Promoting languages as a political instrument

Finland promotes the Finnish culture and language in Sweden. Now Sweden is focusing more on promoting the Swedish language in Finland. This is essentially a logical process of reciprocity, says Björn Mansson, but he points out that many Finns preceive this as a case of the Swedes meddling in domestic affairs because Swedish is already the second national language in Finland. "Apparently, this is still an awkward issue almost two hundred years after Finland freed itself from the embrace of Mother Svea. Of course, particularly those who advocate monocultural states according to the principle 'one country, one people, one language' are making a fuss. They see Sweden's initiative as pure cultural imperialism... Finland is a bilingual country and we don't need help from Sweden to open new Swedish schools in Finland."

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