The boxes were first distributed in 1938 as a means of decreasing infant mortality in Finland, which at that time was very high, yet now the country boasts one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world 鈥� something I鈥檓 sure helps the parents sleep well at night, whether their child is in a box or not. Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel also received a box when their daughter, Estelle, was born last year, so it seems a new trend may be evolving. Just imagine all those royal toddlers stumbling about their various estates wearing Finnish baby snowsuits. No snow, no fear! At least if the child takes a tumble they鈥檒l have plenty of padding.

It would seem that Finland is alone in such a unique provision, but the Nordic countries still come out on top when it comes to promoting an equal start in life for all newborns. In the UK, for example, new fathers are given two weeks of paternity leave, whereas in many of the Nordic countries they are given up to five months of paid leave for quality bonding time with their child in those crucial first months. Yet, it should be noted that one of the most common first words in the UK is 鈥楧addy鈥� 鈥� so either he still manages to play an important role in his child鈥檚 life or the baby is simply wondering where he is!

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One frequently proposed way out of the situation is to raise the profile of the industry as a whole. To effect any change in what motivates the commercial sector to localise, and to localise well, means proving to them that it makes a difference to their market share, customer base, or sometimes simply to their image. In his inspiring presentation at the ATC conference, Hans described language today as a craft, a profession, a technology, a business and a community, all coming together to form a language enterprise that consists of service companies, clients, freelance professionals, technology developers, educators, researchers and associations. As an enterprise, we have mutual interests. As an enterprise, we have an opportunity to create value, share knowledge and advocate our relevance collectively.

In this, the industry associations have a key role and it has been good to see the ATC, GALA and ELIA in particular considering cooperation and taking steps in the right direction. Perhaps over the coming year, the association heads should get together and compare notes on successful, creative marketing efforts from their respective member companies? Perhaps some of these innovative ideas could be transferred from local initiatives to national or even international ones? Perhaps at our conferences next year, we could do something truly newsworthy? Talk to Gisela Kooistra at Global textware in the Netherlands about her guerrilla tactics or Marek Gawrysiak at TextPartner in Poland about riding his bike for Translators Without Borders. What brought a small ROI to an individual company could do the same a hundredfold for the image of an industry.

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