Finnish Finnish has been spoken in Sweden ever since the (then provincial) borders were drawn in the 13th century. Sweden has always had a significant migration to and from Finland. As the two languages belong to different
language families, it is easy to distinguish them, unlike the neighbouring languages
Norwegian and
Danish. The number of Finnish speakers in Sweden today has been estimated to over 460,000. Even though many current Swedes are of full or mixed Finnish descent, Swedish is the main language in practice for many bilinguals. Finnish and Meänkieli can be used in the northernmost municipalities of
Gällivare,
Haparanda,
Kiruna,
Pajala and
Övertorneå and its immediate neighbourhood. On 11 December 2007, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (
YLE) reported, that in
Uppsala, Sweden, speaking Finnish was forbidden for municipal employees, and that this was the case also with small talk during breaks. According to an agreement between the city council and the municipal trade union the official working language is Swedish and two employees were not allowed to speak Finnish with one another in the common work premises or in break rooms. The
Equality Ombudsman considered that a ban was permissible in that particular case. The following municipalities are included in the administrative area for Finnish: •
Älvkarleby Municipality •
Borås Municipality •
Borlänge Municipality •
Botkyrka Municipality •
Degerfors Municipality •
Enköping Municipality •
Eskilstuna Municipality •
Fagersta Municipality •
Finspång Municipality •
Gällivare Municipality •
Gävle Municipality •
Gislaved Municipality •
Gothenburg Municipality •
Håbo Municipality •
Hällefors Municipality •
Hallstahammar Municipality •
Haninge Municipality •
Haparanda Municipality •
Hofors Municipality •
Huddinge Municipality •
Järfälla Municipality •
Kalix Municipality •
Karlskoga Municipality •
Kiruna Municipality •
Köping Municipality •
Kramfors Municipality •
Laxå Municipality •
Lindesberg Municipality •
Ludvika Municipality •
Luleå Municipality •
Malmö Municipality •
Mariestad Municipality •
Motala Municipality •
Norrköping Municipality •
Norrtälje Municipality •
Nykvarn Municipality •
Örebro Municipality •
Örnsköldsvik Municipality •
Österåker Municipality •
Östhammar Municipality •
Övertorneå Municipality •
Oxelösund Municipality •
Pajala Municipality •
Sandviken Municipality •
Sigtuna Municipality •
Skellefteå Municipality •
Skinnskatteberg Municipality •
Skövde Municipality •
Smedjebacken Municipality •
Söderhamn Municipality •
Södertälje Municipality •
Solna Municipality •
Stockholm Municipality •
Sundbyberg Municipality •
Sundsvall Municipality •
Surahammar Municipality •
Tierp Municipality •
Trelleborg Municipality •
Trollhättan Municipality •
Trosa Municipality •
Uddevalla Municipality •
Umeå Municipality •
Upplands-Bro Municipality •
Upplands Väsby Municipality •
Uppsala Municipality •
Västerås Municipality Meänkieli Meänkieli (also known as Tornionlaaksonsuomi [lit. Tornedalian Finnish] and Tornedalian) is spoken by a population in northern Sweden. Meänkieli is primarily considered a separate language in Sweden due to historical, sociological and political reasons arising from the creation of the 1809 border between Sweden and Finland. However on purely linguistic grounds, it may be viewed as a dialect of Finnish as it is highly mutually intelligible with the Northern Finnish dialects, although it contains much stronger influences from Swedish and has conserved some archaic features which the Northern dialects in Finland have lost. According to the National Association of Swedish Tornedalians, 70,000 individuals are able to understand Meänkieli, at least to some level. The following municipalities are included in the administrative area for Meänkieli: •
Gällivare Municipality •
Haparanda Municipality •
Kalix Municipality •
Kiruna Municipality •
Luleå Municipality •
Övertorneå Municipality •
Pajala Municipality •
Stockholm Municipality •
Umeå Municipality Sámi languages In Sweden,
Sámi languages encompasses five closely related
Uralic languages —
Lule,
Northern,
Pite,
Southern, and
Ume Sámi – although they are commonly referred to as a single language, , in the country. Of those who speak a Sámi language in Sweden, the majority (61%) speak Northern Sámi, followed by Southern Sámi (22%), and Lule Sámi (17%); •
Älvdalen Municipality •
Åre Municipality •
Arjeplog Municipality •
Arvidsjaur Municipality •
Åsele Municipality •
Berg Municipality •
Dorotea Municipality •
Gällivare Municipality •
Härjedalen Municipality •
Jokkmokk Municipality •
Kiruna Municipality •
Krokom Municipality •
Luleå Municipality •
Lycksele Municipality •
Malå Municipality •
Örnsköldsvik Municipality •
Östersund Municipality •
Piteå Municipality •
Skellefteå Municipality •
Sorsele Municipality •
Stockholm Municipality •
Storuman Municipality •
Strömsund Municipality •
Sundsvall Municipality •
Umeå Municipality •
Vilhelmina Municipality •
Vindeln Municipality Romani Romani chib, the language of
Romani people, has been spoken in Sweden since the 16th century. Today about 9,500 people speak it in Sweden. It does not have a geographical center, but is considered to be of historical importance.
Yiddish Yiddish has been a common language of
Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jews since early in their history. The first Jews were permitted to reside in Sweden during the late 18th century. As of 2009, the Jewish population in Sweden was estimated at around 20,000. Out of these 2,000–6,000 claim to have at least some knowledge of Yiddish according to various reports and surveys. The number of native speakers among these has been estimated by linguist Mikael Parkvall to be 750–1,500. It is believed that virtually all native speakers of Yiddish in Sweden today are adults, and most of them elderly. The organization
Sveriges Jiddischförbund (Yiddish Association of Sweden) has been the national parent organization for Yiddish speakers and has four local chapters in
Borås,
Gothenburg, Stockholm and
Malmö. It has been active since 1976 and was previously known as
Sällskapet för jiddisch och jiddischkultur i Sverige (The Society for Yiddish and Yiddish Culture in Sweden) which is now the name of the chapter based in Stockholm. Romani and Yiddish have minority language status throughout the country and are covered by government obligations regarding their preservation. == See also ==