French beyond the university

Being a French scholar in Finland does not offer many ready opportunities to be engaged in the French language and culture outside the basic academic work. But Professor Juhani Härmä has been active in promoting the French language in the Helsinki Cercle Franco-Finlandais Society as well as in the Finnish Institute in France.

For nine years, Härmä was chair of La Fédération des Associations Franco-Finlandaises (FAFF) (‘Federation of the Franco-Finnish Societies’). His current position entails both the responsibilities of president of the Modern Language Society and the Society’s journal Neuphilologische Mitteilungen , established in 1899. He represents Romance philology on the board and is responsible for publishing the Romance philology section of the journal. Härmä is also an editorial board member of three international language associations.

By Written by Juhani Härmä and Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta (ed.). Translated by Karra Väisänen, Sampsa Granström,Tuuli Äärilä and Elina Saala. Revised by John Calton.

Juhani Härmä

Born May 21, 1949, Helsinki

Master of Arts 1974 (Romance philology), Licentiate of Philosophy 1977 (Romance philology) and Doctor of Philosophy (Romance philology) 1979, University of Helsinki

Professor of Romance Philology (1998-), University of Helsinki

Research Council for the Humanities, 1977–1980 (Research Assistant) and 1980–1983 (Junior Researcher)
Professor of Romance Philology 1983–1985 and Docent of Romance Philology 1980-, University of Jyväskylä
Associate Professor of Romance Philology of the University of Helsinki 1985–1998
Visiting professor of Finnish language and culture in the University III of Paris 1991–1994

Publications, research projects and other academic activity
Research themes: syntax of old and modern French, contrastive French-Finnish linguistics, textual research; recent interest in the historical use of French in Finland, especially in Finnish correspondence in French.

Written by Juhani Härmä and Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta (ed.)
Translated by Karra Väisänen, Sampsa Granström,Tuuli Äärilä and Elina Saala. Revised by John Calton.