Thursday, April 25, 2013

Language notes part 8: A very multicultural moment

JenniferMy lecture in Swedish class today was about the official languages in Sweden. Swedish is one of them (duh, you say, but it was only in 2009 that it was decreed to be the official language), and additionally there are five minority languages. Today's lecture was about them, and we listened to a bit of each one. The Very Multicultural Moment came I realized I was getting a lecture in Swedish, while sitting in a building called The English Park, listening while the lecturer (an ethnic Lapp) played us a CD of a reading of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' translated into Yiddish. Yes, Yiddish is one of Sweden's official minority languages. Betcha didn't know that!

The others, for the terminally curious, are Finnish, Lappish (many kinds), Romani chib (again, many kinds), and a sort of Swedified Finnish called MeƤnkieli.

Want more multiculture? How about Sofia Jannok singing 'Waterloo' in Lappish?

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