English in the Nordic Countries: threat, opportunity or resource?

Nordic Editors and Translators with Kieliasiantuntijat, the Finnish trade union for language experts, held a joint conference in Turku/Åbo on 30–31 August 2024. The event, entitled English as a Lingua Nordica: Language in a Changing World, brought together language professionals from the Nordic and English-speaking countries, elsewhere in Europe and as far afield as South America. For the first time, specialists from four language councils discussed the role of Nordic languages interacting with English: challenges and changes. Keynote speakers addressed Englishes, Nordic tourism and sustainability, English in the Nordic countries, and the role of English in translation into Finnish. Workshops and short presentations covered a range of topics from language-aware encounter, AI and poetry translation to workflow, revising grant applications and sensitivity editing. Participants discussed how English is not only a threat or opportunity, but in multilingual, equitable societies can also be a resource and a lingua Nordica.