Swedish society is considered one of the most prosperous in the world. A high quality of life and a significant level of development of human potential is achieved thanks to the complex political system that has been created over the past two centuries. Having gained invaluable experience of defeats in major international conflicts, the kingdom was forced to focus on developing its own economy and building an open, just society.
Sweden: capital, head of state, state language
Sweden's largest city is Stockholm. Since its founding in the beginning of the Xll century, Stockholm immediately declared itself as a major economic center of Northern Europe. Today, the Swedish capital continues to position itself as the capital of all of Scandinavia, attracting a large number of tourists from all over the world.
In Stockholm, there is the residence of the monarch, the country's parliament and the Academy of Sciences, whose members select candidates for the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Committee also meets in the capital.
Sweden, whose official language is Swedish, nevertheless recognizes the right of national minorities to use their own languages in everyday activities. Languages officially recognized by the Swedish government include Sami, Meiankieli, Finnish, Gypsy and Yiddish.
In the northernmost region of Sweden, Norrbotten, there are Sami and Finns who speak Mejänkieli and Finnish. It is in this region that the use of indigenous languages is permitted in official institutions such as kindergartens, nursing homes and schools.
The official language of Sweden is akin to Danish and Norwegian. However, despite very similar grammar systems and great similarities in vocabulary, understanding is often difficult due to phonetic differences, primarily such difficulties arise with the Danish language.
English speaking Sweden
The capital of Sweden, whose official language is Swedish, is almost entirely English-speaking. This is due to the high level of teaching foreign languages in public schools, as well as the fact that many Swedish television channels broadcast in English with Swedish subtitles. The same applies to foreign films shown in movie theaters. Most distributors simply do not duplicate films, but accompany them with subtitles.
Such a scheme allows not only to save money on voice acting, but also provides an opportunity for constant practice in a foreign language.
Sweden: the official language as a matter of pride
Swedes are very pragmatic about their language and do not consider it necessary in a special way to control its natural development. Unlike France or Iceland, where special state institutions monitor how the language is used, in Sweden the Language Council does not have formal control, although it is funded by the government.
This may be due to the fact that Swedish is the most common in northern Europe, because more than nine million people speak it. However, already in neighboring Finland, the official Language Language Research Institute of Finland is looking after the Swedish language, where Swedish is the second state language and is recognized by the vast majority of Finnish citizens as an integral part of the national culture. It is worth noting that in the kingdom of Sweden the state language is not named in the Constitution and does not have an official status, but de facto all citizens speak it.
Monarch - a symbol of the state
The head of state and national symbol is the monarch. The current king of Sweden, Carl XVl Gustav of the Bernadotte dynasty, ascended the throne in 1973. Meanwhile, the dynasty to which the ruling monarch belongs was established in the country in 1818, and Napoleonic Marshal Bernadotte, who was a faithful companion of Napoleon Bonaparte for many years in the most difficult military campaigns, became its founder.
The Swedish monarchist tradition is considered one of the oldest in Europe. The first monarchs, the existence of which is reliably known, ruled in Swedish lands in the Vll century.
The Kingdom of Sweden, whose official language is one of the official languages of the European Union, makes a great contribution not only to the European economy, but significantly enriches the culture of Europe. For example, the famous Finnish writer Tove Jansson wrote her popular books in Swedish.