Re: [langue-fr] L'anglais est-il une langue universelle ?

From: John Cowan (jcowan@reutershealth.com)
Date: Thu Jan 04 2001 - 13:13:53 EST


Paul Keinanen wrote:

> In Finland in order to become a civil servant, get an academic degree
> or even pass the matriculation exam you have to pass tests in both
> Finnish and Swedish [...].

Being able to pass tests in non-native languages does not count
as bilingualism, as any American who managed to learn enough
French and German to qualify for a Ph.D. (in the old days)
can tell you.

> About 7 % of the population in Finland speaks Swedish as their mother
> tongue and I would estimate that 90 .. 95 % of those living on the
> South coast of Finland are truly bilingual, i.e. you can not tell from
> the Finnish accent that their mother tongue is Swedish. However, the
> situation is different on the West coast and in the archipelago.

Therefore the official use of Swedish in Finland is essentially
a byproduct of decolonialization, correct?

-- 
There is / one art             || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
no more / no less              || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things             || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness           \\ -- Piet Hein



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