Linguae Europaeae

Figure 1: Swedish flag and geographical location by Mariam Abushamaa Mariam Abushamaa is a recent UIUC alum and incoming law student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She majored in linguistics and hopes to become a lawyer, using the skills she learned from studying language and assisting in research projects at the University of Illinois in her future career. She wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023. Sweden is known for being one of the most accepting countries of new immigrants, but recent proposals may reflect a change in this attitude. For example, new proposals, such as one limiting the rights to publicly funded interpreters, may cause a lot of new roadblocks for immigrants to Sweden who do not speak the language fluently (“Proposed Limits on the Right...”). Imagine for instance a healthcare system that is completely free to everyone, and suddenly your access to free healthcare is hindered because of your inability to speak Sw...

by Lilia Motley Lilia Motley is a senior in Computer Science at the University of Illinois.  Lilia's future plans include taking a job at Microsoft in Seattle.  Lilia wrote this blog post in the 418 "Language and Minorities in Europe" course in Spring 2019. Image Credit: Arnold Platon, via Wikimedia Commons . License available here . Out of all the minority languages in Europe, few are in a situation as unique and contradictory as Romani's: the language boasts an estimated 3.5 million speakers--possibly making it the largest minorized language in the European Union--yet it is only recognized as an official language in one region [i].  It is ratified under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 16 states--more than any other language--yet its promotion by these countries is often lackluster compared to others.  Romani speakers live in almost every country in Europe, and yet nowhere do they make up more than 10% of the population [ii]....

Poster for the anti-refugee Swedish Democrat party, a growing political group ( source ). By Sonja Brankovic Sonja Brankovic is a senior studying mechanical engineering at U of Illinois. She took ITAL 418 this past spring as a part of her International Engineering Minor in Germanic Studies. Sonja says: “This class has been unlike any other in European history and culture in that it has opened my eyes to marginalized perspectives I have never encountered before (even in personal travel and studying abroad). The course gave me a foundation to analyze historical language topics—the evolution of Basque’s codification, the ongoing linguistic de-Russification in the Baltic countries—as well as the ability to assess how the current refugee crisis will have an impact on the European linguistic landscape. This assessment is the main theme of my blog entry, and will hopefully give an idea of why the influx of Middle Eastern languages to Sweden is such a complex issue, and will continue t...