English as a Lingua Franca on Finnish Corporate

Websites:

The Case of Ostrobothnian Export Companies Sirkku Aaltonen

University of Vaasa

The larger the business company, the more likely it is that it has a website. Websites are also an effective and low cost tool in international marketing but also suggest credibility and respectability. When companies are planning to internationalize, or when they use their website for communication with an existing foreign market, the choice oflanguage needs careful consideration. The present study has investigated the websites of sixteen Ostrobothnian export companies for their use of English as a lingua franca for international contacts. The analysis has focused on three important question of how often, why and what English is used on the websites

Since its full commercial connections became available in

1991, the Internet has opened up information superhighways

for companies wanting to find new customers in the global

marketplace. It has effectively reduced the competitive

advantages of scale economies and made it possible, in

particular, for SMEs, small and medium-sized enterprises, to

compete on a worldwide basis. It has provided a wide range

of tools, such as e-mail, the World Wide Web, MUDS (Multi-

User Dialogue), MOOS (MUD Object Oriented), IRC (Internet

Relay Chat), video conferencing and information search and

retrieval software which can speed internationalization

mainly in network communications, market intelligence and

global sales promotion. In global sales promotion, a website

is a low cost tool which can be used to serve many purposes

from advertising, corporate visibility, brand name

recognition, public relations, press releases, corporate

sponsorship, direct sales to customer support and technical

assistance. (Hamill 1997: 303-310)

In the present study, I am proposing to investigate how

some medium-sized and large Ostrobothnian exporting

companies have met the challenge of internationalization on

their websites. I am particularly interested in the use of

English as a lingua franca on the websites rather than, for

example, the localization of images, paratextual features of

layout, font types or – sizes or colours, or adjustments

resulting from location-specific customization of products.

The choice of language for the website is an important

dimension of localization, “the process of modifying

products or services to accommodate differences in distinct

markets” (Lommel quoted in McDonough 2006: 86). The company

has to decide what segment of the international market they

want to reach and what languages best serve this purpose.

When English is chosen as lingua franca, the website is made

potentially accessible internationally to a wider market

than a fully localized and customized non-English site. The

choice of language has both pragmatic and ideological

implications which can considerably affect the foreign

market entry. Website creation in foreign languages causes

translation costs, but the website is also an important part

of the company’s image. It is related to language competence

both in the company wanting to internationalize and in its

target market. Languages also carry important symbolic

value.

In the present study, I am interested in how common it

is for Finnish companies to choose English as a lingua

franca to approach existing or potential interest groups and

who these groups are. I have also identified features of the

variety of English used on the websites. The three questions

central for the study have thus been:

1) How frequently do companies choose English as a lingua

franca for their website?

2) Why do they choose English?

3) What variety of English are they using on their websites?

To answer these questions, I have studied the websites of 16

Ostrobothnian export companies and complemented the findings

with telephone interviews with 13 companies. I have relied

on the websites for information about the size and

organizational structure of the companies and also about

their export market. In the telephone interviews, also the

question of language choice and website design have been

addressed.

In what follows, I will first describe the research

data in terms of the company size and exports and then look

at the significance and restrictions of websites in

international marketing. I will then narrow the scope of

discussion to Finland as a business environment both for the

choice of English as a lingua franca and online access. The

analysis of ELF on corporate websites is structured to

answer the three questions I have set for the study.

Research Data

The Ostrobothnian Chamber of Commerce1 provided on request a

list of 21 export companies in Ostrobothnia on the west

coast of Finland, of which 16 were chosen for the study of

corporate websites. Five companies were excluded on the

basis of the location of the company headquarters elsewhere:

the local ABB is part of the global2 Swiss-Swedish ABB Group

(Asea Brown Boveri) which has it head office in Switzerland.

Also Enics Group have their headquarters in Switzerland,

Alteams Group have their head office in Jyväskylä and Kemira

and Wärtsilä theirs in Helsinki .

1 Phonecall 26.10.2005/Mia Brönbacka.

2 According to John Allen (1995: 110-111), in order to qualify as a “global company”, the locations worldwide need to represent the whole range of a company’s activities in each locations (full production presence, R & D facilities, a management presence and marketing and distribution faclities. A close candidate for a global company, according to Allen, is AAB with its centralized management and directorsand executives drawn from a range of nationalities.

Nine of the 16 companies are medium-sized3 and seven

are large. The medium-sized enterprises are all limited

liability companies and include Oy Botnia Marin (headcount

130), Scott Health & Safety Oy (some 100), T-Drill Oy (100),

Oy Primo Finland Ab (84), Laine-Tuotanto Oy, Riitan Herkku

Oy and Unituli Oy (70) and Oy Petsmo Products Ab and SK

Tuote Oy (60). The seven large companies, six limited

liability company and one a PLC, have a considerably larger

workforce: Oy KWH Pipe Ab 12894, Vacon Oyj5 426, Oy Närko Ab

330, Vaasa Engineering 250-300, Citec Oy and Oy Konte Ab 294

and, Oy Närpes Trä och Metall Ab 260. Some companies

function as part of an international group: Oy Petsmo

Products Ab is part of the Finnish-Swedish Österberg Group,

Oy Primo Finland Ab has become part of the Danish group

Interprimo, Scott Health & Safety Oy is part of the

international US-based Tyco Group, and Unituli Oy is part of

3 According to the classification of the European Commission, implemented 1 January 2005, the headcount and turnover/balance sheet areimportant criteria for distinguishing small, medium-sized and large companies. For my classification, I have used only the headcount criterion which defines micro-sized companies as those where the workforce is less than 10, small companies as those where the headcount is less than 50 and medium-sized companies as those where the headcount is less than 50. (see http://www.ek_suomeksi/yrittajyys/pk_yritykset/index.php Accessed 9.4.2006)

4 Oy KWH Pipe Ab Annual Report 2004, available at http://www.kwhgroup.com/Default.aspx?id=300732 Accessed 2.5.2006.

5 PLC.

the Swedish Hilding Anders Group. Oy Närko Ab is one of a

group of three local companies (with Oy Trailer Rigg Ab &

Botnia Grönsaker).

