Finnish Ice Hockey Organisations As Multilingual Work Environments

Finnish Ice Hockey Organisations as Multilingual Work Environments Sanni Lappalainen Master’s Thesis English, Translation and Interpreting Path School of Languages and Translation Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Turku December 2020 The originality of this thesis has been checked in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service. UNIVERSITY OF TURKU School of Languages and Translation Studies / Faculty of Humanities LAPPALAINEN, SANNI: Finnish Ice Hockey Organisations as Multilingual Work Environments Master’s Thesis, 91 pp., 4 appendices English, Translation and Interpreting Path December 2020 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – This thesis studies the phenomenon of workplace multilingualism in the Finnish professional ice hockey community. The primary research material of the thesis consists of four interviews with members of the professional community: two staff members of team organisations, an international player, and a referee. The interviews focussed on gathering the respondents’ subjective experiences of multilingualism in their everyday work environment. They were asked to identify which languages were used in their work environment and what strategies and policies were in place to manage multilingualism. The study also explored how these individuals viewed possible difficulties and advantages which may arise from the multilingual nature of their work community. The interviews were analysed using a qualitative content analysis approach. The analysis revealed that the use of English as a lingua franca in parallel with Finnish was common in the organisations the interviewees represented. Self- translation and non-professional translations by members of the community were used to bridge gaps in participants’ language skills. The use of professional translators was not considered cost-effective or practical in the everyday ice hockey environment. While concrete multilingualism policies were not implemented, and management of multilingualism seemed to rely on implicit assumptions rather than explicit coordination, the interviewees were in general satisfied with the current state of language management in their community. Despite this, more efficient management of language issues in the future would be beneficial for ice hockey organisations not only from a practical viewpoint but possibly also in terms of facilitating better athletic achievements. Keywords: multilingualism, multilingual workplace, translation in sports, lingua franca Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 2. Theoretical framework .............................................................................................. 5 2.1. Terminology issues ............................................................................................ 5 2.2. Multilingualism in the workplace .................................................................... 10 2.3. Translation in the workplace ............................................................................ 15 2.4. Multilingualism and translation in sports ........................................................ 19 3. Data and methods .................................................................................................... 25 3.1. Primary research data ....................................................................................... 25 3.2. Selection of the interviewees ........................................................................... 26 3.3. Description of the interviewees ....................................................................... 27 3.4. Structure of the research interviews ................................................................. 29 3.5. Treatment and analysis of materials ................................................................ 31 3.6. Method ............................................................................................................. 32 3.7. Ethical considerations ...................................................................................... 33 4. Analysis and results ................................................................................................. 35 4.1. Interviewees’ language use and skills .............................................................. 35 4.1.1. Interviewees’ language practices and skills.............................................. 36 4.1.2. Language and communication training .................................................... 41 4.1.3. Languages and recruitment ....................................................................... 46 4.2. Views on the role of multilingualism and perceptions of communication skills 51 4.2.1. General views on multilingualism ............................................................ 51 4.2.2. Views on the importance of communication skills .................................. 53 4.2.3. Views of the changes in the importance of communication skills ........... 58 4.2.4. Views on the changes in ways of communication .................................... 61 4.2.5. Views on multilingualism and team dynamics ......................................... 64 4.2.6. Views on language and initial integration ................................................ 67 4.3. Reported strategies for multilingual communication ........................................... 69 4.3.1. Strategies in multilingual communication ................................................ 70 4.3.2. Translation in practice in the ice hockey environment ............................. 75 5. Discussion and conclusions ..................................................................................... 78 5.1. Key results ....................................................................................................... 78 5.2. Improvements and further research ................................................................. 83 References ...................................................................................................................... 86 Appendix 1: Questions for foreign players .................................................................... 92 Appendix 2a: Tuomarikysymykset (Questions for referee) ........................................... 95 Appendix 2b: Questions for referee (translation) ........................................................... 97 Appendix 3a: Valmentajakysymykset (Questions for staff) .......................................... 99 Appendix 3b: Questions for staff (translation) ............................................................. 102 Appendix 4: Finnish summary ..................................................................................... 105 List of Tables Table 1: Key information on interviewees ..................................................................... 28 Table 2: Languages used by interviewees in the workplace .......................................... 36 Table 3: Assessment of own language skills .................................................................. 36 Table 4: Views on multilingualism and training ............................................................ 42 Table 5: Language skills as recruitment criteria ............................................................. 47 Table 6: Views on multilingualism at work ................................................................... 51 Table 7: Views on the importance of communication .................................................... 53 Table 8: Changes in the importance of communication ................................................. 59 Table 9: Changes in ways of communication ................................................................. 62 Table 10: Effect of language boundaries on team dynamics .......................................... 65 Table 11: Availability of language support from team during integration ..................... 67 Table 12: Strategies used to support multilingual communication ................................ 70 Table 13: Feelings of frustration in communication ...................................................... 74 Table 14: Acting as translator ......................................................................................... 75 1. Introduction Global migration of labour means that more workplaces are becoming increasingly multinational and multicultural. This development has also resulted in the multilingualisation1 of work communities that have become more international. Professional sports are a field where this effect is commonplace and due to the publicity and media coverage, particularly visible to outside observers. Despite this, multilingualism in sports has traditionally been understudied, and the existing research is largely focussed on the sport of football. This thesis seeks to fill some of this gap in multilingualism research by studying the language practices within organisational ice hockey and the management of multilingualism in everyday encounters by way of conducting research interviews with people that work within different aspects of Finnish professional ice hockey. It will also discuss the subjective perceptions of these individuals on the effect they feel multilingualism has on their work environments. The world of professional ice hockey in Finland has become more international over the past decades. In the 1988-1989 season, 92% of the players in

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