Language status and language in Sweden

“Godmorgon!” “Sbah alsher” [Arabic] “Roj bash!” [Kurdish] How many languages are in fact spoken in Sweden? Selma speaks four languages: Kurdish, Swedish, Swedish sign language, and English. She learnt Kurdish from her mum and dad when growing up. It is her native language, or first language. But she learned Swedish around the same time, from friends, in day care, and in school.

That’s why Selma speaks Kurdish about as well as she speaks Swedish. Selma is bilingual. Selma’s mother learned Swedish as an adult after moving to Sweden, through living and working there. We say that Swedish is her second language. But both Selma and her mother also speak Swedish sign language.

Selma’s little sister Siver is deaf, and speaks the Swedish sign language. It’s a language where words and grammar aren’t expressed through sound, but by using your hands, body and face. Because of this, Selma and her parents have also learned to sign. Siver also knows Swedish, but she writes and reads it. Swedish is Siver’s second language.

Selma, her mum, and Siver have also learned English in school. When learning a language in school, without living in a land where it’s spoken, we say that we’re studying a foreign language. So you know four languages, Selma! Bilingualism is very common in the world. It’s actually a bit more common to be bilingual, like Selma, than it is to only speak one language.

Some are bilingual because their parents speak different languages. The children learn both languages at the same time from the beginning. The country’s schooling may be in a different language than the one spoken at home. For example, Selma’s mother spoke Kurdish at home when she was little, but her school taught in Arabic. The country you’re living in may use another language in courts, politics and other official contexts – a state language or official language.

In Sweden, Swedish is the state language, and is used in schools, courts, and by authorities. Most people in Sweden also have Swedish as their native language. It’s Sweden’s majority language. Majority language isn’t always the same as state language. In Finland, for example, there are two state languages: Finnish, which is spoken by the majority of the people, and the other official language, Swedish, which is spoken by a smaller part of the population.

Swedish is a minority language in Finland, but is still equal to Finnish. Town names, for example, are in both languages. There are minority languages in Sweden too. Rather many, actually. Swedish sign language for example, is the native language of deaf people, and of many hearing children who have deaf parents.

A few minority languages have been given a special status – the national minority languages: Finnish, Meänkieli, the Sámi languages, Yiddish, and Romani Chib. These are languages that have been spoken in Sweden for a very long time. In some parts of Sweden, the authorities have to provide services in one or more of these languages, for example: day care, school, and old age care. And there are many more minority languages that have come to Sweden, mostly through immigration. Some of these have very many speakers, for example Arabic.

So... how many languages are spoken in Sweden? It’s hard to tell exactly how many languages are spoken in a country. Only counting those with more than 50 000 speakers, it’s already 14 in Sweden. But there are many more, of course; a reasonable guess is that at least 150–200 different languages are spoken in Sweden today.

How many languages are spoken in your class? Make a list together, and check which ones are first and second languages. Anyone bilingual?