Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain the reversal of language hierarchy in a Finnish multinational corporation (MNC) from a political perspective. This paper situated the language hierarchy in the historical context of the colonial-style relationship between Finland and Russia. From a post-colonial perspective, the colonial legacy of Russia has had an influence on language strategy and everyday translation work in the Finnish multinational until the present day.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper undertook a case study based on qualitative secondary analysis of existing data sets. These data sets originated from two previously conducted studies of the same Finnish MNC.

Findings

The findings revealed a reversal of the traditional corporate language hierarchy. Russian, as the host country language of powerful local subsidiaries, rose to the top of the hierarchy at the expense of English, the common corporate language, and other languages. The colonial-style relationship was enacted by professional and paraprofessional translators who collaborated by using “the master’s language and imitating the master’s voice” to reap the strategic benefits of local responsiveness.

Originality/value

In contrast to previous work drawing on post-colonial theory in the study of MNCs, this paper represents the headquarters in Finland as the “colonised” party and the Russian subsidiaries as the “coloniser.” Owing to its colonial legacy, Russian, the host country language, became very powerful and influenced the language strategy of the entire MNC. This paper conceptualized translation as a multilevel phenomenon and offers a holistic explanation of why the language hierarchy in the Finnish MNC was reversed.

中文翻译：

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语言等级制度的逆转和跨国公司的翻译政治

目的

本文的目的是从政治角度解释芬兰跨国公司 (MNC) 中语言等级的逆转。本文将语言等级置于芬兰和俄罗斯之间殖民式关系的历史背景下。从后殖民的角度来看，俄罗斯的殖民遗产一直影响着这家芬兰跨国公司的语言策略和日常翻译工作，直至今日。

设计/方法/途径

本文在对现有数据集进行定性二次分析的基础上进行了案例研究。这些数据集源自之前对同一家芬兰跨国公司进行的两项研究。

发现

调查结果揭示了传统企业语言等级制度的逆转。俄语作为强大的当地子公司的东道国语言，以牺牲英语、通用公司语言和其他语言为代价上升到等级制度的顶端。这种殖民风格的关系是由专业和准专业翻译人员制定的，他们通过使用“主人的语言和模仿主人的声音”进行合作，以获得当地响应的战略利益。

原创性/价值

与之前在跨国公司研究中借鉴后殖民理论的工作不同，本文将芬兰总部描述为“被殖民”方，将俄罗斯子公司描述为“殖民者”。由于其殖民遗产，东道国语言俄语变得非常强大，并影响了整个跨国公司的语言战略。本文将翻译概念化为一种多层次现象，并全面解释了为什么芬兰跨国公司的语言层次结构被颠倒了。