Nordic Language Convention
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nordic_Language_Convention".

The Nordic Language Convention is a convention of linguistic rights which came into force in March 1, 1987, under the auspices of the Nordic Council. Under the Convention, citizens of the Nordic countries have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable to any interpretation or translation costs. The Convention covers health care, social security, tax, school, and employment authorities, the police and courts. The languages included are Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Icelandic.12

The Convention is not very well known and is mostly a recommendation. The countries have committed themselves to providing services in various languages, but citizens have no absolute rights except for criminal and court matters.34 The Convention does not automatically require authorities to provide services in another language but a citizen must demand an interpreter.4 Civil servants in official institutions are often unaware of the regulations on interpreting and translating and neglect to provide this services when requested.5 Furthermore, the convention excludes minority languages, like Faroese, Kalaallisut, Romany and Sami, and immigrant languages.45 English has also assumed an increasingly prominent role in interaction between Nordic citizens.3

References

  1. ^ Konvention mellan Sverige, Danmark, Finland, Island och Norge om nordiska medborgares rätt att använda sitt eget språk i annat nordiskt land, Nordic Council website. Retrieved on April 25, 2007.
  2. ^ 20th anniversary of the Nordic Language Convention, Nordic news, February 22, 2007. Retrieved on April 25, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Language Convention not working properly, Nordic news, March 3, 2007. Retrieved on April 25, 2007.
  4. ^ a b c Helge Niska, Community interpreting in Sweden: A short presentation, International Federation of Translators, 2004. Retrieved on April 25, 2007.
  5. ^ a b Winsa, Birger (1999), "Language Planning in Sweden", Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 20 (4): 376–473, ISSN: 0143-4632, http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/020/0376/jmmd0200376.pdf, retrieved on 25 April 2007 

See also

External links

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