The medium-sized companies manufacture and sell a wide

range of products. Oy Botnia Marin specializes in boats,

Laine-Tuotanto Oy in sheet metal processing, Oy Petsmo

Products Ab in machinery for slaughterhouses and fodder

kitchens, Oy Primo Finland Ab in plastic profiles, Riitan

Herkku Oy in cheeses, desserts, pizzas, and berries, SK

Tuote Oy in fastening and roof products, Scott Health &

Safety Oy in respiratory protective equipment, T-Drill Oy in

machines for branching, cutting and forming of pipes and

Unituli Oy in beds & mattresses.

Also the large companies have a wide range of products.

Citec Oy is a consultant company specialising in technical

information process, engineering for industry and

environmental consulting, Oy Konte Ab in building

construction, Oy KWH Pipe Ab in the production and

development of plastic pipe systems and turnkey projects

involving design, planning and installation of pipe systems,

Oy Närko Ab in trailers, Oy Närpes Trä och Metall Ab in

sea/road transportation vehicles, trucks, trailers and

customized vehicles, Vaasa Engineering Oy in automation and

electrification solutions to energy and production processes

and Vacon Oyj in frequency converters.

Some companies have already a strong presence in

international markets, while others are only planning their

foreign market entry. Consequently, while most of the sales

in some companies are in exports (T-Drill Oy 96%, Oy Botnia

Main Ab 85%), for others exports are less significant. For

example, exports represent some half of the sales of Oy

Petsmo Products Ab, while in Laine-Tuotanto Oy, they account

only for some 4-5% of the sales. Unituli Oy is only starting

its export to Russia.6

All but one of the 16 companies have at least a

bilingual website, and some offer the choice of several

languages on their websites. As some are only starting the

internationalization process, while others have already

customized their websites for their foreign markets, the

choice of languages for the website have different

motivations.

The Website and Foreign Market Entry

A company with a website is already an international

company, giving prospective online markets of customers,

investors, business partners and employees the opportunity

of contacting them wherever they are and whenever they want.

Even if the company has no plans, a website may trigger

6 The figures on the telephone from Robert Carpelan/ Botnia Marin Oy 10.4.2006, Orvo Tuominen/ Laine Tuotanto Oy 10.4.2006, Tommy Stenvall/ Oy Petsmo products AB 10.4.2006, Pekka Ristimäki/ T-Drill 13.4.2006 and Anne Åberg/ Unituli Oy 10.4.2006.

unsolicited approaches by potential partners (Chrysostome &

Rosson 2004: 4). Most importantly, however, a website may

form an important part of the strategy for entering the

foreign market, which may be vital for SMEs, in particular,

as a means of complementing the small home market. Finding

foreign markets is essential, however, also for the entire

national economy. This has been recognized, for example, in

Finland where The Ministry of Trade and Industry has set as

its goal to increase the number of export companies from

7000 to 10 000 by the year 2010, paying special attention to

the increase in the share of SMEs of export companies from

14% to 20% during the same time.

(http://www.ktm.fi/index.phtml?l=en&s=1476 Accessed 1.5.

2006)

A well-designed corporate website may facilitate and

speed a successful foreign market entry, but its existence

alone does not guarantee this. The site needs to be marketed

in such a way that a large number of hits can be ensured,

for example by registering it with all online search

engines, establishing reciprocal cross-linkage to other

sites, and providing all company material with the URL

address. To encourage repeated visits, the website must be

well-designed, information-rich and have regular updating

and clear navigation paths. Ideally, it should also be

designed to allow the gathering of information about the

usersi7. (Ellsworth & Ellsworth quoted in Hamill 1997: 310.)

The selection of the information, language and cultural

content8 of the website has to be designed with great care.

The information overload on the Internet is already

significant, and users expect both quick downloading and

usability. Moreover, a corporate website does not know its

readership in advance. A prospective client will need

different information than a prospective employee who will

want different information from a prospective investor

(http://www.pantos.org/atw/35281-b.html Accessed 5.5.2006).

The website is important both for the image of the company,

but it also functions as a kind of mission statement. It

offers the company the opportunity to say what they are,

what they stand for, and what significance they give to

their foreign customers. It may have a significant

respectability factor in the eyes of potential customers as

well. To be a credible brand, company, service or

organization in today’s business market is to have a

website. (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 80.)

Relatively few markets can be penetrated using the

Internet alone, and many adjustments require a local

presence. The Internet cannot, for example, replace the

7 For example, Riitan Herkku Oy has included this in their website (information on telephone from Ritva Pajulahti at Advertising Agency Bonnie & Clyde Oy. 25.4.2006)

8 For customization of the cultural content, see e.g. Yli-Jokipii, Hilkka (2001).

personal contact required in many cultures. Moreover, the

Internet may not be able to provide access to all desirable

markets as the electronic superhighways only lead to markets

with online access. It offers the greatest potential for

businesses in the triad of North America, Europe and

developed Asia (Chrysostome & Rosson 2004: 7, 12). In this

triad, the Internet favours the use of English as a lingua

franca because of the competence in it, but also, in some

cases, because of the symbolic value it carries.

English in the Information Superhighways

The Internet was first developed in the U.S.A. in the 1960s,

and English-speaking countries still continue to hold a

central position on it in terms of geopolitical territories,

user numbers and web contents. Geopolitically, the English-

speaking world of Kachru’s inner circle9 have the highest

number of Internet users: in the U.S.A. 68% of the

population has access to the Internet, in Australia 68.4%,

in Canada 67%, and in the UK 62.9%. In the rest of the world

only developed high-technology Asian countries, such as

Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and in Europe in the

Netherlands can compete with these percentages.10 9 For description of the spread of English, see e.g. Crystal 2003: 60-61.

