# Swedish: the official language



## Gutterflower

Hi!
I would like to know if this sentence is correct:
-The official language is swedish and the biggest lake is Vänern.
-Det officiella språket är Svenska och den största sjön är Vänern.
Thanks


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## USB-anslutning

Names of languages aren't capitalized in Swedish, the rest seems to be correct.


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## Gutterflower

Ok, thanks for the answer!


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## dinji

Except that Sweden does not have any "official" language, to the best of my knowledge. A bit of the same problem as the US. 

Swedish is thus an official language in Finland only?


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## Wilma_Sweden

dinji said:


> Except that Sweden does not have any "official" language, to the best of my knowledge. A bit of the same problem as the US.
> 
> Swedish is thus an official language in Finland only?


According to Wikipedia, Swedish is an official language of Finland, Estonia, EU and the Nordic Council. 

I don't know why the Swedish government has not proclaimed it an official language of Sweden. Possibly there has never been any need because it has been the _de facto_ official language since medieval times, the Swedish population has been predominantly monolingual, and I assume the government has never seen any need to raise Swedish or any minority language to 'legal officialdom'. 

English has no legal official language status in the UK either, only de facto status....

/Wilma


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## Andreas_Jensen

Wilma_Sweden said:


> According to Wikipedia, Swedish is an official language of Finland, Estonia, EU and the Nordic Council.


 
Swedish is not official in Estonia... As least that's what I've always thought and I wasn't able to find it on Wikipedia  On the other hand it is official on Åland (a part of Finland, but rather self-governing as far as I know).


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## DieuEtMonDroit

I've been told that the only reason there is Swedish interpretation in the EU is because it is an official language in Finland.


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## dinji

DieuEtMonDroit said:


> I've been told that the only reason there is Swedish interpretation in the EU is because it is an official language in Finland.


No, although it could have been so, because in 1994 Finland voted YES to the EU in a referendum some weeks before Sweden, and Sweden could have said NO.

Although Swedish is not the official language of Sweden it is in the EU because it is included in the accession treaties of Sweden and Finland to the Communities. Since the Accession Treaty is ratified in Sveriges Riksdag, also Sweden is bound by the official status of the language in the EU, and if Finland would leave the Union, the language would remain an official language on the merits of Swedish membership.

By the way, Finland made no reservations on its variant of the language. Austria appended a glossary of variant german words to its accession treaty. So the potato may still have two names in the EU in german, but the Swedish "semla" may not be called "fastlagsbulla" in the EU.


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## Wilma_Sweden

Andreas_Jensen said:


> Swedish is not official in Estonia... As least that's what I've always thought and I wasn't able to find it on Wikipedia  On the other hand it is official on Åland (a part of Finland, but rather self-governing as far as I know).


Sorry about that confusion, it arose from the English Wiki page on the Swedish language, but I didn't read it carefully enough. It turns out that it is official in one Estonian municipality only, i.e. Nooarotsi/Nuckö, which has a large proportion of Swedish speakers.

@ dinji: It is obvious that nobody thought of us Scanians when deciding that "fastlagsbulle" is not a recognised product in the EU... As usual, Stockholm is too far from Scania! 

/Wilma


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## Lemminkäinen

Moderator note: I think the initial question has been sufficiently answered by now, so I'm locking this thread. Please remember to stay on topic.


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