The Language Council of Sweden and Google clashed over the choice of a word that the council included in its 2012 list of words that are not in the Swedish dictionary. The Swedish Council included the word ‘ungoogleable’ and defined it as something that cannot be found on the web using a search engine. Google rejected this definition, stating that the word should be defined as something that cannot be found on the web using Google. They also wanted the Sweden Language Council to include a disclaimer that stated that Google was a registered trademark. The Council refused to make the changes, preferring instead to remove the word from their list of words. They claimed that Google was trying to control the Swedish language.
Swedish is a North Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Sweden. It was recognized as the official language in Sweden on July 1, 2009 by a new language law. The law also recognizes 5 other minority languages that are spoken in Sweden. This includes Finnish, Torne Valley Finnish, Romani, Yiddish and Sami dialects. Swedish is also spoken in Finland, Canada, Norway, Estonia and the USA. Approximately 10 million people speak this language. Swedish is closely related to Danish and Norwegian and it is mutually intelligible to them, especially in its written form. Sweden ruled Finland from the 12th century until the 19th century. During that period, Swedish was the main language used. Currently, Swedish and Finnish have equal status in Finland. Swedish has 29 letters of the alphabet. The language has loan words from other languages including English, French and German. The Swedish sign language is also officially recognized by the government.
Sweden has a lot of English speakers. You can get around the country even if you don’t know Swedish as long as you know English. If you are a registered resident in Sweden, then you have a right to study Swedish for Immigrants. This is a basic language course that is provided free of charge to residents. If you are an exchange student, you can get introductory Swedish courses at various colleges or universities.