10 This classification is simplified as there are many languages spoken in the countries in the inner circle. For language diversity, see, e.g. http://global-reach.biz/globstats/refs.php3#languages or http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name

(http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm Accessed

21.4.2006.) English native speaker (NS) presence is

prominent in the total online population also by language.

In 2004, English NSs accounted for 35.8% of the of 801.4M

(http://www.global-reach.biz/globstats/index.php3 Accessed

16.4.2006). Moreover, the web content is dominated by

English language material. In 2004, of the total of 313B web

pages, 68.4% were in English, while Japanese accounted for

5.9%, German 5.8%, Chinese 3.9%, French 3.0%, Spanish 2.4%,

Russian 1.9%, Italian 1.6%, Portuguese 1.4%, Korean 1.3%

and other languages 4.6%

(http://global-reach.biz/globstats/refs.php3 Accessed

16.4.2006).

English is an important language for businesses for

reaching a wide segment of the world’s online population.

Apart from contacts with native speakers, English also

functions as an important lingua franca in both Asian and

European markets. In future the importance of other

languages than English may grow as Internet access becomes

available in territories outside Europe and the U.S.A. where

online population is increasing at a fast rate. Between 2000

and 2005, Internet usage grew most in proportion to the

total population in the Middle East (454.2%), Africa

(423.9%), Latin America/ Caribbean (342.5%) and Asia

(218.7%), while the growth in Europe was 177.5%, in

Oceania/Australia 134.6% and in North America 110.3%. Even

greater growth rates are evidenced by statistics of online

population by native language: Russian 664.5%, Portuguese

327.3%, Chinese 309.6%, French 235.9%, Spanish 229.2%,

Italian 118.7%, German 106%, Japanese 83.3% and Korean 78%.

At the same time the growth rate for English was “only”

128%. (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm Accessed

21.4.2006.) There is some indication of increase in non-

English web contents as well. Already in 1998, the total

number of newly created non-English Web sites passed that

for newly created English Web sites, with Spanish, Japanese,

German and French as the most important languages. (Crystal

2001: 218-219) Many of the above geopolitical and language

territories are, however, in the expanding circle of English

speakers with whom, for example Finnish companies are likely

to continue to communicate in English.

English may carry important symbolic value, and its use

does not need to be directly linked with knowledge of and

competence in it in the target market. In consequence, the

website will reflect the corporation’s awareness of this.

For example, it has been suggested that in Central and

Eastern European countries, English may be associated with

modernity, internationalism, cosmopolitanism, trendiness,

success, Westernism, Americanism, democracy, or consumption.

(Kelly-Holmes 2005: 95, 104). In some countries, English may

be seen by companies as an international language of

compromise in multilingual market situations, such as those

in South Africa and Hong Kong (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 83).

For individual companies, the choice of language on the

website may also be linked to the cost of translation. For

example, the median cost in the U.S.A. in 1999 for website

development was between US $37, 000 and US$ 200,000 for a

complex site with transaction capabilities, and adding a

foreign language capability ranged in cost from US$10,000 to

US$ 500,000 (Wilson & Abel quoted in Chryssostome & Rosson

2004: 8). In Finland, the cost of translation of the total

cost of website design appears to be more modest. The

average cost of designing and constructing a website11 in

one language may vary between 1000€ and 5000€, and when more

languages are added to the site, the translation cost as

well as the editing of the translations for the website add

to this. Estimated translation cost for one page of textii

varies between 36€ and 100€iii, while the editing adds

another 1500€ for each language.

Finland in the ELF Online Triad

Finnish companies operate at home in a multilingual society

where Finnish itself increasingly functions as a lingua

franca in a number of small indigenous and immigrant

11 The estimate was given on the telephone by Ritva Pajulahti at Vaasa-based Advertising Agency Bonnie & Clyde Oy. (telephone call 25.4.2006)

language communities. Although the official languages,

Finnish and Swedish, dominate in Finland in terms of numbers

of speakers, the language encyclopaedia Ethnologue lists

thirteen languages for Finland of which only one has become

extinct (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=FI

Accessed 1.5.2006).

Despite this diversity and the existence of two official

languages, Finland has, ever since WWII, gradually become

one of the countries in the expanding circle of English

speakers. English has become a visible part of the Finnish

urban landscape (see e.g. Moore and Varantola 2005) and the

media and gained a firm foothold in many fields of life. In

education, English dominates both in Finnish schools and

universities12

The dominance of English as the most important foreign

language in Finland has been greeted with both growing

concern about the impoverishment of Finnish and suggestions

to further strengthen the use of English. Director of The

Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA Risto Penttilä

triggered off strong emotional response when he proposed in

an interview that English should be accorded the same status

in Finland as the Saami language. He suggested that English

should be made an auxiliary language and documentation in

areas such as public administration, services and taxation 12 for schools, see http://www.kisu.fi/kielivalinnat.php?osio=vanhemmatAccessed 1.5.2006 and for foreign language programmes in Finnish universities, Lehto & Markkanen (2005).

be made available in English. This, according to him, would

also improve Finnish competitiveness and attractiveness as a

locale in a globalized world. (Toivonen 2004.)

Finns as Forerunners in Technology

In technology, Finland is already recognized as a highly

competitive country and among the forerunners of the world

(see e.g. Yli-Jokipii 2001: 105). Finns are active users of

both mobile phones and computers. In 2001, nearly 77 Finns

out of 100 had a mobile phone, and in the previous year they

sent a total of one billion text messages.

