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Languages of Sweden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swedish is the official language of Sweden and is spoken by the vast majority of the 10.23 million inhabitants of the country. It is a North Germanic language and quite similar to its sister Scandinavian languages, Danish and Norwegian, with which it maintains partial mutual intelligibility and forms a dialect continuum. A number of regional Swedish dialects are spoken across the country. In total, more than 200 languages are estimated to be spoken across the country, including regional languages, indigenous Sámi languages, and immigrant languages.[2]
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Languages of Sweden | |
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![]() Sign at a library in Swedish and Southern Sami | |
Official | Swedish |
Indigenous | (Officially recognised) Sámi languages, Swedish. |
Regional | (Unofficial languages / Dialects) South Swedish, Götamål, Svealand Swedish, Norrland, and Gutnish, among others. |
Minority | (Officially recognised) Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani, Yiddish |
Immigrant | Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Greek, Kurdish, Persian, Polish, Spanish, Somali[1] |
Foreign | English (89%) German (30%) French (11%) |
Signed | Swedish Sign Language |
Keyboard layout | |
Source | ebs_243_en.pdf (europa.eu) |
In 2009, the Riksdag passed a national language law recognizing Swedish as the main and common language of society, as well as the official language for "international contexts". The law also confirmed the official status of the five national minority languages — Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani, Sámi languages and Yiddish — and Swedish Sign Language.