Employers

Language solutions for workplaces

Workplaces have various language solutions in place. Reviewing their effects supports language planning in the organisation.
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Content:

Working in Finnish, English or both? Benefits and disadvantages.

For whom:

Management and HR

Time:

Reading time approximately 10 minutes.

Benefit:

Raises awareness of how different language solutions affect the work community.

There is no universal template for the multilingual workplace, even for expert work. That said, at least three different language solutions can be observed in multilingual working communities at Finnish workplaces. The benefits (+) and disadvantages (–) of these solutions are presented next. 

Language Solution A: Let's all speak English

Language solution B: Speak (and learn) Finnish

Those who speak Finnish as a second language are given opportunities to improve their proficiency in Finnish. Improving language proficiency consequently improves opportunities for career progression. 

Language Solution C: Multilingualism

In some workplaces people switch languages flexibly according to the needs of the situation and those who are speaking. One concept is that of parallel lingualism – communicating by using two or more languages in parallel. There is also receptive multilingualism, which means that of the common languages, each person uses the one that is strongest for them when they speak.

©2024 Johanna Komppa, Eveliina Korpela, Lari Kotilainen, Salla Kurhila and Inkeri Lehtimaja

Language solutions for workplaces, august 2024, produced by Johanna Komppa, Eveliina Korpela, Lari Kotilainen, Salla Kurhila and Inkeri Lehtimaja, is licensed under a CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The material can be found at kielibuusti.fi. Photos: All rights reserved. 

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Steps toward language awareness in the workplace

Content:

Model for planning language aware practices. 

Time:

As part of developing the organisation's operations, time is reserved for getting to know the model and work community-oriented development. 

Benefit:

Helps set objectives and identify required resources. 
 

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Language User Profiles

Content:

Model for understanding needs and emotions related to language.

Time:

Getting to know the model: about 15 minutes.

Benefit:

Raises awareness of wishes and circumstances of different language users.

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Content:

Guidelines for drawing up the organisation's language strategy.

Time:

Preparation, implementation and monitoring of the strategy.

Benefit:

Highlights the organisation's objectives and provides a basis for actions. 

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Language discussions in the work community

Content:

Discussion templates to support language discussions in the work community.

Time:

Planning and e.g. 1–1.5 h discussion.

Benefit:

The work community becomes more aware of linguistic issues and commits to developing linguistic practices.

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