(http://www.stat.fi/tk/yr/tietoyhteiskunta/matkapuhelin_vrte

urooppa_kuvasivu_en.html Accessed 5.5.2006). Finns are also

well set for online access. In 2003, Finns had 47 PCs for

each 100 inhabitants, bringing the total number of PCs to

2 405 000. In comparison, although there were more PCs in

the U.S.A. (62) and Sweden (69) per 100 inhabitants, they

were fewer, for example, in the UK (44). The number of

Internet hosts in Finland (2437) was ahead of those in

Sweden (1051) and the UK (533), although still only about

half of those in the U.S.A. (5578). (http://www.itu.int/ITU-

D/ict/statistics/at_glance/Internet03.pdf Accessed

16.4.2006) Moreover, among the population aged 10 to 74,

some 60 per cent of the men and 57 per cent of the women

were able to use a computer at home in spring 2002. In 1999,

62 per cent (1.24 million Finns) reported having used their

home computer at least once a week, and some 30 per cent

(540,000 Finns) had consulted web pages from home.

(http://www.stat.fi/tk/yr/tietoyhteiskunta/tietokonejaverkko

yhteys_en.html Accessed 6.5.2006.) In 2004, about 70 per

cent of the 15 to 74-year-old Finns had used the Internet

during the last three month. E-commerce is likely to gain in

popularity in Finland also in future. Nearly 59 per cent of

the population aged 15 to 74 and almost 84 per cent of

Internet users had searched for product information from the

Internet over the last three months although only 15 per

cent had ordered something for personal use via it.

(http://www.stat.fi/tk/yr/tietoyhteiskunta/verkkokauppa_en.h

tml Accessed 5.6.2006)

Finnish corporations have also been active in taking

advantage of the online access. In the spring 2005, some 73

per cent of all enterprises with at least five employees had

broadband connection, whereas a year earlier the proportion

had been 63 per cent. Sixty-five per cent of all enterprises

had a website. The size of the company is related to their

likelihood of having a website. The larger the company, the

more likely they are to have a website. Half of the small

enterprises employing 5 to 9 persons, some 65 per cent of

enterprises employing between 10 and 19 persons, over 80 per

cent of those with 20 to 49 employees, and more than nine

out of ten enterprises with more than 50 employees had a

website. Online access has been important marketing tool. In

2004, sixteen per cent of all enterprises employing at least

five persons and 24 per cent of enterprises with home pages

had sales via the Internet, and the total value of their

Internet sales amounted to around EUR 11 billion. Most of

the value came from trade between enterprises, while direct

sales to consumers generated under nine per cent of the

total value.

(http://www.stat.fi/til/icte/2005/icte_2005_2005-10-

13_tie_001_en.html Accessed 16.4.2006)

The Ostrobothnian companies in the research data are

well in line with the national figures even with their

foreign language websites. A foreign language website

appears to be important even if the company is only planning

to enter the international marketplace or is exporting very

little. In general, the websites of the companies in the

research data are directed at foreign enterprises rather

than individual consumers. Some larger companies had,

however, links for potential job applicants. This is the

case, for example, on the website of Vacon Oyj,

http://www.vacon.com/ , which has a “career” hyperlink.

In what follows, the language options on Ostrobothnian

websites are related to the target export markets and the

significance of English inferred from this. The discussion

will be followed by an analysis of the characteristics of

English on the websites.

ELF on Ostrobothnian CorporateWebsites: how often English?

The sixteen Ostrobothnian enterprises in my research data

had hyperlinks on their website to pages in twelve different

languages. One of the companies, Oy Botnia Marin Ab, had

only an English website, five companies had links to pages

in two languages, four used three languages and three sites

offered links to pages in four languages. Multilingual

websites were offered by three companies: two used nine

languages, and one thirteen. The majority of companies with

bilingual websites used Finnish and English (Vaasa

Engineering Oy, Scott Health & Safety Oy, Lainetuotanto Oy

and T-drill Oy), and thus either targeted a wider

international market or regarded diversification

unnecessary. The only exception was Konte Oy, whose

bilingual website was available in Finnish and Swedish only.

When corporate websites were available in three language (Oy

Petsmo products Ab, Oy Närko Ab, Oy Närpes Trä och Metall Ab

and Citec Oy), the two official languages (Finnish and

Swedish) were complemented with English. When four languages

were used, Russian was added to Finnish, Swedish and English

on three corporate websites (Unituli Oy, SK Tuote Oy and Oy

Primo Finland Ab). One medium-sized company, Riitan Herkku

Oy had localized the website in nine languages, and two

large companies offered multilingual sites. KWH Pipe Oy

offered nine regional sites and Vacon Oyj twelve. Foreign

language sites reflected in some cases the customization of

the product range and services, while in others, they were

“simply” translations of the Finnish pages which gave the

customer an opportunity to choose the language for reading a

multilingual website. In the case of T-Drill Oy the

distinction between a translation and customized site

resulted in two English links: one to the English version of

the main site and a special customized US site. In terms of

the number of language options:

the nine medium-sized companies offered:

1 monolingual site (English)

1 multilingual site (9 languages)

3 bilingual sites (Finnish & English)

1 trilingual site (Finnish & Swedish & English) and

3 sites with four languages (Finnish & Swedish &

English & Russian), while

the seven large companies had

2 Multilingual sites (one with 9, the other with 13

languages)

2 bilingual sites (Finnish & Swedish and Finnish &

English) and

3 Trilingual sites (Finnish & Swedish & English).

The range of language options was thus not directly related

to the sites, although in such a small sample conclusions

must be drawn carefully. On the websites of the nine medium-

sized enterprises, English functioned as a lingua franca for

eight out of nine enterprises, while on the multilingual

website of Riitan Herkku Oy, the use of ELF was not so

evident. One of the large companies did not have an English

website at all, while one of the medium-sized companies had

only an English website.

