Communicative situations in Finland

The students were asked about the communicative situations they had possibly encountered in Finland. It is significant to notice how often the students had encountered communicative situations in English. The interviewees were relatively young, aged 15-16 years. Despite their young age they had all been approached with a question in a foreign language and thus, they were expected to have the ability to speak English. This is due to the good reputation of Finns having good foreign language skills and thus, education. All the students from the two groups living in a largest city in central Finland had encountered situations where they needed to use English.

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Among the interviewees, one student had gained experience in speaking English for a longer period of time:

(68, Iida) mä puhuin vuoden kotona englantia tai ku meille tuli niin ku isäpuoli Belgiasta ni mä puhuin

I spoke English for a year at home since we had a stepfather from Belgium so I spoke

Usually, the students were approached by a person who spoke a foreign language and the students were in a situation where they needed to use their language skills. In addition, as the example above illustrates, one student, Iida, mentioned that she used her English language skills everyday for a year at home.

The language use situations that the students had encountered were somewhat similar:

(69, Eeva) jos joku on tullu kysyy just jotain niin ku ohjeita niin ku reittiohjeita ja tämmöstä

if somebody has asked something like directions

(70, Krisse) no mullekin on varmaan tullu että joku et joku on kysyny jotain tietä jonnekin

well I guess somebody has come to me and asked directions to somewhere

(71, Nea) no on tullu jotku ulkomaalaiset kysymään et millä bussilla pääsee vaikka Käpylään tai mistä mennään johonki

yes some foreigners have asked which bus goes to let’s say to Käpylä or how do you get to somewhere

The language use situations that the students mentioned were always situations where students were asked something in a foreign language. Iida was an exception since she used English to communicate with a family member but she also mentioned a situation where she was approached with a question in English. Most of the students had encountered language use situations which were related to asking for the way around the city.

Similarly, the students had been asked for a location of a certain place:

(72, Iida) Helsingissä on tultu kysymään jotain et hei tiiäksää mis on joku Stocka

In Helsinki I have been asked where Stocka is

(73, Sami) joku on tullu kysymään jotain kauppaa

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somebody has asked where the store is

In addition to asking directions, some of the students had encountered situations where a particular place in the city was inquired.

In addition to encountering communicative situations in English, the students reported experiencing inquiries also in other languages:

(74, Sami) ja sit se tuli solkottaa mulle jotain saksaa tai jotain ja mä sanoin että sit se puhu englantia ni se hoitu paremmi sillä ku sitä osaa melkee kaikki and then it came to me and spoke German or something and then I said that and then he spoke English so it went a lot better because almost everybody speaks English

The interviewees mentioned that they prefer speaking in English even though they are spoken to in another language. Sami mentioned a situation where he had been asked a question using a language other than English. He referred to a situation where a person asked him a question in German. He chose to speak English in the situation. According to Sami, the situation went on better since English is the language almost everyone understands and speaks.

As the following example illustrates, sometimes the situations included communication blockage.

(75, Jimi) se osas kysyä että mistä pääsee keskustaan mutta se ei ymmärtäny mun vastausta ollenkaan se ei osannu englantii muuta ku vaan sen kysymyksen

he knew how to ask directions to the center but he did not understand my answer at all he could not speak English other than that one question

One of the students, Jimi, recalled a situation where he was asked a question in English but his answer in English was not understood since the person did not speak English more than that question. However, it is unclear whether the misunderstanding is due to the student’s English language skills or the other person’s skills. It is important to notice the student’s self-confidence as an English language speaker.

The students living in the countryside, however, were not as straightforward with the question. One of the girls did not recall a situation where she would

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have used English. One of the boys did not say anything when this question was discussed.

However, there were experiences of communicative situations among the students living in the countryside:

(76, Tea) ni me oltiin toi ton Siirin kans ni tuol siäl Tampereel ja sit ku me oltii siäl shoppailemas ni siäl me törmättii sellasee parturiin mikä oli ulkomaalaine ja sit toi Siiri pääs siihe niinko koekaniiniks ja se ei osannu sit yhtää Suomee

well we were with Siiri in Tampere and when we were there shopping we bumped into this hairdresser who was a foreigner and then Siiri went there so she could do her hair and the hairdresser did not speak Finnish at all

Two of the girls, Tea and Siiri, mentioned a situation where they had used the English language but it was not in their home town but in a larger city. It is significant that the girls decided to voluntarily take part in this social and communicative situation even though they needed to communicative in a foreign language. The example above indicates that the girls were willing to try speaking in a foreign language and were confident that they would manage the situation. It is crucial that students are not afraid of the situations but rather take part and try to manage the situation.

In addition, the students also reported encountering communicative situations locally:

(77, Juha) kotipaikas polakeil. no emmä tiä yleensä kysyy reittii

at my home town with Polish people I don’t know they usually ask for directions to somewhere

Two boys mentioned encountering some situations where the English language was needed in their home town. At the moment, their home town is also populated with Polish workers and the boys had encountered communicative situations with them. Usually, the situations were associated with asking for instructions to get around in town. In addition to this, the boys mentioned asking some inappropriate questions from the workers.

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