Talk:Swedish people

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See also Talk:Ethnic Swedes.

Out of curiosity, are members of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland considered "Swedes"?

Moved commentary statement off main page:

"Self-described Swedish ethnicity, Swedish nationality or Swedish culture should not be presumed for someone with Swedish as mother tongue. Nor the other way around. These matters might be sensitive."
----
Not in English, why the following sentence is moved too:
The term is also used to denote people with Swedish mother tongue, most notably the Finland-Swedes, or sometimes with Swedish ancestry.
One could suspect that this sentence is thoughtlessly translated from Swedish.
-- Johan Magnus 01:49 19 May 2003 (UTC)

Why are you altering the following part:

  1. people who speaks Swedish language and are ethnically and culturally distinct from their surroundings and somehow of Swedish heritage (ethnic Swedes). Among those are the Swedes living in Sweden, the Swedes living in Finland, Finland-Swedes (the Swedish speaking minority in Finland) and the Swedes living in Estonia, Estonia-Swedes (the Swedish speaking minority in Estonia)

It is one defintion of Swedes, maybe you don't like that definition, but this IS one definition, any you shouldn't censor it just because YOU don't like it! Den fjättrade ankan 23:09, 2 May 2004 (UTC)

First of all, I've not censored anything. This is Wikipedia. Here we improve the edits step by step. And the improvement[1] is specifically explained in the Edit summary:
controversial notion of Finland-Swedes as ethnic Swedes removed (and similarly controversial notion of Ålänningar as Finland-Swedes)
Additionally, I hold the result to be much clearer and reader-friendly.
If you hold different (including such alien to English usage) and controversial understandings of who the "Swedes" are to be of profound importance, then I suggest the format of this article has to be quite another.
Why don't you write an article on ethnic Swedes instead? /Tuomas 17:55, 5 May 2004 (UTC)
Well, I improved Wikipedia by adding the fact that Finland-Swedes are Swedes (why should they else be called Finland-Swedes).
Since their first language is Swedish, as you well know. Johan Magnus 09:46, 15 May 2004 (UTC)
You didn't liek that, and removed it. I added it back, and you removed it. That IS censoring. An improvement would add that this idea is controversial (and who consider tthis controversial), not removing it. What you did was censoring.
I even know Finland-Swedes who call themselves East-Swedes, to even more emphasize that they are 'Swedes. Maybe we would listen to them and their definition of who they are? And that they are ethnic Swedes: Well, they have the same ethnic background as Swedes in Sweden, and that's defining them as ethnic Swedes. The only difference between the Finland-Swedes and Sweden-Swedes is that they after the Russian aggression war of 1808-1809 came to live on the other side of the border. Den fjättrade ankan 22:07, 7 May 2004 (UTC)
It's hard to raise this issue above the anectdotical level. That's bad. It seems, however, as if Den fjättrade ankan recognizes that at least the issue of the Finland-Swedes is controversial, something I fail to find traces of in ankan's last edits. That's a pitty. The removal of the reference to Finland-Swedes from this article is not helpful. The question is, how do we proceed from here? Looking through the edit history, I find Ankan's previous version much better, and have partly restored that.[2] Johan Magnus 09:46, 15 May 2004 (UTC)


Contents

[edit] Weasel Words

A lot of weasel word being used in the article.--GorillazFanAdam 04:22, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Swedes in the US

I am somewhat confused by the absense from this text of self-designating "Swedes" in the US, but I guess I'm not really the right one to write about it. /Tuomas 16:46, 11 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Descendants of swedes who emigrated to US during the swedish poverty?
I doubt other Swedes consider America-Swedes to be Swedes. :-) --Johan Magnus 08:25, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I think most would consider them to be more Swedish than the Non-European immigrants. Being Swedish is about culture and values and think the culture of the Swedish Americans is a lot more similar to ours than the culture of the people who have been invading and mooching of our country for the past 20-30 years. - Helyllesvensk


[edit] Swedes and Svear

A distinction between "svenskar" and "svear" does not really exist in English. "Swede" is used in academic works on both Icelandic sagas, Beowulf and Vikings in the sense "Svear". It is a bit silly to have a text "some people disagree with this definition" when that extension of the term is current in English. You don't find such a relativisation under Dane for instance, even though the distinction between "dansker" and "daner" perfectly parallels the distinction between "svenskar" and "svear". Wikipedia is not supposed to be a dictionary of Swenglish. --Wiglaf 18:20, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

But Swedes can be both svear and geats as well as (at leats according to some) people from Skåne. // Liftarn

[edit] Swedish settlement in Finland

I think this part is incorrect information:

In the coastal areas where they historically have comprised the majority of the population they have lived longer than the Finnish speakers, making them the aboriginals of these areas.

As far as I know, the Swedish speaking population have lived longer than Finnish speaking population only in the Åland islands and Swedish speakers started to settle in the coastal areas of Finland only after Finland became under Swedish regime, and at that time there already was Finnish speaking population in the coastal areas. Thus the Swedish speaking population are aboriginals in Åland, not in mainland Finland. /THS

Please show a source of reference to the statement that Germanic speakers have inhabited the eastern coastal areas of the Gulf of Bothnia earlier than Finnic speakers. Archeological finds from the comb ceramic culture (association with Finnic peoples) predate finds of the cord ceramic culture (association with Indo-European speakers) by ca 3000 years in areas representing the old shore lines. Many place names in present day Swedish speaking areas have their origin in Finnish. Compare -lax (Swedish endings) - lahti (Finnish for bay).

For the distribution of comb ceramic and cord ceramic finds see http://www.helsinki.fi/hum/arla/keram/ka1_1.html and http://www.helsinki.fi/hum/arla/keram/nuora.html 194.157.191.37