ELF on Ostrobothnian CorporateWebsites: why English? The two most important reasons for the use of English were

its perceived status as an international language which

could be used everywhere (The case of Oy Botnia Mariniv, SK-

Tuote Oyv, Scott Health & Safety Oyvi) and the choice of

English as the official language of the Group (Unituli Oyvii,

Scott Health & Safety Oyviii, Oy Primo Finland Abix). A lingua

franca was not always regarded sufficient for future need,

and some medium-sized companies were planning to expand the

range of their foreign language options (Scott Health &

Safety Oy with German and Frenchx, SK-Tuote Oy with Germanxi

and Oy Primo Finland Ab with German, Danish and possibly

Russianxii). Diversification and customization may, at some

point, become desirable for communication with a particular

market segment or interest group.

English is used by the Ostrobothnian companies as a

lingua franca to reach a wide market also in non-English

speaking countries. For example, Oy Botnia Marin Ab, which

only has an English-language website, has its main markets

in the Nordic countries, in particular in Sweden and Norway

but also in France, and their dealers cover a larger

geographic area of the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark,

Norway and Greenland), Central and Southern Europe

(Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, the UK, and

Portugal and Asia (Japan). The majority of Botnia Marin’s

sales are in exports.

A closer look at the bilingual English & Finnish

websites and the companies’ export markets reveals more

about the size of the area where English functions as a

lingua franca. For example Scott Health & Safety have

markets on all continents13 and T-Drill on three (North

America, Europe and Asia)14. In addition to Botnia Marin,

English serves as a lingua franca in contacts with the

Nordic countries in other companies as well. For example,

Vaasa Engineering communicates with their customers in

Nordic countries in English and does not have, for example,

a Swedish site at all. Moreover, although companies may have

a Swedish site, they do not use other Nordic languages to

reach the markets in Norway, Denmark or Iceland (e.g. Oy

Petsmo Products Ab, Oy Närpes Trä och Metall Ab and Oy Närko

Ab). Also the Russian market and the Baltic states are

approached by some companies in English (Oy Närpes Trä och

Metall Ab and Oy Närko Ab), and so are Central and European

countries. Oy Petsmo Products has customers in Poland and 13 Telephone interview of Anja Järvinen 13.4.2006)

14 Telephone interview of Pekka Ristimäki 13.4.2006)

Holland, SK-Tuote in Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, France

and Belgium and Oy Närko Ab in Germany, although none of the

respective languages appear on the websites. SK-Tuote Oy

communicates in English with its customers in Turkey,

Hungary, Poland, Chech Republic and Slovakia, while Russian

serves as their lingua franca in Latvia, Lithuenia, Belarus,

Kazachstan and Ukraine (Russian).15 English is offered as

one of the language options even if the company has no

customers in an English-speaking country. This was the case

with Vaasa Engineering, Oy Petsmo Products Ab, Oy Primo Ab,

Unituli Oy and Oy Närko Ab.

The websites of large companies do not differ much from

those of the medium-sized ones. Of the seven large

companies, two offered a bilingual website (Finnish-Swedish

and Finnish-English, three companies used three languages

(Finnish-Swedish-English and English-German-French) and two

had multilingual sites. In one case (Oy Konte Ab), Swedish

had exceptionally replaced English. Otherwise English

functioned as a lingua franca for large companies as well.

Vaasa Engineering Oy served its customers in the Nordic

countries in English, and English was an important lingua

franca also for exports to Germany, Russia and the Baltic

States (Oy Närko Ab, Oy Närpes Trä och Metal) Citec Oy had

English websites for China and India (http://www.citec-15 The company serves its customers locally with print material in locallanguages (Information from Anna Lehto (Marketing Assistant), 13 April, 2006

china.com/ and http://www.citec-india.com). English was in

some cases offered on some non-regional sites as an

alternative language for accessing the site. On the Kwh Pipe

Oy’s Polish site (http://www.kwh.pl/ ) English and Russian

versions were offered as alternatives. Similarly the Thai

site (http://www.wiik-hoeglund.com/) offered an English-

language version.

As indicatd above, English may be the only foreign

language on the website also when the company has very

little export or no significant English-language market. For

example, Oy Laine-Tuotanto Ab, which has chosen English as

the only foreign language on their website, exports very

little: only some 4-5% of their sales are in exports. For

Laine-Tuotanto, English can thus function as a gateway for

foreign market entry.

The choice of English as a lingua franca may be

motivated by the choice of English as the official language

of communication in the international concern of which the

Ostrobothnian company is a member. This is the case, for

example, with Scott Health & Safety Oy which is part of the

international Tyco concern. Tyco Group has their

headquarters in the U.S. and the European Division Head

Office is situated in England, which makes the choice of

English as the official language more obvious than if the

headquarters of the company are not located in an English-

speaking country. Although both Oy Primo Ab and Unituli Oy

are part of Scandinavian concerns, English functions as the

unofficial lingua franca in them. English has replaced both

Swedish and other Nordic languages, although the official

policy in Nordic cooperation is to use a Nordic language for

communication (Moore & Varantola 2005: 149).

English on Regional Sites

In the present study, I was also interested to see if

English would be used in the non-English websites and, if

so, how it would be used there. Of particular interest were

the sites with different alphabetical/orthographic systems.

The findings suggest that slogans and product names tend to

keep their language and form and be written in English using

the Latin alphabet. English is also used in some hyperlink

headings and the pages they open and to give updatable news.

On European non-English websites English mainly appears in

hyperlink headings and slogans.

Six companies in the research data had Russian

websites. The links to the Russian site were usually more

closely linked to the actual geographical territory of

Russia than other regional sites. Link headings, if given in

writing (and even more so when indicated with a flag)

referred to Russia as a territory, while other link headings

in writing referred to a language option. For example, Oy

Primo Ab lists the language options as the choice between

“Suomeksi” [in Finnish], “På svenska” [in Swedish], “In

English” and “Russia”. The reading of the reference to

Russia as that to a country and the link, therefore, to a

regionally customized site is further supported by the fact

that, while the three sites, Finnish, English and Swedish,

are interlinked, suggesting they function only as language

options, the Russian site functions independently,

suggesting more thorough customization.

