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Politics of identification in the use of lingua francas in student mobility to Finland and France

  • Fred Dervin
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Abstract

This chapter examines the mobility of students to Finland and France. I am interested in the perceptions of the use of lingua francas in these contexts. The students have to speak languages of which they are not always “native speakers” and finding a common ground often results in using a lingua franca. In the chapter, English and French are the main lingua francas used by the students. Even though the cases of Finland and France are different in relation to the number of speakers of their languages (6 million people live in Finland compared to 70 million in France), the results show that similar attitudes and opinions seem to be shared by students who have spent time in these countries.

Abstract

This chapter examines the mobility of students to Finland and France. I am interested in the perceptions of the use of lingua francas in these contexts. The students have to speak languages of which they are not always “native speakers” and finding a common ground often results in using a lingua franca. In the chapter, English and French are the main lingua francas used by the students. Even though the cases of Finland and France are different in relation to the number of speakers of their languages (6 million people live in Finland compared to 70 million in France), the results show that similar attitudes and opinions seem to be shared by students who have spent time in these countries.

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