Re: help debunking language myth

Christopher Culver wrote:

How many Finns do actually understand Swedish as opposed to having
only suffered through it in school?

Having asked several Finns about the matter after moving recently to
Helsinki, I get the impression that speaking proficiency is lost
immediately after the completion of studies, but reading proficiency
is retained and considered quite handy.

Regardless of how well Finns actually remember Swedish, we should all
appreciate a majority being so kind as to appreciate the minority
language and make it compulsory. In Romania, for instance, an ethnic
Romanian would laugh at you if you suggested that learning some
Hungarian or Romani was worthwhile.

I suppose it's still better than outlawing the other language right away, as was usually done in Western Europe not long ago (and still is, to some extent, in a supposedly developped and democratic country there). It gives such good results, that the other language just dwindles so much that the international public has no reason to suspect such a country may be in breach of anything.
--
am

laurus : rhodophyta : brezhoneg : smalltalk : stargate
.

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  • Re: help debunking language myth
    ... I get the impression that speaking proficiency is lost ... Regardless of how well Finns actually remember Swedish, ... In Romania, for instance, an ethnic ...
    (sci.lang)