'@sagas' Well, practically I am partially Fennoswede, My great grandfather spoke only Swedish.
You see, Finland was part of Sweden almost 500 years or so, and then as autonomic part of Russia then only around 100 years before we became independent. So practically Finns and Swedes are same people. More than Hawaiians are Americans, definitely. And more than Samuel L. Jackson is American, he definitely has ancestors outside American soil. Well, every human originated from Africa, but my Great grandfather was Fennoswede and we can probably look my family tree back 400 years and my ancestors lived on around this same area and definitely in Finnish soil, that back then belonged to Sweden.
That is completely different thing than Finnish-Swedish in a sense, that somebody would move here from Sweden and receive dual nationality, which normally take at least five years, but Swedes can get it in 2 years.
If that made any sense but yes, Fennoswedes are Finns, there is no question about that. And as I have all my life lived in city, where there are 25% of Fennoswedes, they really, I mean really dislike being implied that they are not Finns (possible exception with some Fennoswedes that live in Åland, that may consider themselves more Swedes and they have autonomy). I think it's about the same kind of no-go than saying in America, that black people aren't really American.
So Fennoswedes are 100% Finns, they are simply linguistic minority. Any Finn that can or can learn how to speak Swedish, can become Fennoswede by filling a simple form to authorities and change your native tongue. I speak Swedish well enough, if I do that, every letter from government and so will come to me in Swedish language etc. All government officials here are required to speak both Finnish and Swedish and they must past the test, since those are our official languages.
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'@sagas' Well, practically I am partially Fennoswede, My great grandfather spoke only Swedish.
You see, Finland was part of Sweden almost 500 years or so, and then as autonomic part of Russia then only around 100 years before we became independent. So practically Finns and Swedes are same people. More than Hawaiians are Americans, definitely. And more than Samuel L. Jackson is American, he definitely has ancestors outside American soil. Well, every human originated from Africa, but my Great grandfather was Fennoswede and we can probably look my family tree back 400 years and my ancestors lived on around this same area and definitely in Finnish soil, that back then belonged to Sweden.
That is completely different thing than Finnish-Swedish in a sense, that somebody would move here from Sweden and receive dual nationality, which normally take at least five years, but Swedes can get it in 2 years.
If that made any sense but yes, Fennoswedes are Finns, there is no question about that. And as I have all my life lived in city, where there are 25% of Fennoswedes, they really, I mean really dislike being implied that they are not Finns (possible exception with some Fennoswedes that live in Åland, that may consider themselves more Swedes and they have autonomy). I think it's about the same kind of no-go than saying in America, that black people aren't really American.
So Fennoswedes are 100% Finns, they are simply linguistic minority. Any Finn that can or can learn how to speak Swedish, can become Fennoswede by filling a simple form to authorities and change your native tongue. I speak Swedish well enough, if I do that, every letter from government and so will come to me in Swedish language etc. All government officials here are required to speak both Finnish and Swedish and they must past the test, since those are our official languages.