Nearly 4 out of 10 Swedish-speaking Finns believe that an organised resistance exists towards Swedish-speaking Finns and Swedish-speaking culture in Finland.
This is revealed in a opinion survey that the Swedish department of Finland’s public service broadcaster Yle ordered from the Institute for Finland-Swedish Societal Research (IFS) at the university Åbo akademi.
38% of Swedish-speaking Finns believe there is an organised opposition to all things Finland-Swedish, 35% don not share this view and 27% chose not to answer this question.
According to Yle, IFS researcher Kjell Herberts thinks the trend is clear – Swedish-speaking Finns feel concerned and anxious and see that understanding for the Swedish-speaking element in Finland can no longer be taken for granted. Herberts believes that, for example, the handling of the restructuring of the municipalities and basic services can have contributed to this viewpoint. In the view of Herberts, things felt much more secure in the past. Now Swedish-speaking Finns often see that it’s just talk, not action, when decision makers promise to safe-guard Swedish-language services.
Low marks for almost all decision makers
As part of the survey, respondents were asked to rate various institutions and the parliamentary political parties, using a school-style grade (from 4-10), for how good they are in handling Swedish-speaking issues. Few got good grades.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s (centre) coalition government received a low 5,9.
The Swedish Peoples’ Party (SFP) received the best grade, 8. This is quite a surprise as SFP has been criticised in recent times for not managing to succeed in defending Swedish-speaking interests well enough – it has sat in coalition governments that have removed Swedish as a compulsory element of the school graduation exam for Finnish-speaking students and that have reformed institutions in ways seen as marginalising the Swedish-speaking influence.
The other political parties received even worse grades. The Social Democrats (SDP) received 6,3. The Christian democrats got 6 and the Green party 5,9. The Left Alliance received 5,6. The two biggest parties in the current parliament, National Coalition (Kokoomus) and Centre received 5,5 and 5,4 respectively. The lowest grade was given to the True Finns party, who received 4,4.
85% think Swedish should be part of the school graduation exam
If it were up to Swedish-speaking Finns, Swedish would again be introduced as a compulsory element of the school graduation exam for Finnish-speaking students.
53% of respondents would make the other domestic language (i.e. Swedish for Finnish-speakers and Finnish for Swedish-speakers) obligatory in the test. 32% support making it compulsory but don’t believe it’s a realistic proposition. 15% thought it should not be compulsory.
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Friday 11.4.08 at 20:10
Anonymous
ps.
“organized resistance” (z, inte s) betyder nog närmast organiserat, väpnat motstånd. Knappast vad du avsåg.
Friday 11.4.08 at 20:48
Jonas
Hej språkpolisen! Jag använder brittisk engelska och inte ‘amerikanska’
.
Friday 11.4.08 at 20:58
Eastern promise
Why does SFP stay in governments when they do things against their policies on Swedish? Shouldn’t they resign like the Greens did over the nuclear issue – I know they are back again already, but at least they stood up for their beliefs.
Sunday 13.4.08 at 18:08
Anonym
Clearly there is an opposition taking place. The constitution and the language act are not being followed correctly. The coalition party in government together with Centre is not good for language rights. Both have little understanding or care for Finland-Swedes. Especially Anne Holmlund who is shameful. At least SDP had some understanding.
Then some of the Finns have this inferiority complex that makes them react against Finland-Swedes. They don’t understand how languages are always a benefit – instead they think they can survive with their broken English in Sweden and the rest of the Scandinavian countries.
Sunday 13.4.08 at 22:54
kalle
Strange how its acceptable to discriminate against the Swedishspeaking Finns where it would be racist and you would end up with a fine if it was against other groups.
Monday 14.4.08 at 21:01
giustino
What about the other minority languages in Finland? Do they deserve the same protection? I guess you can’t expect all Finns to take a state graduation exam in Sami, though. But is it fair for a Russian-speaking Finn to have to take an exam in Swedish to graduate? Not only does he have to learn Finnish, but Swedish as well!
Monday 14.4.08 at 23:50
kalle
The comparison to Sami doesn’t work because Swedish is not a minority language in Finland like Sami is. The constitution says that Finland’s national languages are Finnish and Swedish. Neither language is the first official language or anything such as that. They are on the same level. It mentions Sami and gypsies as well, but not at the same status of national language. No other languages, such as Russian, are given any specific status or rights in the constitution. Russian is not indigenous to Finland but is the biggest immigrant language.
Tuesday 15.4.08 at 15:15
Jonas
Indeed, Swedish is not the second official language or a minority language in law – although this is sometimes mistakenly reported.
I am not quite sure what happens for immigrants in terms of taking the other domestic language, be that Finnish or Swedish. It’s worth remembering that there are immigrants who integrate into the Swedish-speaking community as well (mostly because they end up living in a Swedish-speaking majority place or because of family ties, a few do so because they perceive it to be easier than learning Finnish). I believe that Sami who go to school in the medium of the Sami language take Finnish as the other domestic language at school – and therefore don’t have to take Swedish (although I could be wrong there – in any case, it’s extremely few children who are in such a circumstance – I’d guess it’s less than 200 (maybe even significantly less) who are actually taught in the medium of Sami).
A Russian-speaking Finn would presumably have grown up in Finland and learnt Finnish or Swedish from his surroundings like other immigrant who has been here from birth. There isn’t a Russian-speaking cultural zone where you can survive just in Russian. So, taking the other domestic language should be no more difficult for he/she as taking foreign languages (e.g. English) in the school programme. Who knows, maybe they’d even find it easier with already knowing an additional (and Indo-European at that) language. Of course, it’s vital that immigrants are supported and given the opportunities to learn both the domestic languages so as not to put them at a disadvantage later in the job market.