Don't confuse the Comb Ceramic Culture with ethnic Finns. It is true that there is a possible connection between the CCC and the Finno-Ugrians, but it is speculation since they did not leave any written documentation about their language.--Wiglaf 23:30, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
So there are (archeological) finds of written Germanic/Norse/Swedish on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia then? Please state a reference. Did I use the word "Finn" somewhere? The restored word for "bay", by the way, in proto-Finnic would have been "lakte" or "laksi", which gives Finnish "lahti", Saami "luokta" and thus the ending -lax to the assumed later Germanic speaking settlers. Compare e.g. the names of the bilingual municipality "Malax" (sw) and "Maalahti" (Fi).
Well, it is you who argue by referring to a culture that disappeared 4000 years ago! Concerning place names, you'll need references that show that they belong to the earliest Germanic settlements on the coast.--Wiglaf 19:25, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
As for Aland/Ahvenanamaa: the olderst finds there belong to the comb ceramic culture. Finnic place names, such Jomala exist there too.
I repeat that you'll need to show that the Finnish place names belong to the oldest names in the area. Moreover, it is interesting that you refer to ahvenanmaa, because ahwa was the early Proto-Germanic form of å and it was probably borrowed by the Finns from the Germanic settlers on the coasts together with haltija, tyttär, ja and kuningas :).--Wiglaf 19:44, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
Um, why do I need references? (I haven't written anything on the article about the Swedish people)? It is the article which states a line which has so far not proven to be true. So, the article should state references. I do not understand your logic. Why do I have to prove that e.g. "Malax" is among the oldest Germanic settlements in the eastern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia? It probably is not. But place names usually tend to stick for longer periods than populations. (This is a theory of anthropologists I understand). "Malax" means nothing in Swedish whereas "Maalahti" means "land bay" in Finnish so isn't it more logical to assume that the former is a "mutation" of an earlier place name with a meaning? (At least this is what the linguist anthropologists assume). Malax/Maalahti is but one example in that area.
According to your theory, southern Sweden was originally Finnish, because you find some odd Finnish place names there.--Wiglaf 20:24, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

I don't understand where this conversation is going. 'Tytär' and 'haltia' are apparently Baltic loans in modern Finnish, 'kuningas' is apparently indeed from proto-Germanic. What does this have to do with the article's claim that the Finland-Swedes are the aboriginals of coastal areas? 'Kuningaz' is a far older word than the Swedish language. Your etymology for 'Ahvenanmaa'is interesting. However, 'ahven' already has a meaning in Finnic (modern Finnish too), it is the fish 'bass'.

Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about (Southern Sweden?).

Perhaps you're refering to other Finnic speakers such as the Saami?

OK, I may be wrong about tytär, but IIRC, haltija was according to Britannica from a Gothic haltijar. Ahven does not mean "bass", it means perch, and it may be a case of popular etymology. There are several Finnish place names in southern Sweden, because Finland belonged to Sweden for a very long time, and unlike Finns, Swedes do not change place names for nationalistic reasons. The claim that Swedes are the aboriginal population of the coastal areas may be correct, or it may be wrong. However, you claim that it is wrong because of a putative connection between Finno-ugric and the CCC.--Wiglaf 20:48, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Ok, so where does the article's claim base on? Any suggestions? (Back to the original request for references).

A few comments: 1. it is interesting that 'ahven' -> 'ahvenanmaa' can be dismissed as popular etymology whereas a story about a bunch of people naming an entire archipelago after a letter in a foreign alphabet is not 2. 'perch' is the fresh water version of a 'bass' according to the dictionary (the Baltic Sea is saline) 3. according to your theory of the Swedish non-nationalism the Finns seem equally non-nationalistic as they seem to have given Saami place names all over present day Finland

For the association of Finnic and Finno-Ugric speakers and the Comb Ceramic Culture see e.g. Nationalencyklopedin.

1. You have misunderstood. Å means "river" and in Åland it means "strait" (long body of water). The proto-Germanic form of this name was ahwa, so it is not named after a "letter".
2. The perch is not the fresh water version of Sea bass, which does not even exist in Finland.
3. The difference between Sweden and Finland is that in Sweden we do not even try to make the names look Swedish. The Finns change Swedish place names to make them look Finnish.
The putative connection between Fenno-Ugric speakers and the CCC is widely assumed but impossible to prove.--Wiglaf 21:13, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
Well, anyways AFAIK the Bronze Age culture of mainland Finland certainly was of Fenno-Ugric population, and at that time they lived alreayd on the coastal areas of Finland, before any certain Swedish settlement. I have no references for that at this moment (too lazy now :D ), but this is what I have always read. In the Bronze Age (and Iron Age) the coastal regions of Finland were more under Geremanic influence than the inland regions, but the coastal and inland regions of Finland still had distinctly Finnish culture, ie. the culture of Finland Proper (southwest coast) was closer to the culture of Finns of Tavastia and Karelia than the culture of Sweden. I think it would be appropriate for now to remove the mention of Swedish speaking population living longer than the Finnish speaking population in the mainland coastal areas. /THS
I am sorry, but I think you are trying to state that the Finno-Ugrians are the indigenous populiation of the Finnish coastlands, in order to remove a line that you find offensive for some reason. The line clearly states
In the coastal areas where they historically have comprised the majority of the population they have lived longer than the Finnish speakers, making them the aboriginals of these areas.
This is actually true, because, the Finnish language was invented by Mikael Agricola in the 16th century, prior to which there were a number of Fenno-Ugric dialects which were mutually intelligible stretching from the Baltic sea to the Volga, but not a single Finnish language for Finland. The Finnish nation was invented during the 19th century (using the slogan Svenskar får vi inte vara, ryssar vill vi inte bli, låt oss vara finnar![3], meaning we are not allowed to be Swedes and we do not want to be Russians, let's be Finns) from former Swedish citizens. The line only states that Swedish was spoken in the area before the Finnish language was spoken in the area, which is true, unless Agricola lived in the 12th century. Finnish is Fenno-Ugric, but it is not the other way round as you try to argue, probably for nationalistic reasons as you live in Finland.--Wiglaf 13:43, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
Agricola did not invent Finnish language. He was the first one to create written Finnish. Before that there were Finnish dialects which of course were not the same as modern Finnish. Dialects are a subcategory of language, and in odrer for dialects to exist there must be a language from which they are dialects from. Also, the Baltic Finnish languages were isolated from the rest of the Fenno-Ugric speakers long before Agricola.
Languages keep evolving constantly, and the Swedish spoken 1000 years ago is not the same kind of Swedish spoken today. The same thing with Finnish.
As for inventing the Finnish nation. It was not invented. Before the national romanticism of 19th century there still existed a group of people who shared the same kind of culture, language, religion and geographical area. Even though Finns did not percieve themselves as Finnish before the 19th century, but rather as Karelians, Savonians, Tavastians and so on, there was a distinctly Finnish nation. Finns just did not see it before.
The line states that Swedish speakers are aborginals of the coastal areas and Finnish (or Finnic) speakers are not. If one is to say that the Finnic language spoken over 1000 years ago is not Finnish, and thus it is correct to say Finnish was not spoken there one must also say that the Germanic language spoken at that time also wasn't Swedish. So it can't be said that Swedish was spoken but Finnish was not, neither can be said that the Swedish speakers are aborginals if there already lived Finnic people before the Swedish speakers.
And yes, I am Finnish, but that is no reason to mock my criticism or blame me for nationalism. / THS

As the Saami place names are still well recognizeable in Finland and still in use, Finns seem not to have changed them. Perhaps the real difference between the Swedes (if you are one) and the rest of the world is that others accept it more probable that newcomers adapt to an established place name rather than that a population would name places using a language/dialect different to their own.

