Swedish can be regarded as a niche language that is spoken by more than 10.5 million people across the world. Around 90% of these Swedish speakers reside in Sweden, while the remaining 10 percent reside across the globe. So the answer to our question “how many people speak Swedish” is simply the population of Sweden. Let’s find out more about the language and its speakers and whether you should learn it or not.
History of the Swedish language
Swedish descended from the Old Norse as an Indo-European language. The Germanic people spoke it during the Viking era. The Viking merchants that traveled across these countries spread this language to Europe and Russia.
These North Germanic languages emerged from the Old Norse during the 14th and 15th centuries. Danes, Icelanders, Norwegians, and Swedes spoke one language prior to that. The Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian are still mutually comprehensible until today. However, the Swedish government established the standardized Swedish language spoken by Swedes today, bypassing the spelling reform of 1906.
Where Is Swedish Spoken?
Coming to the next part of our question: where is Swedish spoken? Swedish is the official language of Sweden. It is also one of the national languages of Finland. Estonia was also a part of the Swedish empire before World War II, and many Swedish speakers inhabited it. However, most Swedish-speaking people fled the area due to the Nazi ad Soviet issues brewing. The remaining minorities left behind in Estonia sanctioned their own cultural administration back in 2007.
Ukraine also has a Swedish-speaking minority. This includes the people that fled Estonia in the 18th century due to the Russian invasion and came to live here. Swedish-speaking people also have some noticeable concentrations in Norway, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, and the US.
How Many People Speak Swedish in Sweden
Almost 9.2 million people in Sweden speak Swedish as their mother tongue, while almost everyone else residing in Sweden also speak this language. This figure is out of the total of 9.9 million people as of 2016. There are other minority languages as well that are spoken in Sweden, such as Romani Chib, Meänkieli, Sami, Yiddish, and Finnish.
Swedish Speakers in the Remaining World
Swedish is the most spoken language when it comes to the North Germanic languages. Finland has given this language an official status as around 291,000 people speak this language, which makes up around 5.4 percent of their total population. Northwest Estonia also has a considerable concentration of Swedish speakers. They haven’t given the language an official status as most Swedish speakers fled the country previously. However, 1,000 of the total 8,000 Swedes still reside in Estonia today. Moreover, around 76,000 and 17,000 Swedish speakers reside in the US and Canada, respectively.
Should you Learn Swedish?
Swedish is considered the most simple and easy language for English speakers to learn. So, if you wish to go to the Scandinavian countries Sweden for studying, business, or any such purpose, Swedish is a great language to learn, which is widely spoken and understood in Europe. Moreover, Swedish culture is very fun; you will definitely make a lot out of learning their language!
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