![Sweden - Click for Information]](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/sw-flag.gif){kind=small}
![Finland - Click for Information]](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/fi-flag.gif){kind=small}
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Swedish
Swedish is the official language of Sweden; it is also spoken by about 300 000 people living on the southwestern and southern coasts of Finland, most of the islands of the Baltic Sea, including some off the coast of Estonia. Swedish is spoken as a second language by cultivated Finns.
Swedish is the most widely spoken of the Scandinavian languages, a branch of the Germanic subgroup of the Indo-European family of languages. Swedish is closely related to Norwegian and Danish. Historically it is closer to Danish, although both in forms and in pronunciation Swedish remains at an older stage of development than Danish. However, the years of Swedish domination over Norway (1814-1905) brought these two languages closer together, making it more difficult for a Swede today to understand Danish than Norwegian.