Blog

VARIATION IS THE SPICE OF LIFE

Celebrating 20 years of academic life in Finland -- and some news!

I didn't understand much about the Finnish higher education system back when I received a life-changing phone call during my daily work...

Black Friday

It’s the last week of November, and everywhere you go in Helsinki, it seems like there are signs screaming these two words at you: “Black...

Rakastatko suomen kieltä? Hyvä! Oletko huolissasi suomen kielestä? Älä ole!

Tässä on 6 tärkeää faktaa suomesta ja Suomen kielitilanteesta. Voisitko lainata kieltä? Kielet eivät ole niin yksiselitteisiä kuin...

Confronting our discomfort: some memories of teaching

I have been doing this job for more than twenty years now. There is one thing I am constantly reminded of, and that can be summarized as...

Introducing the LAIF project: Language Awareness and Ideologies in Finland

with generous funding from the Kone Foundation A lot of people care a lot about language. English speakers often care about how different...

Making it to the Finnish line: my visit to Michigan's UP

Last month I had the privilege of paying a visit to Michigan, thanks to the efforts and generosity of my host, Dr. Kathryn Remlinger, and...

Book project: English in the Nordic Countries

This autumn I signed a fresh new contract with Routledge for a book on the role of English in the Nordic countries. I wish I could lay...

How do you pronounce "Helsinki?" A simple question made hard

How do you pronounce "Helsinki"?

Creepy magic

Code-switching means when a person switches between languages in some kind of communicative event, like in a conversation, for example....

The perfect Finn (whatever that means)

This is a brain teaser for many people. Who is the perfect Finn I refer to in the title of this post? Well, surprise surprise, it’s ME....