A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Language options and the role of English on Finnish banks' websites (2016)

Háhn, J. (2016). Language options and the role of English on Finnish banks' websites. In A. Solin, J. Vaattovaara, N. Hynninen, U. Tiililä, & T. Nordlund (Eds.), Kielenkäyttäjä muuttuvissa instituutioissa (pp. 200-215). Suomen soveltavan kielitieteen yhdistys. AFinLAn vuosikirja, 2016. https://journal.fi/afinlavk/article/view/59727

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Háhn, Judit

Parent publication: Kielenkäyttäjä muuttuvissa instituutioissa

Parent publication editors: Solin, Anna; Vaattovaara, Johanna; Hynninen, Niina; Tiililä, Ulla; Nordlund, Taru

eISBN: 978-951-9388-63-2

Journal or series: AFinLAn vuosikirja

eISSN: 2343-2608

Publication year: 2016

Number in series: 2016

Pages range: 200-215

Number of pages in the book: 233

Publisher: Suomen soveltavan kielitieteen yhdistys

Place of Publication: Jyväskylä

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: English

Persistent website address: https://journal.fi/afinlavk/article/view/59727

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/52577

Additional information: Suomen soveltavan kielitieteen yhdistyksen (AFinLA) julkaisuja ; 74, ISSN 0781-0318
Suomen soveltavan kielitieteen yhdistyksen AFinLAn vuotuinen syyssymposium, Helsinki 13.-14.11.2015

Abstract

The websites of commercial banks may serve multiple functions, including the provision of promotional, informational and online transactional services. The choice of languages offered on the websites reflects the banks' communication and marketing strategy in targeting groups of clients. In addition, the way content is presented on multilingual sites can shed light on the financial institution's implicit language policy. In order to understand the role of English in Finnish banks' online representation, a linguistic landscape approach was applied and the multilingual pages of 10 commercial banks were analyzed. The first aim was to find out how design, content, structure and usability relate to the provision of languages. The second aim was to reveal the banks' implied language policies. Both in public and social media there is an on-going discourse about foreigners' banking problems in Finland. Investigation of the representation of languages on the various websites can provide further insights into this issue.

Keywords: banks (monetary institutions); banking services; web pages; multilingualism; language policy

Free keywords: linguistic landscape; English

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2016

JUFO rating: 1