Language Magazine Call for Sweden to Recognize Elfdalian A Swedish politician is calling for action to preserve an extremely vulnerable language spoken in Sweden’s forested countryside: Elfdalian May 13, 2021 Sweden’s magical forests are home to Elfdalian, an ancient, endangered language A Swedish parliamentary representative is calling for action to preserve an extremely vulnerable language spoken in Sweden’s forested countryside: Elfdalian ( älvdalska in Swedish and övdalsk in the language itself). Currently, the Swedish government only recognizes Elfdalian as a dialect of Swedish, despite the two languages sharing very little mutual intelligibility. Peter Helander, who hails from the region where Elfdalian is spoken, has called for the government to give the language minority status and determine whether or not the language is truly a dialect of Swedish more objectively.