CULTURE
The
four major Scandinavian languages - Danish, Swedish, Norwegian
and Icelandic - are closely related. The languages have played
an important role in creating and preserving national identity.
Finnish, on the other hand, is not a Germanic language, and is
completely different from the others. While a Swede and a Dane
often understand each other fairly well in a conversation, neither
of them would understand a Finn (unless, of course, they have
studied Finnish). In cases like that, English is likely to be
used. (It should be kept in mind, though, that a fairly large
minority of people in Finland have Swedish as their native tongue
and many people in the country understand both Finnish and Swedish).
When it comes to language, Sweden has been a homogenous country
for a long time. With the exception of Sami and Finnish speaking
minorities in the north, Swedish was used everywhere. It is still
the predominant language by far but the situation today is somewhat
more complex. Because of immigration in the second half of the
20th century, many foreign languages are now represented and they
are frequently used within the immigrant groups respectively.
This is particularly true, of course, for those immigrants who
have arrived in recent years. In addition, immigrant children
also have the opportunity to learn their native language at their
Swedish school. Despite this manifoldness of languages, Swedish
keeps its position as unchallenged official and common language.
One of the minority languages, Sami, is spoken by Sweden's oldest
ethnic minority, the Sami. The area, historically related to this
group of people, can be found in northern Sweden, as well as in
northern Finland and Norway. Today, however, many of them have
moved to southern Sweden and Stockholm is sometimes said to be
"the largest Sami settlement in Sweden". The native tongue of
the Sami is not related to Swedish. However, most of the Sami
peolple have become bilingual in the process of adaption.
English is taught as a compulsory secondary language in Swedish
schools. Since Sweden has become a stronghold of American popular
culture, English is also learned to a large extent through TV,
music, and films. When it comes to expressing certain attitudes,
English is even considered superior to Swedish. Tourists from
Britain or the US may be surprised at the number of Anglicisms
in use today. Sometimes this urge to 'sound English' even becomes
a bit ridiculous. A foreigner who wants to buy a Sony Walkman,
for instance, should ask for a freestyle.
