Johanna Isosävi

My post-doctoral project, funded by the Kone foundation (2017­–19), concentrates on Finnish and French politeness. Politeness plays a key role in maintaining interpersonal relationships. Yet, problems arise in intercultural situations based on varying verbal (e.g., greetings, forms of address) and non-verbal (e.g., eye contact, silence) displays of politeness. This project aims to improve intercultural interaction in a globalised world.

The project is aimed at addressing the following: What kind of perceptions do outsiders carry related to (im)politeness in Finland and in France? How are these perceptions of (im)politeness re-created during discussions? What sort of variation exists in evaluations of (im)politeness in intercultural interactions? My data consist of audio- and videotaped focus group discussions and conversations between French- and Finnish-speaking participants, and are gathered in Helsinki, Lyon and Paris. During the fall semester of 2017, I was a visiting researcher in the ICAR Laboratory, in École normale supérieure (ENS) Lyon.

My previous studies cover areas of linguistics and translation. In addition to (im)politeness, my research areas include forms of address in French and verbal violence. In the area of translation, I have studied translation of French forms of address into Finnish in film dialogues, and translator students’ perceptions on post-editing of machine translation.

I am an active science communicator: I have been interviewed about my research in television, radio and journals. In addition, I write a blog in Finnish and communicate in social media, for example in Twitter.  

As for teaching, I worked as a University Lecturer in universities of Helsinki and Turku in 2012–16. I have experience in teaching in BA and MA levels in more than 20 courses in areas of language, philology and translation. My areas of speciality are teaching of EU translation and authorised translation. I have been a visiting lecturer in various courses. Furthermore, I have served as tutor teacher and second examiner of MA theses. I have a long experience in teaching working life orientation courses. I am a qualified teacher: in the University of Helsinki, I have completed 60 credits of Teachers’ pedagogical studies oriented towards adult education and also 40 credits of Advanced studies in education, especially in subject didactics.  

Kotisivu: http://johanna.isosavi.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/johannaisosavi

Academia.edu: https://helsinki.academia.edu/JohannaIsos%C3%A4vi

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Johanna_Isosaevi