opens the argument of whether English serves as a Lingua Franca in Denmark, which has been a subject of scholarly debate in recent times. Whether this is the case or not, there is no doubt of the significance the English language influence has had in current Demark.

References 

Statista Research Department. “Denmark: Number of Immigrants 2022.” Statista, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/575138/immigration-to-denmark/. 

Thornton, Astrid. “What Do People in Denmark Speak - and Can You Speak English There?” Seek Scandinavia, 23 Mar. 2023, https://seekscandinavia.com/people-speak-denmark/. 

Adriansen , Hanne, et al. “Emplacing English as Lingua Franca in International Higher Education: A Spatial Perspective on Linguistic Diversity.” Wiley Online Library , 17 Oct. 2022, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/psp.2619. 

Dimova, S., Hultgren, A. K., & Kling, J. (2021). Englishization in Danish higher education: From critical to constructive conceptualizations. In (eds.) R. Wilkinson & R. Gabriëls, The Englishization of Higher Education in Europe (pp. 143– 162). Amsterdam University Press.

 

Lønsmann, D., & Mortensen, J. (2021). Introduction: Language and inclusion in an international study programme in Denmark. In (Eds.) J. Mortensen & D. Lønsmann, The sociolinguistic complexity of international higher education in Denmark: Student perspectives on language ideologies and social inclusion (Vol C11, pp. 1– 25). Københavns Universitet, Humanistisk Fakultet.

 

Andersen M. H. 2003. “Engelsk I dansk. Sprogholdninger i Danmark – helt veldt sjovt eller wannabeagtigt og ejendomsmæglerkækt?”. In Windell, P. and Kunøe, M. (eds). 2003. 34-42. 

Korpal, Pawel. Language Policy in Denmark: The Approach to English as a Lingua Franca. Jan. 2013, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297480835_Language_policy_in_Denmark_The_approach_to_English_as_a_lingua_franca.

Lønsmann, Dorte, et al. “Er Engelsk Stadig Et Fremmedsprog i Danmark? Et Spørgsmål Om Kollektiv Sproglig Identitet.” NyS, Nydanske Sprogstudier, 30 June 2022, https://www.nys.dk/article/view/132242. 

 

Ostrynski, N. 2007. English has replaced Danish in every fourth company. Berlingske 22 October 2007. https://www.berlingske.dk/karriere/engelsk-har-fortraengt-dansk-i-hver-fjerde-virksomhd (accessed 26 March 2022).

 

Denmark in European Union (-rivers -mini map).svg. (2022, December 25). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 19:17, May 20, 2023 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Denmark_in_European_Union_(-rivers_-mini_map).svg&oldid=719579526.  

 

University Main Building.jpg. (2021, January 24). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 19:17, May 20, 2023 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:University_Main_Building.jpg&oldid=528174389.

 

Oresundskomiteen blir Greater Copenhagen 151202 0521 (23366636162).jpg. (2022, November 10). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 19:18, May 20, 2023 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Oresundskomiteen_blir_Greater_Copenhagen_151202_0521_(23366636162).jpg&oldid=704484461.

 

Denmark,Copenhague.jpg. (2022, September 6). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 19:19, May 20, 2023 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Denmark,Copenhague.jpg&oldid=687069278.

 

Danish Design Award Business vindere.jpg. (2022, November 4). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 19:18, May 20, 2023 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Danish_Design_Award_Business_vindere.jpg&oldid=702508188. 

Friend or Foe? How the English language is shaping modern Denmark

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