I am sorry but I don't understand what you're trying to say. Please, rephrase.--Wiglaf 13:43, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

You reverted me in a few seconds? Did you even read the addition completely? Please, I'm NOT confusing 'Finnish' with 'Finnic'! These are quite different things. Compare 'Germanic' and 'Swedish'. When I'm saying 'Finnic' it's like you saying 'Germanic'. Do you understand? Of course Finno-Ugric is not Finnish! Rephrasing my earlier entry above: Quoting you: "The difference between Sweden and Finland is that in Sweden we do not even try to make the names look Swedish. The Finns change Swedish place names to make them look Finnish." My argument about the Saami place names in Finland proves the latter sentence false. Finns have never tried actively to make Saami place names Finnish (the Saami names are still well recognizable and in every day use!). Your claim was that the Swedes don't try to make foreign looking place names look Swedish. So, in respect of making foreign place names look their own, Finns and Swedes are alike. I.e. they DON'T change. My difference to You seems to be that whereas I am willing to accept that place names can originate from an earlier population you are not. Where is the nationalism in this case? Who suffers from prejudice here? It is not I who seems biased by ones' current location. No-one argues against the fact that nations and nation-states are a relatively new invention. When do you think Gotlanders, Svealanders and Götalanders etc. started to considers themselves "Swedish"? No-one argues against the fact that texts written in early Swedish predate texts written in early Finnish. The argument is solely against the article's unproven (and non-referred) claim that speakers of Swedish are the aboriginals in the eastern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. Please stick to this theme.

User talk:194.157.191.37

I reverted you because your argumentation consisted of referring to the antiquity the CCC culture which is bogus, in respect to the earlier date of the Finnish language in Finland. I do not disagree with removal anticipating references.--Wiglaf 15:17, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

Now that you have removed my editing, could you please also remove my reference (the only visible reference in this article) Nationalencyklopedin. I dare not touch the article. Thank you.

This ethnically charged matter really seems to upset you. There is no need to remove correct information, such as a reference to Nationalencyklopedin.--Wiglaf 15:23, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

ok, if you say so. Meanwhile, let's try and write a tuthful article with the right references. Ok?

User talk:194.157.191.37 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I reverted you, since your addition confused the modern Finnish language with what may have been a Proto-Finno-Ugric language before ca 2000 BC. It was consequently both uninformed and POV.--Wiglaf 14:05, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

If you continue to add bogus information, you may be blocked.--Wiglaf 14:12, 28 July 2005 (UTC) (please do not remove this, let others see it too in the name of openness.)

Not at all, let everybody see it. My hard policy on bogus information is well-known at Wikipedia and I stand for it :).--Wiglaf 15:39, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

ok, so I'm now allowed to remove the reference which I took my bogus information from, i.e. Nationalencyclopedin, without being blocked for good? (I was also the one who added the header 'References' to the article. May I now remove that part?)

Now, you're overreacting. The bogus part of your reference was the claim that the CCC said anything about the age relationship between the modern Finnish language and the Swedish language. Do not worry about being blocked as far as you do not try to twist the article by claiming that Finnish is older than Swedish in the coastlands, because there was a culture the language of which may have been distantly related to modern Finnish. This is not much better than Hungarians claiming to be Sumerians--Wiglaf 15:54, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

um, where in my addition did I mention Finnish? (Could it be that I didn't, and that you just assumed I was speaking about Finnish?) In my addition I was simply offering a alternative hypothesis (with some references too) to the article's previous claim: "Swedish speakers are the aboriginals of the coastal areas of Finland." I didn't even remove the non-referred earlier claim but offered an alternative. Now, because this alternative has been removed I wish to remove my references, i.e. Nationalencyklopedin. May I?

Ok, I'm removing my reference. I'm sorry if this means that I will be blocked. I'm sorry if I have offended someone.

Don't be silly. I'd only block someone for vandalism, such as adding bogus information. You're most welcome to edit in Wikipedia as long as your edits respect the policy of NPOV.--Wiglaf 20:07, 28 July 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Identity of Swedish speakers in Finland?

Sorry to be digging up this old conflict again, however, I'm not satisfied with how the text is worded today with regards to the Swedish speaking minority in Finland:

::"Swedish-speaking Finns in mainland Finland have however not considered themselves to be ethnic Swedes for a very long time and should therefore not be classified as Swedes"

I'm no expert by my belief was during the time Finland was a part of Sweden, the Swedish speakers in Finland did consider themselves as Swedes and that the identity as Finlanders was a more 'recent' (if you can call it that) phenomenon. Am I right?KarlXII 15:26, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Skåneland is not NPOV

Please note that the concept of "Skåneland" and its equation with Scania is very POV:ed. It is not in official use in Sweden, and the idea that Skåne, Blekinge and Halland are a unit is one that is held mostly by a minority of regionalists.

