RE: Is English Endangering Finnish And Other Small Languages?
I think language discussion is generally not conclusive.
Look at Nigeria, although being colonised by the British, it has several other indigenous languages that are widely spoken by the people. But English language is the medium of communication at all levels. Thats why an average Nigerian can speak and understand English language. But does this mean that the British considers Nigeria whom they colonized as an English speaking country, No, they dont.
In Mexico, their Official language is Spanish but many of them are so desiring of English language because of the fortune dream they think can only be obtained in the US and also because they share the border with an English speaking country. There have been discussion on making English langugae a compulsion in Mexico. In one way, I think this is good, it will remove the complex most feel when they are faced with English speakers.
My thought is, out of all the languages of the world, English has the most usage and more wide acceptability, in all spheres of life, education, health, day to day activity and so. This makes it very difficult not to include it in the curriculum for the present and upcoming generations. Since arming oneself with multiple languages can open limitless opportunity in the future.
In crypto terms, English has a first market advantage like btc. lol.
Do you think English is bad for Finnish?
As a foreign language spoken by most of the population, of course not. As having any role in government or supplanting the use of the national languages in academia, bad.
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I agree with your first statement, but in terms of academia, I will think otherwise. Actually, the academia (science) has been structured around English language and to be globally relevant in the academic field, the language of publication must be in English. There is always the challenge faced by academia when they try to publish, especially from countries that their first language is not English, they are always asked to check their articles for general English corrections. Although there are paid services that people use in this regards.
Somehow, it has a role, but not to supplant a country original language.
It's one thing for researchers to have to write publications in English and another to have no courses offered in the local language in an entire degree programme. I don't recall taking a single course in English at university. And I have an MSc in a STEM field. Many of the textbooks were in English even in the early courses but the lectures were always held in Finnish and the professors never wrote their lecture notes in English. The exams were in Finnish. I took one course in English but that was because the lecturer was a visiting Russian professor who couldn't be expected to know Finnish.
I opined this is wrong, if this kind of thing happens. Its definitely not supposed to be so. Thats definitely bad.