Sweden Language

 

As compared to today in the past, the country of Sweden occupied greater territory. Hence, from its historic linguistic landscape the modern linguistic landscape of the country is greatly different. Swedish treated as the official language of Sweden evolved around the 14th and the 15th century from Old Norse. In various parts of the country the language has several dialects that are spoken are spoken in the whole country. There are some minority languages that are formally recognized minority languages spoken in Sweden include Finnish, Meänkieli, Yiddish, Sami, and Romani language. German language was the most important foreign language of Sweden prior to the Second World War after which English replaced German as the dominant foreign language spoken in the country of Sweden.

What is the official Language of Sweden?

Sweden official language

The official language of Sweden is Swedish and is held in high regard in the country. Nearly the entire population of Sweden country speak Swedish language with most speaking it as a first language and the rest as a second language. Swedish language is a North Germanic language that closely resembles Danish and Norwegian. Swedish language is also given an official status in the country of Finland where it is spoken by the ethnic Swedes of Finland. It is also spoken in other countries by the ethnic Swedes. In the United states of America, Swedish language is spoken by about half a million people with a Swedish ancestry.

There are several different dialects of Swedish language are spoken in various parts of Sweden. These include:

• Westrobothnian: (spoken in coastal areas of Westrobothnia and Norrbotten)
• Dalecarlian: (primarily spoken in the Älvdalen Municipality and other northern parts of the Dalarna province)
• Modern Gutnish: (that is spoken in Gotland and Fårö)
• Jamtlandic: (mainly spoken in Jämtland but with scattered speakers throughout Sweden)
• Scanian: (that is spoken in the province of Scania)

What are the minority languages spoken in Sweden?

There are 5 minority languages have been formally recognized in Sweden country since 1999. They are as follows:

Finnish

The language of Finnish has been spoken for many generations of ethnic Finns in country of Sweden. The fact that Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom for centuries makes Finnish language one of the oldest minority languages of Sweden country. About 5 percent of the population of Sweden country comprises of Finnish and ethnic Fins is spoken by about 470,000 speakers in the whole country. A majority (approximately 16,000) of the Finnish language speakers of Sweden reside in Norrbotten.

Meänkieli

The Meänkieli language is a Finnic language so closely related to Finnish language that it is often treated as a dialect of Finnish language. In the Torne Valley region of Sweden the language is spoken as a 1st language by about 40,000 to 70,000 speakers. People who are living in this Valley are called the Tornedalian people.

Sami

Sami people of northern Scandinavia speak these languages. And these are the Uralic languages. The Sami languages feature a significant number of loanwords from Germanic languages like Swedish, Finnish, etc. There are 3 different Sami languages are spoken in Sweden. These 3 languages are spoken by about 9,000 people of the 15,000 to 20,000 Sami people living in the country of Sweden. In Sweden the Sami language speakers are mainly found in the municipalities of Arjeplog, Kiruna, Jokkmokk, and Gällivare.

Romani

The Romani language is spoken by the Romani people. These people are a nomadic group tracing their origins to northern India. The Romani is closely related to the languages spoken in northern India and it is an Indo-Aryan language. Since the Romani people have a nomadic lifestyle and they don’t live in a particular area in Sweden.  that is why  there is no particular area can be designated as a Romani-speaking region. The Romani language is, however, given a significant importance in the country with the Swedish government promoting plans to preserve the Romani language.

Yiddish

Yiddish language is a Germanic language. And it is spoken mainly by the Ashkenazic Jews. Traditionally, The country of Sweden is served as the home of the Sephardic Jews but the Ashkenazic Jews immigrated to the Sweden after the 18th century and introduced the Yiddish language in the country. The language is written using a variant of the Hebrew Alphabet. The government of Sweden gives considerable attention to the preservation of this language in the country. Most of the Yiddish speakers in the country are adults. 2,000 to 6,000 of the 20,000 strong Jew population in the country claim to have some knowledge of Yiddish. Yiddish Culture and the Society of Yiddish in Sweden has been established with the aim of promoting the use of the language in the country.

What are the immigrant Languages Spoken In Sweden?

Immigrant Languages Spoken In Sweden

 

Immigrants to the country speak their native languages. Sweden attracts a large number of workers from all over the World but languages are the maturity languages spoken in the country, especially from the Southern Europe countries. Thus Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Turkish are some of the most immigrant languages spoken by settlers in Swedish. These languages are known as the immigrant languages of country.

What are the most Spoken Foreign languages in Sweden?

Foreign Languages Spoken In Sweden

German

For the period extending from the Middle Ages to the end of the Second World War the German language was quite popular in the country of Sweden. During this time, Sweden had close connections with Germany. Many Swedish pioneering intellectuals were educated in the universities in the country of Germany and they helped a lot spreading the knowledge of German in Sweden country. However, all these close connections changed after World War II and the defeat of the Germans. Now the country of Sweden attempted to maintain a distance with Germany and the huge popularity of the German language in Sweden was lost. Soon English language became a more popular foreign language of the country. Currently, German language is no longer a compulsory 2nd language taught in the schools of Sweden but is usually offered as an elective language in educational institutions.

English

English is spoken by a large section of the Swedish population. English language is most commonly spoken by the younger generations who were born after the World War II. The strong American influence, the trade links of Sweden with English speaking Nations overseas travel to English-speaking countries, and cultural diversity have increased the popularity of the English language in the country of Sweden. Since 1952, for all students in the country studying English language has been made compulsory.

What are the other foreign languages spoken in country?

Other foreign languages spoken in Sweden

In the schools of Sweden French and Spanish are offered as additional languages for learning to Students. And there are also plans to introduce Mandarin language (China’s Official language) as an additional language. Danish and Norwegian language is also taught on certain occasions to native Swedish speakers in Sweden.