Although otherwise in Cyrillic alphabet, the name of

the company and contact information was usually given on

Russian sites using the Latin alphabet. This was the case

with Oy Primo Finland Ab) Riitan Herkku Oy, Unituli Oy, KWH

Pipe Oy and Vacon Oyj. Product names were also given in

English using the Latin alphabet (e.g. SK-tuote Oy: “Vilpe

vent”, “sk roof parts”, “sk fastening”and the names of

Unituli Oy mattresses: “Classic”, “Comfort”, “Luxus”, and

“Super”. Also slogans retained their English form (“Vacon:

Driven by Drives”). On the multilingual website of Riitan

Herkku Oy, the slogan “vitality from nature” was, however,

translated into Russian although it appeared in English on

some other non-English websites.

News and information of recent events appeared on some

websites in English, maybe for reasons of easy updating. For

example, at the bottom of their front page, Vacon Oyj gave

three brief news items in English about the annual general

meeting of shareholders, a recent significant order from

Scandinavian Electric System and the publication of the

Annual Report 2005 and a hyperlink lead to more information

in English. English was also the language of hyperlinks to

the information about international concerns, such as the

Hilding Anders (group) of Unituli Oy and the contact link of

KWH Pipe, which both opened up English pages.

Japanese appeared only on the website of Riitan Herkku

Oy, and the website gave information in Japanese both about

the company and its main product group, the berries. English

was used on the Japanese site only for decoration: the page

headline “Scandinavian Wild Forest Berries” as well as the

Body text/ slogan “Riita’s (sic) Scandinavian Forest Berries”

appeared repeatedly in English under various links

(“company”, “contact”, “products”). The same pattern was

repeated on the Chinese site of Vacon Oyj

(www.vacon.com.cn/) where the slogan, “Vacon Driven by

Drives” appeared in English. On the site, English was,

however, also used for information as some English hyperlink

headings (“Vacon solutions and Investor sites”) opened pages

in English.

On the Thai-language site of KWH Pipe Oy, English

featured prominently in both the hyperlink headings and the

pages they opened up. The hyperlinks on the opening page

(“About us”, “Products”, “KWH Pipe”, “Project reference”,

“International”, “site map”, “contact us”, “news”) were in

English, and they also appeared on the pages as headings. On

the “Products” page, the pictures of products were provided

with captions in English, and similarly, under “Project

reference”, all information (product, application, project

site, contractor, owner, year) was given in English. The

Link to important international contact organizations and

other KWH units was also given in English and so were the

product names.

The European-language sites of Riitan Herkku Oy

illustrate the use of English for both decoration and

operating information. The headline “Scandinavian Wild

Forest Berries” and the body text/slogan “Riita’s

Scandinavian Forest Berries” were repeated in English on

German, Italian, French and Spanish sites. Link headings

“Feedback” and “Home” were used on German, Italian and

Spanish sites, while the French site used “retour

d’expérience” for feedback but the English “Home” for

returning back to the opening page.

English on regional non-English corporate websites was

used both for decoration and information thus extending the

use of ELF to them as well.

ELF varieties as New Englishes

No one can claim sole ownership of English any longer or

alone set the standard for it. The proportion of the world’s

population who have English as a first language is estimated

to decline from over 8% in 1950 to less than 5% in 2050. The

ratio of native to non-native speakers is at present around

1:3, and the population growth in areas where English is a

second language is about 2.5 times of that in areas where it

is the first language. New ELF varieties will rise in the

expanding circle where the number of speakers varies between

500-1,000M speakers depending on the estimate. (Crystal

2003: 61, 69 172-177).

Finland has since WWII become gradually part of the

expanding circle of English speakers. Of the two

geopolitically closest varieties of English, Finland has

historically preferred British English, for example in

education, while American English is currently much more

visible (and audible in the media). As the use of English is

spreading in different settings, a new variety of nonnative

speaker Finnish-English is likely to emerge and, maybe,

gradually become tolerated, if not officially accepted.

Traditionally, translations, for example, have been checked

and edited by NSs to blend in with NSL, whereas there is so

much demand for translation now, that it is not always

possible to find native speaker translators and editors for

doing this.

English on the websites of Ostrobothnian enterprises is

a case in point of the new situation. There is an increasing

need for business companies wanting to find international

markets and to have updatable English websites. The texts on

the websites are, however, no longer necessarily translated

or edited by native speakers, although this is still seen as

the norm and NSL to set the standard for their language.16

English of the website of the Ostrobothnian business

enterprises in the research data is typically a mixture of

EFL and ELF, although the fact that the communication is

mostly uni-directional blurs the distinction. When the

company uses English to communicate with native speakers

(NSs) of English in the NS settings of the market areas,

such as the U.S., Australia or the U.K., they are using

English as a Foreign Language (EFL), and the use is, at

least to some extent, characterized by an attempt to blend

in with the NSs. When they are using English to other

nonnative speakers (NNSs), usually from first languages

other than their own and typically in NNS settings, they are

using English as a lingua franca (ELF). In such settings

blending in with NSs is not relevant, and the aim is rather

to produce an approximate of a NS variety of English. (see

Jenkins 2004: 63 for the distinction.) In both cases, the

speakers need to be intelligible to the users of the

website.

Difficulties with intelligibility or miscommunications

are reduced by the shared context which has a limited

16 In all telephone conversations about the translations of web pages, both the companies and media consultants insisted that native speakers are/must be used to check the sites.

potential for misunderstanding. What matters is that for the

purpose at hand the kind of English that is employed works,

and that features where the ELF variety deviates from

standards of NS English do not affect intelligibility.

