The impact of the linguistic landscape on the mobility of immigrants in Helsinki region

Abstract

We are surrounded by language, both spoken and written, in our daily life. Written information can be seen in shop windows, advertisements and street signs while walking along the street. Normally we don’t pay much attention to the amount of written language there is in our surroundings, as we process the written information automatically in passing. The situation is completely different if the linguistic landscape is unknown to us. In this article the impact of the linguistic landscape on the mobility of illiterate immigrants is examined in the Helsinki metropolitan area of Finland. Solutions to improve the linguistic accessibility of the urban environment are examined by interviewing immigrants who reside in the Helsinki region.