English in Sweden : English as a Second Language in Sweden in a Theoretical Perspective

Abstract: English has integrated into Swedish society, and into the Swedish language. In this study, the goal is to examine why English has become so influential in Sweden and if this has occurred previously. This will be studied by examining the historical relation between Swedish and three languages, German, French and English. Moreover, the English language influences will be examined more extensively in its global spread and its social relation to Swedish. This essay will contain a limited study, which will ask a sample of twenty individuals if they think Sweden requires a second language, and what language they would select to fill this position. There is a pattern to observe in the historical language influences, which are: the global presence of the language, the integration and immigration into the Swedish society and the grammatical and lexical significance of loanwords. The majority of the sample selected English as the language that would fill a second language position in Sweden, and close to half of the sample thought Sweden requires a second language. With such a limited sample and with few questions, no claims could be made regarding the requirement of a second language in Sweden. This could be expanded further into a more extensive study with less focus on the historical influences upon Swedish.