Short-sighted governance of work on the vitality of minority languages

The Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani, Sámi and Yiddish languages are part of Swedish culture and cultural heritage, and have been recognised as national minority languages.

The Swedish National Audit Office has examined the work of a number of government agencies on keeping these languages alive. The overall conclusion is that central government initiatives are inadequate.

“Efforts are short-sighted. Rather than spending considerable resources on short-term initiatives, the Government should distribute resources over the longer term, and include commissions in the instructions of agencies’ remits. That way, this work can form part of operating activities,” says Auditor General Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg.

This short-sighted approach has meant that one-third of the funds allocated in the latest major investment in minority policy have not been spent, despite considerable needs. This is partly because government agencies find it difficult to swiftly scale up operations in short-term commissions, as there are few people with relevant skills.

This short-sighted governance has, in practice, forced the Institute for Languages and Folklore to dismantle and then immediately relaunch its minority language centre. The Sámi Parliament has also had to devote time and resources to expanding its operations, only to scale them back again. All in all, this leads to an inefficient use of resources.

The absence of a long-term perspective also affects access to teaching materials for minority languages, as few publishers are interested in short, small production commissions.

“Today, minority language teaching is largely dependent on teachers to produce their own teaching materials. This is time consuming and poses a risk of lower quality in teaching,” says Matilda Loborg, project leader for the audit.

Other audit findings show the following:

• The National Agency for Education lacks information on supply and demand for teachers in minority languages, which impedes coordinating teaching.
• Information on opportunities for becoming a national minority language teacher is not specifically directed at individuals in search of information on teacher training.
• The Minoritet.se website is an important hub for information on minority languages, national minorities and their rights. However, the website is cumbersome and lacks content demanded by target groups, such as information on minority language courses and programmes.