Sweden has a long tradition of being ruled by left-wing parties, except for a few conservative outbursts now and then. (For the non-Swedes: we are technically a monarchy, but we’re ruled by a government. Our king has other noble tasks keeping him busy - like giving unimpressive speeches, and hiding whenever the question whether or not we need a king arises.) This fall we’re looking at an interesting election: to my layman eyes it appears that the socialist party will have to work pretty hard to remain in majority; siding with the leftish liberals will probably not be enough.

Oh, and just in case some Americans are reading and are wondering what kind of country has socialists and liberals in ruling positions, I have to unnerve them a bit more: US Democrats are about as right-wing as any of our parties. When we talk about socialist and liberal parties, it’s not just in comparison with ultra-right conservatives.

Either way, as interesting as this may or may not be, I have another point to all of this: today I read an article in which <em>Folkpartiet</em> (<em>The People’s Party</em>; yeah, I’m serious) , a rather conservative party here, discusses new demands for immigrants coming to Sweden. The main point seems to be that foreigners above the age of 16 and below the age of 55 are required to attend at least 300 hours of Swedish language education, if they are to remain in Sweden.

This is a very interesting proposition. Spontaneously I am inclined to support it; language is a vital key to fitting in in a society, and essential if immigrants are to become a part of the country itself instead of a segregated minority. But on the other hand there are way too many elements as it is in Sweden that are hostile to foreigners, and enforcing rules like this might give them involuntary support. After all, this might just be the beginning. If there are demands for attending classes, why not enforce language tests as well before they’re allowed in here? And why not cultural tests as well? And why not Swedish history? And why not demand that they all live in red cottages, have a Volvo and behave like good little secular Christians, just like everyone else? And why not demand that they all have fair hair and a whitish complexion?

The idea is ludicrous, of course: they only wish the best for the immigrants, and want them to integrate better. No ulterior motives exist, and it’s doubtful that any demands for cultural knowledge would ever be suggested or enforced. No matter how hard I try, I can’t find a serious fault with the idea.

Except for the fact that I almost unconditionally support diversity, and this is yet another step toward quenching the free spirit. I wish I knew what the immigrants themselves feel.

I guess I could ask my mother.

In the article, there were a few opposing comments; too bad that the people who offered them appear to be complete morons. Freely translated:

“I believe that Lars Leijonborg received his citizenship without being able to speak a single word Swedish - as a newborn. It was assumed that he would learn Swedish.”

Rhetoric bull-excrement from the Minister of Integration. He might have overlooked the fact that children pick up languages like horny teenagers pick up chlamydia, and the fact that this skill disappears in later years. It would be practically impossible for a small child to grow up without learning the language spoken in his surroundings. At the same time, it takes a deliberate effort for a grown person to learn a new language – it’s much easier to give up and decide that it’s not worth the effort.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Linguistics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.