1. "Swedes do not think that Swedish-English bilingualism is a threat to the Swedish language or culture." Why should they ? Sweden has not been colonized or economically siphoned off by a foreign power for more than three hundred years. Therefore no laws are required to regulate language in print or elsewhere. Sweden is an independent Nation, a member of most International Organizations where it has voiced it’s opinion against war, oppression, foreign intervention, air-water pollution, acid rain and de-forrestation etc. A voice that Quebec has not yet got.

2. Swedes do not think that Swedish-English bilingualism is a threat to the country. Because most Swedes speak more than two languages, very often three or four, therefore Sweden is not a Swedish-English bilang-country even if English is spoken by a majority of the population. It is well-known that some Swedish multinationals, works in English, but as you said there are only nine million people speaking Swedish in Sweden, while more than 120 million people speak French throughout the World. Quite a difference !

3. Mr. Donderi’s statement "English is the lingua franca of business and politics throughout Europe, and everyone in Europe who wants to be a commercial or political success learns English" is more than misleading. Swedish multinationals employ a high number of foreigners speaking all languages of the World, needed to serve their clients better than anglo corporations that still behave as if other sovereign Nations are still colonies.

Many anglophones still believe that "le privilège de l’anglais est de ne comprendre aucune autre langue que la sienne. Et même s’il comprend, il ne doit an aucune cas s’abaisser à le croire. Swedes don’t !

4. When in Stockholm on a short assignment and if English is your only language, Mr. Dondori, sure, people will answer you in English. However if you are an immigrant and you want to be a commercial or political success in Sweden, this will not happen until the day you speak Swedish, because just as in Quebec, "la langue suédoise (française) est le produit, en même temps que le document, le plus parfait de notre tradition nationale.

If you don’t believe me, you can speak to my Norwegian brother in-law, who for years spoke Norwegian in Sweden and who was politely asked to continue his work for the same multinational, but in the USA.

5. 13 percent of the Swedish population are immigrants, approximately 46 % have arrived from the Nordic countries. In the age group 18-64 (of all Swedes), the Swedish government, municipalities and para-governmental corporations employ 9 percent ! Immigrants speaking neither French nor English, are by far the largest majority in Canada. Perhaps this "silent majority" will wake up one day and ask to be employed in a similar fashion (9%) in Canada, instead of being considered "des porteurs d’eau d’antan".

6. "Is French more likely to be corrupted than Swedish" ? Your answer was No. "Does English press harder on Quebec French than it does on Swedish ?"

Yes, the situation is completely different. When in Stockholm, you were happily being saturated by English-language films and TV. Poor you, Mr. Donderi, it must have been a shock for you not to find Swedish propaganda flags in every commercial ? You must have felt spiritually lost, driving around Stockholm, not seeing at every construction site, a large sign, stating "The Government of Sweden is investing 30 million dollars for redevelopment of this site. Project managed by Public Works and Government Services Sweden" ?

Why is it different ? There is no dissemination of propaganda and misinformation by the Swedish government against any portion of the population. Public or political corruption, ethical misconduct, fraud, bribery, influence-peddling, patronage, cronyism, semi-legal pilfering, unethical or even illegal use of "polling" firms, illegal or unethical conflict of interest, breach of trust, partisan favoritism in the allocation of appointments, jobs, contract, grants, permits, subsidies and unfair distribution of government resources in favor of supporters of the governing party, all these unethical ‘quasi-crimes’ are not tolerated in Sweden but rampant in Canada, starting with prime minister John Macdonald. That’s why he is a Canadian Hero, for certain people, because he made it an integrated part of the Canadian democratic system (sic) and very little has changed since then.

I would suggest that next time you visit Sweden, to make it more interesting for Swedes to meet you, you will ask them about the subjects above and if the Swedish Prime Minister has dictatorial power as in Canada ? Further more, ask if they would accept to have a Finance Minister, with his major assets (?) in a Panamanian or any other tax-heaven company, as in Canada ? How can we know how such a company speculates ?