Peter Isotalo 12:16, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

It's still more accurate, because there are people of Danish ancestry not only in Skåne, but also in Blekinge and Halland. Would it be better to say southern Sweden? --Khoikhoi 18:27, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
The Danish ancestry is pretty dubious, since it's impossible to say exactly when Skåne, Blekinge and Halland stopped being Danish and became Swedish. Those who support the notion of Skåneland tend to think that Skåneland is, has and shall ever be Danish and that any other option is really just Stockholm-Swedish chauvinism. Needless to say, they're only a minority. But if anything, southern Swedes do have a sense of being somewhat unique, but I'd say it's not much different to the attitudes of many Gothenburgers.
Peter Isotalo 19:27, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
Skåneland is essentially short for Skånelandskapen, which historically included Bornholm and Anholt, but today is understood to encompass only the former Danish provinces located on the Scandinavian peninsula (not including Båhuslen, Herjedalen or Jemtland, which were never actually part of Denmark herself, although ruled from Denmark during the Middle Ages). Skånelandskapen became an integral part of Sweden proper by law in the mid-18th, a century after its conquest. Through assimilation and migration, the last group of people who identified as ethnically Scanian/East Danish probably died out in the mid-19th century. However a conscious minority has revived a sense of strong regional identity — or a Swedish "sub-ethnicity" — based on geneology, dialect, folklore and regional allegiance and historical awareness. Even though there is a tiny separatist movement, they hardly expect their advocacy for sovereignty to be taken literally - or even seriously. It might be more apt and helpful to regard this group as an expression of political protest (anti-authoritarianism and non-conformism) or as a statement of local pride and a celebration of cultural uniqueness. //Big Adamsky 20:09, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
But the thing is, the Scanians don't only live in Skåne, but also the two surrounding provinces as well, which is why I think Skåneland is correct. --Khoikhoi 20:20, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
Again, that's the view of the small minority of regionalists, Khoikhoi. The vast majaority of Swedes (and Scanians) do not recognize the idea of Skåneland as a "Greater Scania" and differentiate between someone from the three provinces. Calling someone a halläning or bleking is very common. Saying that someone is a skåning means that they're from Skåne specifically, not just the region, (disregarding generalizing based on ignorance of course). If you'd want the same geographical meaning as you're suggesting the alternative would be sydsvensk ("South Swede").
Adamsky, the concept of "Skåneland" was invented by a Swedish historian in the late 19th century and didn't really exist as a political entity before that. You're free to call the regionalist views anything you like, but "local pride and celebration of cultural uniqueness" is usually defined as nationalism in any other context. Talk of anti-authoritarianism would've been well-founded back in the 17th century, but it's really out of place to suggest such motives today, especially since Skåne/Blekinge/Halland have long been a well-integrated part of Sweden and are not suffering more than expatriot Danes or Norwegians. There were no "ethnic" Scanians in the 17th century that are relevant moreso than ethnic Gotlanders or Upplanders, since the conflict was whether to pledge alliegence to the king of Sweden or Denmark, not to a sovereign ruler of a province.
Peter Isotalo 15:03, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
Alright, I see what you're saying now. You can change it back any time. I have a different question, however. Since you're Swedish, you probably would know this: what's the situation right now with the Sami people of Sweden? Are there any ethnic Swedish settlers migrating to Lapland? Are the Sami simply being absorbed into Swedish mainstream life or are there programs for them to retain their languages culture? --Khoikhoi 06:20, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
See talk:Sami people for reply.
Peter Isotalo 13:49, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

Den fjättrande ankan: i have never heard that Finland-Swedes would call themselves East-Swedes or even Swedes an i live in Finland! I know one Finland-Swede who always corrects that he is not a Swede but a Finn, when someone calls him such. Finland-Swedes do not consider themselves Swedes nor are they such and it is ignorant and stupid to call them Swedes.


A couple of comments on the Finland-Swedes discussion:

  • I always though Finland Swedes called themselves Finlanders (ie nationality) and Swedes (ethnicity/culture/language). There's an interesting book I can recommend [4].
  • East-Swedes (Östsvenskar) is the common name for Swedish speakers in Finland, Estonia and the Ukraine (to the extent there are any left).
  • The whole ethnicity issue is kind of ludicrous as there is no way it can be verified. To me, there are two kinds of "Swedes" that we can discuss: (a) those who are citizens of Sweden and (b) those who speak Swedish as their mother tongue. Note that these two don't need to overlap.

Osli73 09:37, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Swedish People

I changed the title "The Swedsih People or Swedes.." because there are meny Swedish People that are not Ethnic Swedes. For more than 30 years, people from Iran and more recently the Balkans have emigrated to Sweden and many had children born there, and they are Swedes (at least is what their passport says).

But that means you are not talking about ethnic Swedes! 'Swedish people' is a separate concept. I want to read about genetically real Swedes with mainly blond hair, blue eyes, etc. Your change is too political. Too 'PC'.

[edit] Finland-Swedes not Swedes

Again, Finland-Swedes are NOT ethnically Swedes. They are mostly simply Finns, whose families at some point in history changed thei language to Swedish, which back then helped them climb the social latter: how in thw world does this make them ethnically Swedes??? Ask pretty much any Finland-Swede and he/she will tell yoy that he/she is a Finn. Language does not change ethnicity or nationality...

The thing is, that the Finland-Swedes are simply Swedish speaking Finns and not ethnically Swedes. Thus it is absurd to classify them as Swedes. I am a Finn myself, so i know how they think: they consider themselves Finns. In fact, most of them are simply from families that in some point in history just changed their language from Finnish to Swedish, this helped them climb the social latter in those days, because Swedish was the language of the rulig class and the language used in the state offices. Changing language doesn't make you a member of a different people! I can't see how Wikipedia could be considered a good encyclopedia, if it has absurdities like this. Therefore, the mention of Finland-Swedes included in the people "Swedes" must be edited off, if you want to keep this an accurate source of information.

The language changing part is surely very debatable, especially since most Finnland-Swedes also have Swedish surnames. But regardless of the details, they should also be included on the List of Swedes, purely on the basis of their language - since that makes them Swedish - which btw doesn't exclude them from being Finnish also ! Travelbird 11:41, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I bet the people here who claim that Finland-Swedes are ethnically Swedes have never even talked to one. I am a Finn so I know them and they consider them selves Finns and in Finnish call them selves "suomalaiset" (Finns) the same way the Finnish speaking do. They NEVER call themselves "ruotsalaiset" (Swedes). Calling them Swedes is simply just Swedish nationalism by nationalist Swedes... And false. How does cahnging language change one's people?! It doesn't.

Here is proof: http://debatt.passagen.se/show.fcgi?category=3500000000000014&conference=10500000000000687&posting=19500000003362951 If a Finland-Swede is reading what kind of nonsense you are claiming here, he/she would laugh... They consider themselves Finns and are Finns. If Wikipedia claims that they are Swedes, no-one can't trust Wikipedia anymore. In Finnish you might call Wikipedia "hevosten tietotoimisto".

Or actually its "hevosmiesten tietotoimisto"... Meaning literally news office of horse men and meaning actually a source that no one trusts. That's what these Swedish nationalistic lies are turning Wikipedia into.


This line, "I am a Finn myself, so i know how they think: they consider themselves Finns" is a NOR violation. A good encyclopedia doesn't base its content on original research and individual testimonies, but on vefifiable sources. /Magore 11:51, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Trevelbird, you wrote: "The language changing part is surely very debatable, especially since most Finnland-Swedes also have Swedish surnames. But regardless of the details, they should also be included on the List of Swedes, purely on the basis of their language - since that makes them Swedish - which btw doesn't exclude them from being Finnish also !"

They changed their names too, to blend in to the Swedish speaking aristocracy. Another thing abouut the names is, that in the time of the Swedish reign in Finland (-1809) and partly in the age of Finnish autonomy (1809-1917) the officers in the Finnish army were Swedish speaking and they gave the Finnish recruitees Swedish names, since they had troubles pronauncing the Finnish ones. It is also notable that many FINNISH speaking Finns have also Swedish names, although they speak Finnish. It is because of of Finlands history, until the 20th century a Swedish speakers hadhegemony in Finland although they were a minority, in fact it wasn't until the late 1800s before Finnish became an official language in Finland, even though about 90% of Finns were Finnish speakers!

