I studied Swedish at university, and now I work as a linguist
Studying your home or mother tongue is always a positive venture, because language is how we communicate. Yes, obviously. But the sounds used in language can be quite complex, and even particular to a language. Think of some of the sounds in Mandarin Chinese, some aren't used in the same way in any other language around the world. There are sounds in Polish which are represented in a very confusing combination of consonants. Nasal intonations add to this melee and there you have the vast differences between languages.
In Swedish we have a lot of the common Germanic sounds which are transformed by, and in, pronunciation. Swedish is a language in the Indo-European group/stream, in the Germanic sub group. But then there is a diversity between what is modern German and modern Swedish. This was caused by the variations that occur down the centuries. The only language to remain unchanged for a thousand years is Icelandic. Old Norse it is, and remains, but the other Scandinavian Germanic languages (excluding the non-Germanic Finnish) have changed enough during that thousand years to make them different enough as to be clearly identifiable as a separate language.
Swedish (svenska [ˈsvɛ̂nːska]) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countries overall.
Swedish, like the other Nordic languages, is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker.
Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties and rural dialects still exist, the written language is uniform and standardized. Swedish is the most widely spoken second language in Finland where it has status as co-official language.
Swedish was long spoken in parts of Estonia, although the current status of the Estonian Swedish speakers is almost extinct. It is also used in the Swedish diaspora, most notably in Oslo, Norway, with more than 50,000 Swedish residents.
The Swedish Language Council (Språkrådet) is the regulator of Swedish in Sweden but does not attempt to enforce control of the language, as for instance the Académie française does for French. However, many organizations and agencies require the use of the council's publication Svenska skrivregler in official contexts, with it otherwise being regarded as a de facto orthographic standard. Among the many organizations that make up the Swedish Language Council, the Swedish Academy (established 1786) is arguably the most influential. Its primary instruments are the spelling dictionary Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL, currently in its 14th edition) and the dictionary Svenska Akademiens Ordbok, in addition to various books on grammar, spelling and manuals of style. Although the dictionaries have a prescriptive element, they mainly describe current usage.
In Finland, a special branch of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland has official status as the regulatory body for Swedish in Finland. Among its highest priorities is to maintain intelligibility with the language spoken in Sweden. It has published Finlandssvensk ordbok, a dictionary about the differences between Swedish in Finland and Sweden.
In Swedish we have a lot of the common Germanic sounds which are transformed by, and in, pronunciation. Swedish is a language in the Indo-European group/stream, in the Germanic sub group. But then there is a diversity between what is modern German and modern Swedish. This was caused by the variations that occur down the centuries. The only language to remain unchanged for a thousand years is Icelandic. Old Norse it is, and remains, but the other Scandinavian Germanic languages (excluding the non-Germanic Finnish) have changed enough during that thousand years to make them different enough as to be clearly identifiable as a separate language.
Swedish (svenska [ˈsvɛ̂nːska]) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countries overall.
Swedish, like the other Nordic languages, is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker.
Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties and rural dialects still exist, the written language is uniform and standardized. Swedish is the most widely spoken second language in Finland where it has status as co-official language.
Swedish was long spoken in parts of Estonia, although the current status of the Estonian Swedish speakers is almost extinct. It is also used in the Swedish diaspora, most notably in Oslo, Norway, with more than 50,000 Swedish residents.
The Swedish Language Council (Språkrådet) is the regulator of Swedish in Sweden but does not attempt to enforce control of the language, as for instance the Académie française does for French. However, many organizations and agencies require the use of the council's publication Svenska skrivregler in official contexts, with it otherwise being regarded as a de facto orthographic standard. Among the many organizations that make up the Swedish Language Council, the Swedish Academy (established 1786) is arguably the most influential. Its primary instruments are the spelling dictionary Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL, currently in its 14th edition) and the dictionary Svenska Akademiens Ordbok, in addition to various books on grammar, spelling and manuals of style. Although the dictionaries have a prescriptive element, they mainly describe current usage.
In Finland, a special branch of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland has official status as the regulatory body for Swedish in Finland. Among its highest priorities is to maintain intelligibility with the language spoken in Sweden. It has published Finlandssvensk ordbok, a dictionary about the differences between Swedish in Finland and Sweden.
