Folktinget: Svenska Finlands folkting | The Swedish Assembly of Finland

ORGANISATION

Folktinget is a statutory organisation founded in 1919, whose tasks are laid down by law. Finnish legislation guarantees that the Swedish Assembly and its activities are supported in the state budget.

The task of Folktinget is to safeguard the Swedish language and the interests of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. Folktinget participates actively in the law-drafting process and constantly issues statements to governmental and municipal institutions on issues and reform plans concerning the Swedish-speaking population. Folktinget is a cross-political body; all parliamentary parties with activities in Swedish are members of Folktinget.

As part of its work, Folktinget receives reports and complaints from the public about cases where citizens feel that their linguistic rights in Swedish have not been fulfilled. Folktinget looks into the cases and actively contacts the authorities concerned, with statements and consultation on how services in Swedish should be provided according to the Language Act and other relevant legislation.

Folktinget also publishes results from inquiries, distributes brochures on linguistic rights, and disseminates information on Swedish culture in Finland. In addition, the Swedish Assembly compiles information and statistical reports on the Swedish-speaking Finns and works actively to promote positive attitudes towards bilingualism through campaigns and other events.

Folktinget has, since the 1940s, arranged the main Swedish Day celebrations. Swedish Day is celebrated on 6 November and symbolizes the right for Swedish-speaking Finns to use their mother tongue. It is also an occasion for celebrating Finland as a bilingual nation.

Information on the Finnish Language Act, setting out the principles for services in both national languages, Finnish and Swedish, can be found here.

COUNTRY

Finland

TYPE OF ORGANISATION

Full Member. Statutory organisation

WEBSITE

https://folktinget.fi/eng/about

INFORMATION ABOUT THE LANGUAGE

Swedish

NAME OF THE LANGUAGE

Swedish

Svenska

TOTAL NUMBER OF SPEAKERS

HIZTUN-KOPURUA GUZTIRA

290,000 (5.3 per cent of the population)

290,000 (5.3 procent av befolkningen)

NUMBER OF NATIVE SPAKERS

HÖGTALARE

479,400

REGULATED BY

Constitution, Language Act, Act on the Autonomy of Åland.

Grundlag, språklag, speciallagstiftning, Ålands självstyrelselag.

GEOGRAPHICAL AREA

The coastal areas of Ostrobothnia, Uusimaa and Turunmaa. The Helsinki metropolitan area and the Åland Islands.

Vid kusterna i Österbotten, Nyland och Egentliga Finland samt i Helsingforsregionen och på Åland.

LANGUAGE FAMILY

SPRÅKFAMILJ

Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages.

Indoeuropeiskt språk som hör till den nordgermanska grenen av de germanska språken.

STATUS OF THE LANGUAGE

National language.

Nationalspråk.

STATUS AT THE UNIVERSITY

One Swedish-speaking university, one business school + some other bilingual universities. Elementary knowledge of Swedish obligatory at all universities.

Ett svenskspråkigt universitet, en handelshögskola och några tvåspråkiga universitet. Grundläggande kunskaper i svenska obligatoriskt på alla universitet.

FIELDS OF USE

Education from kindergarten to university in Swedish. The administration is bilingual (state, and bilingual municipalities). One public TV-channel and two radio channels in Swedish and many daily newspapers. Swedish culture in Finland is rich and varied in literature, film and music and the Swedish-speaking population is very active in various associations.

Undervisning på svenska från barnträdgård till universitet. Administrationen är tvåspråkig (stat och tvåspråkiga kommuner). En statlig tv-kanal, två radiokanaler och ett flertal dagstidningar på svenska. Kulturutbudet på svenska är rikt inom litteratur, teater, film och musik och den svenskspråkiga befolkningen har ett livligt föreningsengagemang.

YEAR OF SOURCE

2017