Then, you wrote: "they should also be included on the List of Swedes, purely on the basis of their language - since that makes them Swedish". With that logic all Americans should be classified as English: the language is same!

(Sorry, but I don't know how to answer below your answer, so I wrote here.)

Amercians are diffenent, since they are not an ethnic group. (at least in the tranditional view). Europeans are a mix of many diffenent ethnic groups as well, so the only real way to distinguish is to take either language of (passport) nationality.

Btw, please sign your edits, so I know who I am talking to. Travelbird 12:07, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

"This line, "I am a Finn myself, so i know how they think: they consider themselves Finns" is a NOR violation. A good encyclopedia doesn't base its content on original research and individual testimonies, but on vefifiable sources. /Magore 11:51, 12 May 2006 (UTC)"

Don't you think that the people living in Finland know more about Finland an its people than those who haven't even been to Finland? Besides, it isn't just my testimony, come to Finland and ask 100 people on the street do they classify Finland's Swedish speakers ethnically Swedes, the people on the western shore of the Bothnic gulf... I can already imagine their amusement to the question.

I don't think I quite understand you last point fully. Just as a matter of interest, since you keep bringing up the point : Are you are Swedish-speaking or Finnish-speaking Finn ? Travelbird 12:14, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

"Amercians are diffenent, since they are not an ethnic group. (at least in the tranditional view). Europeans are a mix of many diffenent ethnic groups as well, so the only real way to distinguish is to take either language of (passport) nationality."

Fine, then let's use the Irish as an example: are they English in your mind just because they speak English? Ethically the Finland-Swedes are Finns, since most of the families originate from Finland and have just changed their language. A smaller portion originally came from Sweden and other countries too, but even those families whose ancestors came from Sweden have since then mixed with the other people in Finland and thus it is wrong to say that they would be ethnically Swedes. I know one Finland-Swede who always when he is called a Swede, corrects that he is not a Swede but a Finn. Also, look at the link to the Swedish Passagen forum, that I gave. If you don't speak Swedish, it is a Finland-Swede who says that he is Finn and that they are not Swedes. You could ask some Swede to verify this if you think I'm lying... - Jaakko Sivonen

First of all, sign your messages, you can use four tildes (~~~~). Second, read more about the policies and guidelines for what Wikipedia is, and what Wikipedia is not. It appears that you haven't. /Magore 12:19, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
I don't think you're lying. I just think you are taking a very strong POV, which is not something Wikipedia is about (seee above). Travelbird 12:23, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

"Are you are Swedish-speaking or Finnish-speaking Finn"

I am a Finnish speaker, but I have talked to Swedish speakers on the subject. Of course there are exeptions as always, but most of the circa 250,000 Swedish speakers consider themselves Finns, not Swedes. In Swedish they call themselves "finlandssvenskar" (Finland-Swedes) or "finländare" ((Swedish speaking)Finns) and in Finnish "suomenruotsalaiset" (Finland-Swedes) or "suomalaiset" (Finns, the same term for all Finns). I have never heard them call themselves just "ruotsalaiset" (Swedes).

I think you are misunderstanding what the article is trying to state. "Finland-Swedes" is exactly the point. That includes them both in the (larger) groups of Swedes (due to their language) and Finns (due to their citizenship). I.e. they have to be included in both lists ! Travelbird 12:33, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

There is an article about Finland-Swedes here on Wikipedia, that is quite accurate. And it corresponds with the definition of Swedes in this very article. For the record, I'm swedish myself, and have either socialized or worked with Finns of various types and flavours. To some, it's very important that you distinguish between the Finlanders, Finns and Finland-Swedes. To others, it doesn't matter at all. But that's neither here nor there, since Wikipedia is not a discussion board or a publisher of original thought. Therefore we should stick to the official definition of Finland-Swedes in this matter. /Magore 12:37, 12 May 2006 (UTC)


Oh c'mon people, wake up, there are no 300,000 Swedes in Finland. That is just misleading, and this article and whole Wikipedia loses its realiability immediately, which is kinda sad. If you state anything else, you just don't know what are you talking about, as rude as it sounds.

There are no ethnic differences between Finns and Finland-Swedes. They are fully Finnish. Some Finland-Swedes even says, that it is racistic to categorize them as Swedes.

I'm not sure is there any statistics about how many Swedes there really are in Finland, but as I said, 0,3 million is way too big number. It should be removed. --213.186.252.84 13:52, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 'Swedes' in North America and Germany

The article claims that there are 4,5 m Swedes in North America and something like 16,000 in Germany. To begin with, the Swedes in N. America probably see themselves as Americans or Canadians of Swedish origin. Which is something quite different from being Swedish. Are there 4,5 m people in NA who speak Swedish? Also, who are these Swedes in Germany?

I basically (unscientifically) identify being an ethnic Swede as having Swedish as your first language/mother tongue. So, immigrants in Sweden and people of Swedish ancestry in NA aren't ethnic Swedes. On the other hand, Finlanders who have Swedish as their mother tongue as well as any people in Estonia or the Ukraine who still have Swedish as their mother tongue are ethnic Swedes.

Except that they don't consider themselves Swedes nowadays: http://www.yleradio1.fi/pakollinenheinakuu/suomenruotsalaisuussanasanalta/id6595.shtml "Aloitetaan alusta. Suomenruotsalaiset ovat suomalaisia. Eivät suomenkielisiä, mutta suomalaisia."

Not being an ethnic Swede doesn't preclude being a Swedish citizen, and vice versa.

