Finnisch-deutsche Wirtschaftskommunikation: Eine Bestandsaufnahme nach 40 Jahren Lehre und Forschung (1980-2020)

This article reconstructs the most important steps of German studies research into Finnish-German business communication. Historically, research began after World War II when compulsory teaching of business German was established at Finnish business schools and universities (1). Initially, contrastive analysis focused mainly on grammar, i.e., on the structure of words and sentences (2), which was later followed by contrastive analyses of types of text and talk (3). The breakthrough to empirically dealing with questions of intercultural encounters was initiated by interactional linguistics, which also led to the production of a phase model of the training of professional business communication (4). Linguistic comparisons of cultures as well as the use of stereotypes in business communication are explained in more detail (5), after which factors governing curriculum work are singled out briefly (6). Remarks on the critique of power (7) and on future research (8) complete the article.