Former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir has expressed her concern over a policy that has been adopted by some large Icelandic companies on using English as a business language within their walls in addition to Icelandic.
“I don’t think the companies should be sending such messages out into society. They are attacking Icelandic,” Finnbogadóttir, who will present the Reykjavík Educational Council’s Icelandic Awards today, the Icelandic Language Day, told Morgunbladid.
“They have also misunderstood the term bilingualism,” the former President said. “Bilingualism means being raised speaking two languages and being able to manage both. But the companies have a two-language policy and it saddens me […] that another language is supposed to be as fully-fledged as ours.”
“I can say what I want in my own language but only what I know in other languages,” Finnbogadóttir said, quoting Finnish author Antti Tuuri.
