ASPECTS OF COMMODIFICATION OF RUSSIAN IN FINLAND

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

This article examines the commodification of Russian in Finland, where recent decades have seen a sharp rise in the size of the Russian-speaking population and the number of tourists from Russia. We particularly consider the use of Russian in the fields of traditional and medical tourism, education, and culture - all of them areas where Russian tourists show a strong preference for services in their native language. The need to provide a variety of services in Russian means that proficiency in Russian is a sig-nificant asset on the job market, both for immigrants and for the relatively small number of Finns who can speak the language. We also note that there is considerable demand among Russian-speaking parents in Fin-land for educational services to supplement their children’s school education.

About the authors

Hannes Viimaranta

University of Helsinki

Email: hannes.viimaranta@gmail.com
Hannes Viimaranta, BA (Oxford), MA (Helsinki), is a former university teacher of Russian language and literature. He now teaches modern foreign languages at school level and continues to engage in research activities. Research interests: sociolinguistics, bilingualism, multilingualism, commodification of Russian language, education, language and culture. 33 Fabianinkatu, 00014 Helsinki, Finland, P.O. Box 3

Ekaterina Protassova

University of Helsinki

Email: ekaterina.protassova@helsinki.fi
Ekaterina Protassova, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Modern Languages, University of Helsinki. Research interests: multilingualism in Russia and abroad, Russian speaking diaspora in the world (especially in Finland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan), the use of the modern Russian language, intercultural communication, bilingual education and language revitalization. 33 Fabianinkatu, 00014 Helsinki, Finland, P.O. Box 3

Arto Mustajoki

University of Helsinki

Email: arto.mustajoki@helsinki.fi
Arto Mustajoki, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, Vice-President of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (MAPRYAL). Research interests: Russian language, functional grammar, contrastive cross-linguistic studies, linguistic methodology, cross-cultural communication, miscommunication and linguistic tolerance. 33 Fabianinkatu, 00014 Helsinki, Finland, P.O. Box 3

References

  1. Baschmakoff, N., Leinonen, M. (2001) Russian Life in Finland 1917-1939: A Local and Oral History. Helsinki: Tomus.
  2. Byckling, L. (2009) Keisarinajan kulisseissa: Helsingin Venäläisen teatterin historia 1868-1918. Helsinki: Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura.
  3. Culture Finland (2014) Kulttuurimatkailun kehittämisstrategia Kansainvälisille markkinoille 2014-2018. Helsinki: Matkailun edistämiskeskus.
  4. Duchêne, A. and Heller, M. (eds.) (2012) Language in Late Capitalism: Pride and Profit. New York: Routledge.
  5. Heller, M. (2003) Globalization, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7/4, 473-492.
  6. Heller, M. (2010) The commodification of language. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39, 101-114.
  7. Jakkonen, Aleksandr (2014). Na lechenie i reabilitaciiu v Finliandiiu. http://www.kauppatie.com/ 2014/09-2014/rus-13.shtml.
  8. Kononov, R. (2016) Rossiiskii rynok medicinskogo turizma: zavyshennye cifry i upavshii interes. https://vc.ru/p/recomed.
  9. Konttinen, J. (2016) Lapset, nyt Siperiaan! HS Kuukausiliite, 9, 68.
  10. Lammi, A., Protassova, E. Suomen venäjänkieliset kulttuuripalveluiden käyttäjinä ja tuottajina. Hel¬sinki: Venäjän ja Itä-Euroopan instituutti, 2012.
  11. Medtown (2016) V Rossii vse stremiatsia popast’ k “khoroshemu vrachu” - finnam eto trudno poniat. http://medtown.ru/interview-finnclinic.htm.
  12. Mikkonen, J., Pesonen, J., Honkanen, A. (2015). Kulttuurimatkailun vaikuttavuusindikaattorit. Esi¬selvityshankkeen 2013-2015 loppuraportti. Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 20.
  13. Mustajoki, A., Protassova, E. (2015) The Finnish-Russian relation-ships: the interplay of economics, history, psychology and language. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 23 (4), 2015, 69-81.
  14. Muth, S. (2017) Russian as a commodity: medical tourism and the healthcare industry in post-Soviet Lithuania. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 20, 4, 404-416.
  15. Parkkila-Harju, M. (ed.) (2013) Suomen lääkärit 2012 = Finlands läkare 2012. Helsinki: Suomen lääkäriliitto.
  16. Pavlenko, A. (2015) Russian-friendly: how Russian became a commodity in Europe and beyond, Inter¬national Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, doi: 10.1080/13670050.2015.1115001.
  17. Plykina, T. (2011) Venäläisten ostosmatkailu pääkaupunkiseudulla. Helsinki: Haaga-Helia.
  18. Sahlberg, P. (2011) Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Fin¬land? New York: Teachers College Press.
  19. Sahlberg, P. (2015) Finskie uroki. Istoriia uspekha reform shkolnogo obrazovaniia v Finliandii. Moscow: Klassika-XXI.
  20. STT Info (2016). Hyksin Oy ja Orton Oy syventävät yhteistyötään. https://www.sttinfo.fi/tiedote/ hyksin-oy-ja-orton-oy-syventavat-yhteistyotaan?publisherId=7961000&releaseId=45928938.
  21. TNS Gallup Oy (2010) Kiinnostaako Suomi kulttuurimatkailukohteena? Kartoitus Iso-Britanniassa, Ranskassa, Ruotsissa, Saksassa ja Venäjällä tarkastelee kyseisten maiden kansalaisten näke¬myksiä kulttuurimatkailusta, heidän kulttuurin kuluttamistaan lomamatkoilla ja kiinnostustaan matkustaa Suomeen kulttuurilomalle. MEK A: 167.
  22. Yelenevskaya, M., Protassova, E. (2015) Global Russian: between decline and revitalization. Russian Journal of Communication, 7(2), 139-149.
  23. Yle.fi (2016) Teper pokupaiut tolko produkty pitaniia. 30.5. http://yle.fi/uutiset/teper_pokupayut _tolko_produkty_pitaniya__za_proshlyi_god_rossiiskie_turisty_potratili_v_yuzhnoi_karelii_150_000_000_yevro/8917854.

Copyright (c) 2017 Viimaranta H., Protassova E., Mustajoki A.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies