Multilingualism and Literacy in Sweden - Multiple Sources of Reading Difficulty

I ntroduction Sweden's location on the northern periphery of Europe and its most popular exports in music and industry easily give the impression of a relatively isolated, homogenous, monolingual nation enjoying high standards of living and universal literacy. Indeed, cultural and linguistic homogeneity is strong among those Swedes whose families have been resident for many generations. However, for the Swedish minority groups, many of whom arrived as refugees in the last 25 years, linguistic and cultural backgrounds are diverse and levels of Swedish literacy are far lower than those of the indigenous population.