Swedish-speaking Finns are becoming all the more bilingual. That’s according to the latest trend from the Finland-Swedish Barometer survey.
According to researcher Kjell Herberts at the Institute for Finland-Swedish Future Research, one can read this trend by comparing the latest barometer results with surveys done in the past. In 1950, 46% of Swedish-speaking Finns asked said that they had a strong command of both national languages. According to the most recent research, 82% of Swedish-speaking Finns are of the opinion that they have a strong command of Finnish as well as Swedish. (Although it is apparently hard to make a totally accurate comparison, as the questions were asked differently in 1950 as to more recent surveys, and the question does not necessarily imply that one should be fluent in Finnish to give a positive response).
According to Herberts, the situation for Swedish in Finland is made more difficult by those Swedish-speaking Finns who so easily and willingly switch to using Finnish when accessing services. According to Herberts, it is also the case that the more bilingual one becomes, the easier it is to abandon one’s own language. Herberts, however, does not believe that the existence of Swedish in Finland is threatened in at least the short term.
The latest barometer survey also shows that Swedish-speaking young people are significantly less interested in politics than their Finnish-speaking counterparts. 77% of Swedish-speaking youths said that they were either not at all interested or not especially interested in politics.
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Monday 2.6.08 at 19:27
Rasmus
Use it or lose it, as the Americans say. Less demand makes it easy to not provide the services. Sometimes it the Swedish speaking themselves who are the Swedish language’s worst enemy in this country.
Tuesday 3.6.08 at 0:19
tomppeli
Come to think of it, it was impolite to write an answer in Finnish in an English blog. Sorry.
Tuesday 3.6.08 at 22:18
Jonas
Quite possibly. But you didn’t as far as I can see!
Tuesday 3.6.08 at 22:30
Malte
My thoughts:
I think bilingualism is something we Swedish-speaking Finns should be proud of. Understanding Finnish is a rather useful thing, after all. And quite frankly, if I didn’t understand Finnish, I would probably have moved to Sweden a long time ago. This is a big problem in Österbotten (and to a lesser extent the Åland Isles) – young people who don’t know Finnish migrate to Sweden.
The better a minority speaks the language of the majority, the better of they are (both economically, culturally and socially). I’m not saying that we should abandon Swedish. I’m just saying that it’s really, really helpful to be fluent in Finnish if you live in Finland. So yeah, I wouldn’t be to worried about Swedish-speaking Finns becoming more bilingual.
Wednesday 4.6.08 at 17:12
Jonas
I tend to agree with you Malte. Also with Rasmus though.
We need to speak good Finnish for the reasons you highlight. And also so that we can reach positions of influence to ensure the standing of Swedish is maintained.
It is a bit of a Catch 22 situation though. It is, apparently, extremely challenging to get service in Swedish from even state and municipal authorities in Helsinki. It’s important that the Swedish-speakers there don’t just give up demanding it, otherwise it’s much easier for Helsinki (and the state) not to provide it. I remember reading in HBL recently that Helsinki is stopping offering home help to the elderly in Swedish in the districts outside of the city centre area (which must surely be illegal in a bilingual municipality). If Swedish turns into a language spoken at home only, it will be on its way to disappearing. Every time people give up and use Finnish without even starting in Swedish it also shows a lack of solidarity with those who absolutely depend on it; the very young, the elderly and those who aren’t functionally bilingual (as you say, many especially in Österbotten and Åbolands skärgård and I suppose also on Åland). If the authorities stop producing documents, materials etc in Swedish, those people will be put in very difficult situations where they won’t be able to access their rights.