Description
This article is from the Nordic countries
FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous
contributions by others.
1.3.6 What languages are welcome in soc.culture.nordic?
English, naturally, is the most common choice, but threads in Swedish,
Danish, Norwegian, Sámi, Finnish, Icelandic and Faroese are all
perfectly suitable for the newsgroup. A fact is, however, that such
threads don't appear very frequently in s.c.n. There are several
reasons for this. First of all, not all Nordic languages are mutually
intelligible; while Danes, Norwegians and Swedes could discuss with
each other with only some difficulty, many Icelanders and Finns would
be left out of the discussion (even though all Finns and Icelanders
have studied one obligatory Scandinavian language at school it doesn't
mean they're necessarily fluent in it - nor that they understand the
other langauges of Scandinavia as easily as the native speakers).
A third group of people left out of the discussion would be, of
course, the non-Nordics, who make up a large part of the readership of
s.c.n. Therefore, threads in Nordic languages don't necessarily get
very many readers. Nordics in general tend to be relatively fluent in
English, so if the topic is of general interest, using a language that
restricts the readership may seem slightly pointless. Another reason
is, of course, that the soc.* hierarchy is international; there is no
shortage of national hierarchies where all discussion takes place in
the Nordic languages. There are also several mailing-lists dedicated
to Nordic topics where the discussion is often in some Nordic
language.
It makes good sense to have at least one group act - as it were - as a
window for foreigners to peek into the Nordic countries and their
cultures, make contacts with Scandinavians and gain insight on topics
that interest us. Don't get me wrong; it isn't the purpose of s.c.n to
cater to the presumed needs of 'outsiders' -- this newsgroup isn't a
zoo, thank goodness -- but it's a function it now succesfully fulfils
thanks to the common use of English, among other, very different
functions.
But if you're a Nordic student or immigrant living abroad, or if
you're studying some Nordic language, or if you're of Nordic descent
and want to practice the language -- whatever your reason is, don't
hesitate to start a thread in a Nordic language. It brings a welcome
change to s.c.n, even if we may not want all discussion to be in
Nordic languages.
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travel, vacation, nordic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, tourism, history, books, language