Anyone against my going ahead and changing the article on this point? Osli73 15:07, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Related languages

Isn't Swedish supposed to have more in common with English (or at least pre-Norman English) than with German? If so, this should be updated in the language box.Osli73 15:09, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Well... That's kind of a tricky question. Swedish of today has many english loan words, and English is arguably the one language that has influenced Swedish the most, at least in recent times. Earlier in history, languages such as French and German have had more influence, as they were spoken by the nobility and other "learned" citizens. But aside from the more or less "artificial" changes that have been brought to Swedish through the influence by other nations/languages, it is more closely related to German than to English. Swedish and German are both germanic (which probably goes without saying for German) languages. German is categorized as West Germanic, while Swedish belongs in the group called North Germanic). And as far as I know, English belongs to the same group as German, ie West Germanic. But Swedish is a lot more closely related to German than to English, while English is a lot closer related to German than to Swedish. German is the language that is most closely related to Old Germanic, which is the language that all germanic languages are derived from. Or, German might be considered the language that links English to Swedish. An example: With Swedish as your natural language, you do have a basic understanding of other Germanic languages, such as Dutch and German. But those (with Swedish as their mother tongue) who speak no foreign language at all, usually find it a lot easier to understand German than English. But since children in Sweden start learning English when they're nine or ten years old, it might be easy to draw the conclusion that Swedish is closer to English than to German, simply because so many Swedes of today understand and (believe they know how to) speak English.
I'm not really sure if this was helpful, or if I only added to the confusion. This is what I once learned in school, and I have never had any reason to doubt what my old school teachers told me. Finding sources for what I've written can be a bit tricky, though.
And before I forget - We should also remember another language have influenced English (along with many other european languages) a great deal - Latin. Roman conquests, occupation, and so on have added a few "latin touches" to many european languages. But since Scandinavia was considered to be the *ss-end of nowhere during the days of the Roman empire, and the Germanic tribes were considered too barbaric to conquer and assimilate, the language(s) spoken here (Norse) and there (Germanic) were never that much influenced by Latin. Latin didn't enter scholary (and never common) use in Sweden until about a thousand years ago, when Christianity were starting to gain ground. Which is a great contrast to many countries in central and western Europe, that were christian for centuries before it was even heard about in Scandinavia.
Or, if you prefer the short version: No. /Magore 16:46, 9 June 2006 (UTC)


Dear Magore, thank you for the long answer. I was thinking more in the sense that old English (ie after the Angles and Saxons but before the Normans) was a Germanic language originating from old Norse (AFAIK).

I just heard the statement somewhere (I think it was in one of those books about Facts and Myths of Sweden, stating that Swedish was not "like German" but actually had more in common with old English. Though I'm not sure how well researched that was.

Again, thank you for your answer.Osli73 09:48, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

"Facts and myths of Sweden" do sound a bit familiar to me. I wouldn't go as far as to claim that what's written in that book is incorrect, but rather that it represents one point of view, while I am more familiar with another. It's a matter of definitions, exactly what is to be considered Norse, Old Swedish and Modern Swedish? The same question can be asked about English - Changes such as those don't come overnight, but gradually during a fairly long timespan. As a matter of fact, the article about the Swedish language here on Wikipedia seem to be fairly accurate. Have a look at the section about Old Swedish. It also points out the distinction between Old Swedish and Norse.
Another notable fact is that there is a difference between Old Swedish and Norse - We didn't go straight from Norse to Modern Swedish, although there is a more or less common belief that such is the case. One reason for that is that many consider Old and Modern Swedish to be variations of the same language, since all languages change and evolve as they are being used. For example, the written Swedish of today is quite different to what it was like only a century ago, although it hasn't changed much in the way it is spoken. /Magore 10:35, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
"the written Swedish of today is quite different to what it was like only a century ago, although it hasn't changed much in the way it is spoken." Huh? I'd say the opposite is just as true. For instance "bröd" (bread) is nowdays pronounced with a "d" in the end, just as it's written, but earlier it was pronounced "brö". Also words like "honom" (him) is no longer pronounced as it's written. // Liftarn
Well, no. That is one of the greatest differences between Swedish of today, and older versions of the language. Today, we more or less write in the same way as we speak, so to say, and words are spelled about the same way as they sound/are pronounced. And we should not forget that the dialects of the language have changed. In some parts of the country they still say "brö" instead of "bröd". (Or rather "bröna" instead of "bröden".) In other dialects they add vowels to some words when they are pronounced, although they are written in a different way. Like in Skåne, where they would say for example "sillasup" instead of "sillsup", that would be more by the book. Or "hönsena" instead of "hönsen" in (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) Södermanland. /Magore 18:31, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Magore, thank you for the links and clarification. I wasn't meaning to challenge that Swedish was a Germanic language, only the notion that it is a development of/from the German language.Osli73 10:43, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't see this as a challenge. It's rather a matter of theories and opinions, since all languages involved have affected each other in many different ways since when they started to evolve, and much has happened in that time. Migrations, wars, and so on. It is also a matter of what you compare (single words, grammatics, pronounciation, etc), and at which point in time you do it. And of course, it's a matter of local opinion in some cases, a question of the identity for those who speak a certain language or dialect. But what we can ascertain is the spreading of a language by geographical measures, same thing goes for outside influence. (Icelandic is closest to Old Norse, since Iceland is an isolated island, while Norway comes in second place, so to say, since Sweden and Denmark have acted as a buffer zone of sorts. Consequently, Danish is the language that have changed the most since Old Norse was spoken, since Denmark is closest to the european continent of the scandinavian countries.) /Magore 18:31, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Talk page vandalism

Some anonymous IPs edited out the entire conversation "Finland-Swedes not Swedes".

[edit] Shouldn't this section have a disambiguation for Swede the vegetable?

I would make it myself but i'm rubbish on Wikipedia

[edit] Religion

"87% of Sweden is composed of Lutherans" - where did that number come from exactly? To quote the Sweden article:

"Today about 78% of Swedes belong to the Church of Sweden, but the number is decreasing by about one percent every year, and Church of Sweden services are sparsely attended (hovering in the single digit percentages of the population)[10]. Some 275,000 Swedes are today members of various free churches (where congregation attendance is much higher), and, in addition, immigration has meant that there are now some 92,000 Roman Catholics and 100,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians living in Sweden [11]. Also of significance are the 200,000 to 400,000 Muslims in Sweden.[12]."

"According to the most recent Eurostat "Eurobarometer" poll, in 2005 [13], only 23% of Swedish citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 53% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 23% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". This, according to the survey, would make Swedes the third least spiritual people in the 25-member European Union."

I A) don't see where the 87% comes from (Church of Sweden membership + lutheran free churches?) and B) those numbers are quite misleading considering how membership to the official church was handled in the past and also what the Eurostat poll showed. Can we show where the 87% comes from and also add a footnote describing the situation. --Bomkia 13:55, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

And I of course noticed there was a small section on this under "National character". Still doesn't explain the 87% though. Maybe I'm just missing something :) --Bomkia 14:00, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
I think that it definitely should be noted that there are a lot of Swedes that are agnostic or atheist, and that membership in Svenska Kyrkan does not mean that one is christian, many people don't even know that they are members of it... Aszev 11:27, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Changing the name of the "Ethnic Swedes" section

How about changing the "Ethnic Swedes" section to something along the lines of "What is a Swede" or "Definitions of being Swedish" since that is what the section discusses?Osli73 12:45, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Finns and Swedes particularly ethnically related groups?

