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Swedish becomes official 'main language'
Published: 01 Jul 2009 17:26 GMT+02:00
Updated: 01 Jul 2009 17:26 GMT+02:00
Swedish is now officially considered the main language in Sweden, according to a new language law which, along with more than two dozen other laws, took effect on Wednesday.
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The new law, a first for Sweden, also gives five other languages – Finnish, all Sami dialects, Torne Valley Finnish (Meänkieli), Romani, and Yiddish – status as official national minority languages and is supposed to ensure that the languages used by public bodies are “protected, simple, and comprehensible”.
“The language law is an important tool in work on language policy,” said Lena Ekberg, head of Sweden’s Language Council (Språkrådet), in a statement.
As Swedish society has become increasingly diverse, the number of languages spoken by the country’s residents has ballooned.
According to the Language Council, close to 200 languages are spoken in Sweden today.
In addition, as the pace of globalization has increased, more and more Swedes are using English on a regular basis, which has resulted in English terms displacing many Swedish terms in technical areas such as medicine and economics.
On one reading, the new law simply codifies what anyone living in Sweden today already knows: Swedish is the language spoken by the most people in Sweden, either as their mother tongue or as a second language.
However, by stating explicitly that Sweden is the country’s “main language” (‘huvudspråk’), the law is also seen as an effort to secure the position of Swedish as the common language in Sweden and the language on which Swedish society rests, according to the Language Council.
As a result, “public bodies have a special responsibility to see that Swedish is used and developed” and to ensure that the language is not displaced entirely in international contexts.
The law also states that anyone living in Sweden should have the ability to “learn, develop, and use” the Swedish language.
In addition to the language law, 27 other laws affecting Swedish residents come into force on July 1st.
Not only are there new laws abolishing the country’s pharmacy and railway monopolies, but subsidies offered to people who purchase environmentally friendly cars are also set to expire.
Sweden has also changed the penalty for murder, allowing for time-defined sentences of 10 to 18 years, in addition to life in prison.
It is also now a crime for adults to seek sexual contact with minors on the internet. A conviction for “grooming”, as it is known, may result in a prison sentence of up to one year.
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Your comments about this article
What happened to cause the sudden rush of sanity?
Dig someone drug up the entire Rikstag?
And secondly, conviction for being a sexual predator being deemed by a term known as grooming to be punished by... one year in prison... but no mention if also banning the pervert from ever using the internet again etc... why not try and also at least say that if you try and coerce young children into being molested not only do you face prison time, we will also do our best to make sure this never happens again if we (the state) deem it safe to let you out of our prisons.
Come on this is 2009 and we are still letting society be degraded by this system we now live in.
Come back in 50 years when ohhhh wait I forgot, most "expats" will have left Sweden by then.
These new laws are laws that the government promised to do when they were trying to be elected and when they came to power. 1 July is historically the date Swedish governments use for new laws to come into effect.
Jimmyjames, why should English be an offiicil language in Sweden?
Good point though about Yiddish - surely Kurdish is more widely-spoken.........but hey, say anything remotely controversial about anything related to Israel and hey well that social conscience from WW2 kicks in........oops was that the sound of my accouunt being deleted for daring to express an opinion? ;)
Regardless of laws,languages tend to make a natural progression,...
In other words its a case of "What will be,Will be".
Apart from languages spoken in the mainly immigrant areas,I doubt many would deny that English has had an increasing influence in recent years with most of the younger generation now very comfortable with it and happy to use it when the occasion arises.
Circumstances will dictate, rather than a Swedish govt law, and with English looked upon as the international language in relation to quite a few things, plus the increase in international travel,(Swedish not being much use outside Sweden),plus the massive internet influence some would say its simply a matter of time.
Who knows in 50 or 100 years you may have to switch on the TV or whatever at a certain time of day for an hour or so in order to still hear a native language programme?
Kay Sera Sera.
If you remember the EU has heavily criticized multicultural diversity and non acceptance to minority languages in sweden.
If I could make 1 change, I would look heavily into swedish education of 1 particular subject.
And that subject would be "English" as at present Sweden doesnt teach English to the same standard it does with other languages such as French or German. At present Swedes are generally taught a watered down version of Panglish.
Sweden is definitely in a tough situation, that is very dangerous.
The simple truth is mass immigration is needed for the Swedish low end workforce which with the latest laws appears to further divide a 2 tear system of laws for white swedes against immigrants.
I am originally English and have lived here for over 16 years and never seen such a scary divide.
Unfortunately for you gibberish has yet to be officially recognised but don't worry I will continue to read your comments with mild curiosity.
To Greg from Canada - the problem was that up until now, Swedish was just a de facto language, not an official one. It is the same as in the USA, where English is not an official, but de facto language.
What this would lead in here was that in a 100 years, Swedish would become an extinct language.
If I have learned English, a foreigner coming here can learn Swedish.
It's really worth while to wind people up on this forum, especially the men. They get so upset and start posting weird posts.
However, in Sweden a very very large part of what you want and need to do as an imigrant you can do on English alone, or with very little Swedish. I have not had any problems at all since arriving here 6 months ago, and although I am learning Swedish, I find it hard to practice much, because as soon as its obvious I am english Swedes like to 'practise' their English on me.
And no, I have no sambo (Swedish or otherwise) just an english girlfriend who visits lots (but isn't that bothered about learning Swedish as she has no plans to move here)
What does it do??