(Seidlhofer 2001: 149)

In the codification of differences between ELF

varieties and NS varieties some features have been

identified as possible systematic differences. The ones

identified so far include, for example, the dropping the 3rd

person present tense -s, confusing the relative pronouns

“who” and “which”, omitting definite and indefinite articles

when they are required in NS English or inserting them when

they do not occur there, failing to use correct forms in tag

questions, inserting redundant prepositions, overusing

certain verbs (“do, have, make, put, take”), replacing

infinitive constructions with “that”-clauses (“I want that”)

and overdoing explicitness (“how long time”). These have

been found to be unproblematic and no obstacle to

communicative success in ELF (Seidlhofer quoted in Jenkins

2004: 64). The majority of the above features is, however,

more likely to occur in spoken communication rather than in

written ELF such as that on corporate websites.

ELF varieties are still criticized for transfer errors

or L1 interference which in NS English could be greeted as

creativity. Innovation is acceptable when it originates in

NS English but not when it begins in ELF varieties. When NSs

innovate with the language it is accepted, eventually if not

immediately (“two teas”, “three coffees”). When NNSs

innovate, the result is either labeled L1 transfer or L1

interference (“staffs”, “advices”) (Jenkins 2004: 64)

Innovation is unavoidable as speech communities appropriate

English in order to make it appropriate for their own needs.

Also in some genres, such as advertising, innovation and

creativity are essential for drawing attention to the text.

In what follows, I will identify features of ELF rather

than carry out a systematic study of the corporate websites

for the differences between it and NSL. The findings are

thus suggestive of trends, and a more thorough study of the

differences would need to take into account, for example,

the type of text by topic. For example information about the

company, its history and organization, mission and strategy

are likely to differ from descriptions of products as

different as berries from piping systems and consultation

services. I my analysis, I will be interested in identifying

features which can be regarded as ungrammatical or

undidiomatic (or creative) in Standard L1 English.

ELF on Ostrobothnian CorporateWebsites: What English?

The fact English in Finland has traditionally been linked

with the British English is reflected on the websites in

their use of the flag of the United Kingdom as a link to

their English pages. The practice of using flags has,

indeed, been criticized for inaccuracy as a country’s flag

does not always correlate with a single language, and a

language is not always represented by a single flag

(MCDonough 2004: 91).Union Jack appeared, however, on seven

websites either without a separate description of the

language (Laine Tuotanto Oy, Riitan Herkku Oy, SK Tuote Oy

and Vaasa Engineering Oy) or with it (Oy Primo Finland Ab,

Scott Health & Safety Oy and Oy Unituli Oy). There were also

some link headings which suggested more explicitly a

geographically customized sites (Vacon Drives UK). Despite

the use of the flag of the United Kingdom, the websites had

features of American English and those of an ELF variety

which would be considered ungrammatical or unidiomatic by

British English Standard.

The difference between American and British English

varieties on the websites was most prominent in spelling (in

particular the difference between s and z in words such as

“specialis/ze”) and idiomatic expressions (in particular the

date), and some websites were more consistent in their

choice than others. For example, Vacon Oyj followed the

British English standard in both spelling (“Vacon emphasizes

cost-driven technology (. . . )”.

http://www.vacon.com/799.html Accessed 26.4.2006) and the

date (“Vacon Plc?s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

was held on 6 April 2006 in Vaasa”. http://www.de.vacon.com/

Accessed 27.4.2006). American English standard was followed

by Närpes Trä & Metall in “NTM is specialised in body work.”

(http://www.ntm.fi/ Accessed 27.4.2006) and the date

Närpes Trä & Metall was founded on April 27th 1950 with

Lennart Nordin as the largest single shareholder

.(http://www.ntm.fi/default.aspx?

DocID=392&MenuID=51&TocID=4 Accessed 27.4.2006).

Some websites mixed features of both varieties, even within

the same sentence, such as the spelling of

“kilometre/kilometre”, “centre/center”:

- (. . . ) which is only 2 kilometers from the airport

and 6 kilometers from the city centre.

(http://www.veo.fi/Default.aspx?id=363530 Accessed

29.4.2006)

Later, on the same site, the British English spelling was

chosen for recognized:

Vaasa Engineering is to become recognized as the most

reliable and responsible North European supplier of

efficient total solutions in the energy field.

(http://www.veo.fi/Default.aspx?id=366531 Accessed

5.5.2006)

As website text is typically written text intended to be

associated with credibility and respectability, it usually

abounds in features of formal, sometimes to the extent of

being pompous and awkward, written English. On one site in

my research data, there was, however, an attempt to produce

more informal, personalized English to address the American

customers. Both situational invariables, formal and informal

address, gave rise to features which would be considered

incorrect/unidiomatic (creative?) by ENL standards.

The features which characterize the language as formal

written English included a ungrammatical use of sentence

connectors

1) In additional to producing their own cheeses, in 1994 (. . .)

(http://www.riitanherkku.fi/englanti/index%20eng.html

Accessed 30.4.2006.)

as well as unidiomatic lexical choices in

2) Ambitious to meet the most demanding needs of clients seeking top performance, easiness and reliability, Vacon offers AC drives in the power range

of 0.25 kW...5 MW. In 2005, the Group revenues totalledEUR 150 million.( http://www.vacon.com/ Accessed 30.4.2006)

3) We shall develop, manufacture, and market high-quality trailers in an uncomplicated, quick, and flexible manner. Närko is able to provide a high- quality range of products thanks to its constant product development and

commitment to find new and innovative solutions. (http://www.narko.com/factory/index1024.html Accessed

30.4.2006)

4) The manufacture of gas masks begins in Vaasa, when the two Finnish Defence Forces' assembly lines, complete with personnel, are moved to Vaasa from Helsinki. (http://www.scottsafety.com/history.htm Accessed 30.4.2006)

Of the above, the first example would have been corrected by

a NS language editor, while the others, maybe with the

exception of “is able to provide” in 3, might be seen as

unidiomatic and corrected or as innovative and not

corrected. Some features were related to irregularities of

nouns, such as uncountability or irregular form, and

problems with the subject-predicator concord:

6) The headquarter is located in Finland and has been operational for more than 20 years. (Citec Oy at http://www.citec.fi/Default.aspx?id=297087 Accessed

30.4.2006)

7) The main part of Oy Petsmo Products Ab's own production is developing and manufacturing machines and equipments for slaughterhouses and fodder kitchens.