Does this mean that also Austrians and Hungarians are particularly ethnically related? Clarifer 06:56, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, Krohn's proposition is strongly disputed and he hasn't answered in a while either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Finnish_people#Swedes_an_ethnically_related_group.3F 80.186.100.180 15:14, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

...And still refuses to discuss the matter. 80.186.100.180 20:23, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Finland-Swedes are ethnic Swedes?

I am not a Finland-Swede myself, but I have met many, loved some, and - if a cliché is allowed -some of my best friends actually are Finland-Swedes. I think it is blatant contradiction against the self-identification of many Finland-Swedes to label them as "ethnic Swedes". I do not believe that a single Finland-Swede I know would accept that labeling.

I know some other Finland-Swedes would happily adopt the ethnic Swedish identity, but I do not believe this is the majority attitude among them. Some of my Finland-Swedish friends and collegues call themselves as "Finns", some of them are vaguely uncomfortable about being Finns and try to present Finland-Swedishness as a distinct ethnicity. But even the representants of the later group do not really like to being called Swedes. I think it is very biased to say that "not all Finland-Swedes consider themselves as ethnic Swedes", because that clearly implies that the majority consider themselves as ethnic Swedes - a very questionable claim and definitely not NPOV. Unless my English semantics are totally wrong, the word I used, "often", does not imply whether it is a minority or majority feeling.

"East-Swedes (Östsvenskar) is the common name for Swedish speakers in Finland, Estonia and the Ukraine (to the extent there are any left)." I think only relatively few Finland-Swedes have called themselves as östsvenskar since the early 20th century heyday of Svecoman nationalism. Nowadays the Finland-Swedish identity is strongly molded by the slogan One Nation - Two Languages.

"Therefore we should stick to the official definition of Finland-Swedes in this matter". I doubt there is an official definition of a Finland-Swede. How could there be? Ethnicity is rarely about official definitions, its about self-identity, discourse, practice etc. The only official thing is the fact that Swedish is an official language in Finland, and some Finnish citizens speak Swedish as their first language. That does not tell anything of their ethnicity.

Unfortunately, poor Finland-Swedes sometimes seem to be torn between Finnish and Swedish nationalism - both POVs are present on this talk page too. Of course, members of the small Finland-Swedish ethnonationalist movement sometimes declaim "sure as hell we're not FINNS", but that view is often angrily countered by other Finland-Swedes. Couple of years ago, a leading figure in the ethnonationalist movement was called as "the worst enemy of all Finland-Swedes" by the President of the Swedish People´s Party. Obviously the Finland-Swedish identity politics are much more complicated than the simplistic "Finns or Swedes" dichotomy allows.--217.112.242.181 09:58, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

The person s/he is referring to is Ida Asplund. --Jaakko Sivonen 19:02, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

"descent IS obviously one of the main pillars associated with ethnic identifiction and those traits associated with such)". Now this is getting strange. Of course, most Finland-Swedes have some Swedish ancestry; most of them have some Finnish ancestry as well. Many ethnic Finns have some Swedish ancestry (including me), and many ethnic Swedes in Sweden have some Finnish ancestry. There is no uniform descent defining anybody´s ethnicity in Finland. Intermarriages and language adoption processes moving back and forth for centuries have made that certain.

Ethnicity is obviously based on subjective self-identification and acceptance: who are the people you want to identify yourself with, and will they accept you as one of their own. Finland-Swedes OFTEN consider themselves as ethnically Finnish or "Finland-Swedish". --217.112.242.181 10:08, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A Huge Contradiction

This article claims, that the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland are Swedes. The article concerning Finnish people claims, that the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland are Finns.

Is en.wikipedia really this incapable to solve things like this? If not, then do something! --213.186.239.15 13:16, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

This is conflict based on nationalism. Same as whether or not Bosnian Serbs are Serbs or just Bosnians? I'd say that most Swedes today define only ethnic Swedes or people who have Swedish as their mother tongue AND live in Sweden to be Swedes. But, this is of course a matter of opinion. KarlXII 00:36, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

No, you can't compare Serbs and Bosnians to the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland. They're just as Finns as other Finns, they just have Swedish as their mother tongue. And there are no unclarity about that in Finland, it's all clear there. So I can't stand why these is a problem here in en.wikipedia. --213.186.254.14 12:18, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
Finland Swedes are not Finns, they are Swedes living in Finland that are citizens of Finland. For example, check this webpage by a Finland Swede, you could hardly argue that he consider himself being a Finn. Den fjättrade ankan 19:22, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

A couple of things which I think we all could agree on:

  1. everyone should be able to agree that this is obviously a controversial topic where no clear-cut answer exists
  2. biologically, Swedish and Finnish speaking groups in Finland have become mixed
  3. culturally, there clearly are differences, as language is an important aspect of culture
  4. during the late middle ages, there was considerable settlement of groups from Sweden proper on the coast of Finland
  5. some Finland-Swedes consider themselves to be a separate ethnic group from Finnish speaking Finlanders while others don't
  6. Finland-Swedes, as a linguistic group, have some constitutionally enshrined rights
  7. in Swedish (also in 'Finland-Swedish') there is a difference between being a Finn (sv. "finne") and being a 'Finlander' ("Finländare), with the former only including Finnish speaking Finns and the latter also including Finland-Swedes. A bit like Bosnians includes all ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina while Bosniak only includes Bosnian-muslims.

Based on the above, I'm definately leaning towards Finland-Swedes being a different ethnic group (with ethnicity defined as different culture, in this case, language).KarlXII 09:01, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] swedes in sweden

where have some one found that there are 7.9 million ethnic swedes living in sweden, sweden don't allow statistics about ethnical background. The population is 9 million today and 20 % of the population is first or second generation imigrants...then we have 7.2 million left. please give me a source of how many ethinc swedes living in sweden. (Plyriz 2006-10-07 CET)

Epf cannot provide a reference even to his own claim: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swedish_people&diff=80369069&oldid=79934900 =0 --Jaakko Sivonen 19:36, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Assessment Criteria for Ethnic Groups articles

Hello,

WikiProject Ethnic groups has added new assessment criteria for Ethnic Groups articles.

Your article has automatically been given class=stub and reassess=yes ratings. [corrected text: --Ling.Nut 23:00, 16 October 2006 (UTC)] Don't feel slighted if the article is actually far more than a stub -- at least in the beginning, all unassessed articles are being automatically assigned to these values.

