Culture
Towns on the Torne River often have both Swedish and Finnish names, like Haparanda (from Finnish Haaparanta, "Aspen Shore") and Tornio (from Swedish Torneå).
Historically, the language used on both sides of the river was Finnish. In the late 19th century, schools were opened in both countries. Then there was a decision to make the Swedish part of area Swedish speaking by teaching the school children only written Swedish and allowing only Swedish to be spoken during lessons, sometimes also during breaks. As an effect, during the second half of the 20th century, Swedish was the dominant language on the Swedish side. The Finnish spoken in informal conversation is similar on both sides of the river, although some newer words differ. To support the traditional language on the Swedish side a new written language has been devised, Meänkieli. On the Finnish side only Finnish is used in written communication. These two languages differ considerably in spelling.
Read more about this topic: Torne River
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“Let a man attain the highest and broadest culture that any American has possessed, then let him die by sea-storm, railroad collision, or other accident, and all America will acquiesce that the best thing has happened to him; that, after the education has gone far, such is the expensiveness of America, that the best use to put a fine person to is to drown him to save his board.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We do not need to minimize the poverty of the ghetto or the suffering inflicted by whites on blacks in order to see that the increasingly dangerous and unpredictable conditions of middle- class life have given rise to similar strategies for survival. Indeed the attraction of black culture for disaffected whites suggests that black culture now speaks to a general condition.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
“Asia is rich in people, rich in culture and rich in resources. It is also rich in trouble.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)