8) Today, our respiratory protective equipment serve chemical industry, pulp & paper industry, (. . . ) (http://www.scottsafety.com/info.htm Accessed 30.4.2006)

4) We also have a methodology for establishing partnerships with our key customers. (Citec Oy at http://www.citec.fi/Default.aspx?id=297087 Accessed

30.4.2006)

9) (. . .) TITAN production are made mostly for export,primarly to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Netherlands. (http://www.petsmoproducts.fi/Eng/index.htm Accessed 30.4.2006)

10) Our products significantly improve the standard of living, guarantee fresh air and healthy conditions for living, and ensure that the constructions is long

lasting. (http://www.sktuote.fi/Default.aspx?id=354715 Accessed 30.4.2006)

The above are typical language learner problems as well and

would be corrected in the classroom. They would be

considered ungrammatical by NSL standard. Some features on

the websites were related to the translator’s/ writer’s

primary language, Finnish, and also ungrammatical by NL

standard.These included the formation of the genitive formed

from the Finnish genitive rather than nominative form in:

11) “Riita’s Scandinavian Forest Berries” (http://www.riitanherkku.fi/ German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese sites).

or the ungrammatical transitive use of the verb “locate” in

12) Vaasa Engineering locates at Airport Park industrial area,(. . . )

http://www.veo.fi/Default.aspx?id=363530 Accessed 30.4.2006)

Innovative Headings and slogans would occasionally be

unidiomatic English by NS standards but possible as

innovatory use of advertising language.

13) Incomparable know-how in the energy field (http://www.veo.fi/Default.aspx?id=366531 Accessed

30.4.2006)

14) Finnish at heart, yet strong in exports (http://www.unituli.fi/Default.aspx?id=331609 Accessed

30.4.2006)

15) Improved comfort control and high reliability (http://www.vacon.com/ Accessed 30.4)

Personalized, informal or trendy style for greater customer-

orientation on the US site of T-Drill Oy was characterized

by short direct questions, imperatives and 2nd person direct

address:

16) You want to give us feedback? Please, select one ofthe following links below and let us hear from you.

17) Compliments  Satisfied with our machines? Please let us know!

New Idea  You have an idea? Please let us know. We'd like to hear!

Reclamation / complaint  Not satisfied? Please let us know why?

(http://www.t-drill.fi/ Accessed 7.5.2006)

Occasionally the style lead to unidiomatic/ungrammatical

expressions such as the coordination of verb phrases in

example 18 or phraseology in 19:

18) Let us take you for a ride to T-DRILL's world and find out how our latest improvements can boost your business - That's T-DRILL.( http://www.t-drill.fi/

Accessed 7.5.2006)

19) Please, tell us about your application and tube specification. We have paid

plenty of attention to the form below and hope that youcould take your time

when filling it up. Completely filled form ensures the fast and most informative

answers to you. (http://www.t-drill.com/info.html Accessed 30.4.2006)

The features identified above fall roughly in two categories

of ungrammatical features and unidiomatic/creative use of

English by NL standards which are not likely to cause

problems in communication. Ungrammatical features would

probably have been edited out by a NS, while some of the

unidiomatic expressions might have been considered awkward

but still tolerated.

Conclusions

Finland is located in the expanding circle where English is

an important foreign language in many social contexts. The

markets of Finnish business corporations are in the

important online business triad of North America, Europe and

Asia, which makes English an obvious choice as a lingua

franca on corporate websites unless a specific market

segment is seen to require greater customization which would

also include the use of a regional non-English language.

English was an important lingua franca for all but one

Ostrobothnian companies in the research data. English also

appeared on non-English sites both for decoration (e.g.

slogans) and for giving information about the company and

its services. Some regional non-English sites offered

English language versions. The ELF variety on the websites

mixed British and American English, but there were a number

of ungrammatical expressions and structures if measured

against a NL standard and some unidiomatic expressions which

could be interpreted as creativity. In order to gain a more

comprehensive view of ELF on corporate website, further

study into ELF by topic would be needed.

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13_tie_001_en.html Accessed 16.4.2006

http://www.stat.fi/tk/yr/tietoyhteiskunta/

matkapuhelin_vrteurooppa_kuvasivu_en.html Accessed 5.5.2006

http://www.stat.fi/tk/yr/tietoyhteiskunta/

tietokonejaverkkoyhteys_en.html Accessed 6.5.2006

http://www.stat.fi/tk/yr/tietoyhteiskunta/

verkkokauppa_en.html Accessed 5.6.2006

i For example, Riitan Herkku Oy has included this in their website (Telephone interview with Ritva Pajulahti at Advertising Agency Bonnie & Clyde Oy. 25.4.2006)ii An average website in my research data had some three pages of 1560 characters (without spaces) of 26 lines.iii A large Finnish translation agency, Nouveau estimated the cost per page between 65€-100€, while according to the Finnish Translators Union statistics, the average price for a page in 2005 from 36€ to 84€. According to their membership survey, thelanguage pair would have an affect on the cost, and for example it would be more expensive to translate from Finnish into Spanish than into Russian. (Kääntäjä-översättaren 8.5.2005). A translation agency, A.M.TRANSlation Services advertising their services on the Internet, gave a fixed price of 53.30€ for a page in all languages.iv Robert Carpelan, 10 April, 2006v Anna Lehto 13 April, 2006vi See footnote vii.vii Anne Åberg, 10 April, 2006viii Phone call to Anja Järvinen , 13 April, 2006ix Taina Kalpamaa 10 April, 2006x Phone call to Anja Järvinen , 13 April, 2006xi See footnote x.xii See footnote viii.