-->How to assess articles

Revisions of assessment ratings can be made by assigning an appropriate value via the class parameter in the WikiProject Ethnic groups project banner {{Ethnic groups}} that is currently placed at the top of Ethnic groups articles' talk pages. Quality assessment guidelines are at the Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team's assessment system page.

Please see the Project's article rating and assessment scheme for more information and the details and criteria for each rating value. A brief version can be found at Template talk:Ethnic groups. You can also enquire at the Ethnic groups Project's main discussion board for assistance.

Another way to help out that could be an enjoyable pastime is to visit Category:WikiProject Ethnic groups, find an interesting-looking article to read, and carefully assess it following those guidelines.

Thanks!
--Ling.Nut 20:01, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Swedes

To begin with I find the entire classification of "New Swedes" as slightly ridiculous. Yes, someone has coined such a term in Swedish, but that doesn't mean it needs to be dragged into Wikipedia. As for the second paragraph of this section:

Especially in school yards, Swedes typically refer to "ethnic Swedes" in contrast to pupils who identify themselves as immigrants or of immigrant heritage. Many second- and third-generation immigrants have experienced how being born in Sweden is not sufficient to escape discrimination. A family name (Such as a foreign name) or physical looks (Such as black hair & dark complexion) that hint at low-status immigrant ancestry can be a critical disadvantage. Swedish-speaking Finns who are immigrants in Sweden have also experienced how they are first and foremost perceived as immigrants from Finland and not as "Swedes" by the authorities, neighbours, and colleagues.

This is completely unsourced and unreferenced and as such is complete original research, or just plain personal opinion. As such I'm taking it out. Any objections? KarlXII 00:33, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

OK, as no-one has objected, I will take out the New Swedes section. If anyone is upset, please communicate why on the Talk page.KarlXII 14:13, 23 November 2006 (UTC)


FSG, a couple of comments

  1. if you oppose the change, why didn't you comment on the Talk page? I gave everyone ample time to react.
  2. as for your argument that "not everything needs sources" - this is not correct in this case. You're right, obvious statements don't need sources (eg "Sweden is a country in northern Europe"). However, statements like "Especially in school yards, Swedes typically refer to "ethnic Swedes" in contrast to pupils who identify themselves as immigrants or of immigrant heritage. Many second- and third-generation immigrants have experienced how being born in Sweden is not sufficient to escape discrimination" do need to be backed up by sources.
  3. that you are of Swedish nationality and therefore "Know this to be true" is completely irrelevant. I'm also of Swedish nationality and that doesn't mean a thing here. Wikipedia is not about original research (ie your opinion or what someone says) but about the common understanding of the topic.
  4. my main argument against the "New Swedes" section is that the article is about "Swedish people" as an ethnic group. Why then have a section about non-ethnic Swedes? It would be like including an article about Albanians in the article about the Serbian people just because there are Albanians living in Serbia. See my point?

So, I'm taking the section out. You are welcome to try to have it included in the demographics of Sweden article or create a new article if you want.KarlXII 09:16, 24 November 2006 (UTC)


FSG, you might also have noticed the comment placed in the "New Swedes" section (by whom I don't know):

(Should be integrated into the text or dropped.)Classifications with regard to ethnicity and ethnic groups are chiefly relevant only in the context of conflicting interests between groups who recognize their ethnicity as different. By its nature, this makes virtually all such notions controversial, one way or another.

This is precisely what I am doing.KarlXII 09:18, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] National character

Although not bad, the National character section suffers from a lack of sources. Also, its choice of which 'national characteristics' it chooses to focus is open to debate. I suggest reworking the section based on some of the published material on Swedish national character which is available, most notably the Swedish professor of European ethnology Åke Daun. Here are some souces:

  1. Sweden.se - the official gateway to Sweden
  2. Nordicway.com
  3. The essence of Nordishness - an article (not by Åke Daun) on 'Nordic mentality'. Though I'm not sure what this article is based on

Any thoughts?KarlXII 09:18, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

I used a lot of material from Den svenska koden (ISBN 91-88783-39-1). // Liftarn

Liftarn, thanks for the reply. I'm not saying I disagree with the content. Just that I feel it would be good to have some available sources on such a potentially 'controversial' (or at least difficult) topic as "national character." It might also be good to say that "according to nn, professor of xx at yy, Swedish national character is characterized by: xxxxx." Did you have a chance to take a look at the sources I suggested, especially Åke Daun, who appears to be the most often cited on this topic? KarlXII 10:28, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I skimmed them and they look usefull. Much of it is already in the article already. // Liftarn

[edit] Structure of the article

The current article spends most of it's time talking about who is and who isn't Swedish (especially wether or not Sweden Finns are Swedes or not). While not unimportant, I think there could be some improvements. Here's my suggestion:

  1. Intro (short on who is Swedish)
  2. Etymology
  3. Identity
  4. Swedes outside Sweden (incl discussion about Swedish speakers in Finland and other 'Swedish' groups outside Sweden)
  5. History
  6. Culture and national character
  7. Famous Swedes
  8. See also
  9. External links

Good "peoples" pages from which we might draw inspiration are: Finnish people, Dutch people, Japanese people and French people

How about it?

[edit] Swedes a Germanic people?

This article is included in the category Germanic peoples along with other modern national groups, although no source is given for the claims. I nominated the category for deletion - see its entry here - because it includes modern groups under a historical term (Roman period to mediaeval). The category is being used for a political agenda, to promote the idea that ethnic groups and nations in north-west Europe are "Germanic". That claim is typically associated with neo-nazi groups, for the association of the term Germanic peoples with Nazism, see Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Lebensraum, and for instance Hitler salute. The issue here is also whether Swedes describe themselves as a "Germanic people".Paul111 20:52, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the Swedes describe themselves as a germanic people. Among other things. Please keep Wikipedia free of politically motivated rubbish like this. /M.O (u) (t) 21:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

You do not have to place the exact same message on every talkpage which falls into the Germanic peoples category Paul111. 1 is enough.Rex 21:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I have unfortunaltely engaged this person in discussion of this topic at Talk:Norwegian people. Paul has placed a disputed tag on the article itself because he disputes the Norwegians being a Germanic people. Are the Swedes, Danes and Norwegians Germanic peoples? If not what are they? Any contribution is helpfull.Inge 13:59, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


Strictly speaking, Swedes speak a Germanic language. That is not controversial. Whether or not they are a Germanic people should not be take for granted. However, since no large immigrations have taken place since the Germanic peoples did arrive in Sweden sometime BC, there is no reason not to call them a Germanic people. As for the Nazi associations, that's in the eye of the beholder and shouldn't affect this article.KarlXII 13:28, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

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