Abstract Summary
This presentation aims at discussing the preliminary findings of an ongoing Interreg-project involving NGOs and academics, aiming at an increased labour market flexibility between Sweden and Denmark. Results from questionnaires and focus group interviews will be presented. Focus is on language competencies and expectations on Danish and the Danish society.
Abstract :
This presentation aims at discussing the preliminary findings of an ongoing Interreg-project (2018-2022) involving NGOs and academics, aiming at an increased labour market flexibility between Sweden and Denmark. When speaking of the integration of the labour markets in the Öresund region, cultural and language barriers are often overlooked which leads to a vicious circle where negative expectations and attitudes counteract mutual understanding.
Leading partner is MINE (Mentorship Inspiration Networking Education), a NGO financed by the members which are both private and public employers. Researchers from Lund University participate as facilitators of the overarching aim, however not primarily in their role as researchers as Interreg supports societal projects with various actors, not research projects. The data collected will be analyzed for the purpose of the Interreg-project which also gives starting points for scientific articles.
In the project, foreign-born academics living in Sweden are interviewed and matched with positions at employers in the Copenhagen area. Both parties are interviewed on their expectations by MINE. A crash course in Danish and seminars are offered before starting the trial period of employment.
During fall 2019 a questionnaire will be distributed among the foreign-born academics. Focus is on educational background, language competencies and expectations on the Danish language as well as Denmark in terms of culture, labour market, welfare, tolerance and mentality. During spring 2020 a follow-up questionnaire as well as focus group interviews will be conducted, focusing on the usage and contexts of English, Danish and Swedish at the work place.
Results from questionnaires and focus group interviews will be presented at the AILA panel. The working hypothesis is that English will be the main lingua franca in the professional context whereby Danish, Swedish and a mix of Scandinavian languages are used to a certain extent in semi-professional settings such as coffee breaks.
