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Demokratiskolan
The Language(s) card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 99 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaPeople & belonging
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionRiksdagsvalet
People & belonging

Language(s)

(In)official language(s) used in the nation

Swedish is, under the Language Act, the main language of Sweden, but the country also has five national minority languages protected by law: Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib and Sami, plus Swedish Sign Language. Which language your preschool, elderly care or contact with an agency speaks is very much a political question.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · sfi, mother tongue & preschool · approx 30 %
  • Region · interpreters & care in your language · approx 5 %
  • State · language act & minority protection · approx 60 %
  • EU · Swedish as an EU language · approx 5 %

The Language Act and the minority protection are decided by the Riksdag, but it is the municipality (kommun) that meets you in the language: sfi, mother tongue teaching, preschool and elderly care.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityLanguage in everyday life
The regionCare in your language
Central governmentThe law on the languages · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) and the school and elderly care committees.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the healthcare committees.
The Riksdag, Isof with the Language Council, the Sami Parliament and the National Agency for Education.
What do they decide?
Sfi for adults, mother tongue teaching in school, and in administrative areas preschool and elderly care in Finnish, Meänkieli or Sami.
Interpreters in healthcare, and in administrative areas the right to contact in a minority language. Culture and adult education in several languages.
The Language Act, the Act on national minorities and minority languages, the school's rules on mother tongue and central government grants to administrative areas.
Where are decisions made?
In the school administration and in the municipality's minority consultation.
In healthcare guidelines and the region's minority work.
In the Riksdag and at the agencies. The County Administrative Board in Stockholm and the Sami Parliament follow up minority policy.
Who pays?
The municipal tax plus a central government grant for the service in administrative areas.
The regional tax: interpreter services and multilingual service.
The central government budget: grants to municipalities in administrative areas and to language centres.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Request mother tongue teaching, take part in the minority consultations, contact the committee.
Regional election Views through 1177 and the patients' advisory committee, consultation for national minorities.
General election The general election shapes language policy. Referrals (remiss) are open to everyone.
EUSwedish is one of the EU's official languages: you have the right to write to the EU's institutions in Swedish and receive a reply in Swedish. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case A municipality joins the administrative area for Finnish
  1. State

    The Riksdag protects five languages

    The Act on national minorities and minority languages gives Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib and Sami a special protection. For Finnish, Meänkieli and Sami there are administrative areas with extended rights.

    Point of influence

    The general election shapes minority policy, and reviews of the law go out for referral (remiss).

  2. Municipality

    Sweden Finns raise the issue

    In a municipality with many Sweden Finnish residents, associations and individuals raise the demand for service in Finnish. The law already requires the municipality to consult its national minorities.

    Point of influence

    The consultations are required by law. Anyone who belongs to a national minority can take part and make demands.

  3. Municipality

    The council applies to the Government

    The municipal council decides to apply for voluntary affiliation to the administrative area for Finnish. The Government decides, and affiliation brings an annual central government grant.

    Point of influence

    The decision is political: the municipal election, petitions and direct contact with council members have an effect.

  4. State

    The central government grant is paid out

    The County Administrative Board in Stockholm pays out the grant and follows up that the money goes to what the law requires: preschool, elderly care and contact with agencies in Finnish.

  5. Municipality

    The service is built up

    The municipality recruits Finnish-speaking staff to the preschool and elderly care, translates information and opens a Finnish-language phone line.

  6. Your everyday life

    Mummi gets an answer in Finnish

    At the care home, grandmother, mummi, can talk about memories and medicines in her mother tongue. A language is worth the most when it is needed the most.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. Which languages do you hear on an ordinary day, and which of them are visible in public space?

  2. What does a society lose when a language disappears?

  3. How much service can a municipality offer in several languages, and what should be prioritised?

  4. Why do you think just five languages were given the status of national minority languages?

  5. What does it mean for a child to receive teaching in their mother tongue?

Glossary

Språklagen
The law that makes Swedish the main language and gives the minority languages and sign language protection.
Nationellt minoritetsspråk
Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib or Sami: languages with protection laid down in law.
Förvaltningsområde
Municipalities where the right to preschool, elderly care and contact with agencies in Finnish, Meänkieli or Sami is strengthened.
Modersmålsundervisning
A school subject for pupils who speak another language at home, with a stronger right for the minority languages.
Sfi
Municipal education in Swedish for immigrants.
Språkrådet
The part of the agency Isof that advises on language and follows the development of the languages.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.