From the streets of Montreal and with my eyes wide open - it is plain to my eyes - that as you very properly and very honestly said, "Corruption is a matter at attitude". Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite ! If the Canadians like to be screwed, that is there business, we Quebeckers are certainly worth something much better.

Johan Nachmanson
nachman@altima.net

When in Stockholm, speak English

I am writing about a northern land of rivers, lakes and forests, rich in natural resources, where fewer than nine million people live at the edge of a continent of over two hundred and seventy million people who do not speak their language. The land has a proud and turbulent history, and its soldiers and adventurers once commanded half the continent. It has a beautiful capital city with a commanding view of water. Most of the people are native-born whites, but about one-tenth are northern aborigines or recent immigrants.

This could describe my province of Quebec, but I am writing about Sweden, where I worked for the last half-year. My wife and I toured Sweden long ago with a friend who introduced us to its history and politics, so when we arrived this time, the country was familiar. But modern Stockholm has a new sound: Almost everyone in Sweden speaks both Swedish and English. A recent newspaper poll found that 80% of all Swedes spoke English as a second language. In Stockholm, our experience suggests that it is closer to 100%. Teaching English starts in the third grade. Foreign-language television programs and films are subtitled, not dubbed.There are no laws regulating language in print, film or TV advertising. English billboards, ads and logos are everywhere. On a major private television channel, two of four commercials between Saturday night programs were in English and two were in Swedish. Stockholm is more bilingual to the eye, and sometimes even to the ear, than is Montreal.

Ericsson, the Swedish IT multinational, works in English. A business news magazine has written critically about "bad English" as the national business language, but that was false modesty. The English spoken by our friends, neighbours, colleagues and the clerks in Stockholm shops is grammatical, colloquial and more fluent than the English spoken by most English-speaking French-Canadians living in Montreal.

The chairman of the Swedish Language Committee (even Sweden has one) was interviewed on Radio Sweden International's English-language program. He was asked: "Do you feel that English is a threat to Swedish, and will it 'drive out' Swedish?" "No," he said. Sweden is a trading nation, and Swedes have always learned second or third languages to do business with the rest of the world. This has never threatened the position of Swedish.

Immigrants are expected to learn Swedish, and they do. Stockholm has more new plays opening, per capita, than any other European city -- so says a drama critic for the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. I attended a top-notch performance of Carmen, sung in Swedish. While the Quebec Estates-General on the French Language reported this past week that French-English bilingualism was a threat to the survival of French in Quebec, Swedes do not think that Swedish-English bilingualism is a threat to the Swedish language or culture.

In fact, Quebec and Sweden are so alike physically and geopolitically, and so different in their attitude toward English, that it leads an English-speaking Quebecer like me to analyze the split. Is French in more danger of extinction than Swedish? No. There are fewer than nine million Swedish- speakers in Sweden and Finland, while more than 120 million people speak French throughout the world. Is French more likely to be corrupted than Swedish? No. Corruption is a matter of attitude. The Swedes borrowed "IT" from English, but if Quebecers use "sand trap" while playing golf, that is corruption. Swedes play a lot of golf, but, unlike Quebec, there is no official golf vocabulary in Swedish. Does English press harder on Quebec French than it does on Swedish? Sweden is saturated by English-language TV and English-language films; while in Quebec, films must be dubbed into French for simultaneous release. English is the lingua franca of business and politics throughout Europe, and everyone in Europe who wants to be a commercial or political success learns English.

The difference between Quebec and Sweden is that Quebec's nationalists resent English and the people who speak it, while the Swedes don't. Restricting English gives nationalists the satisfaction, eloquently described by the late Camil Laurin, of putting English Quebecers on a "reducing diet" -- reducing their influence, and humbling them in the process, before, as some of them would like to do, driving them out of a French-speaking, independent Quebec.

The coexistence of Swedish and English in Sweden shows that it is unnecessary to protect a native language spoken by an educated population with strong cultural institutions -- and French Quebec is every bit as strong as Sweden in these respects. From the steets of Stockholm, it is plain to my eyes that Quebec's anti-English laws have little to do with the health and survival of the French language in Quebec.

Don Donderi is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, McGill University.