Hør dog hvad de siger - Note-to-Self: Trials & Errors

7. Conclusion and a view beyond
In this study we have shown how the ideology of the Nordic is used in somewhat similar, but
still in somewhat different, ways across the Nordic area. In core Scandinavia the common his-
tory and the similar societies in the Nordic countries as well as the similarities of its people
are drawn upon to argue for the maintenance and a strengthening of ‘Norden’. These themes
resonate across all of the Nordic area, but with variant strength. For instance, the Danes with
an historically relatively cool view on the Nordic project and a relatively laissez-faire langua-
ge policy, shows rather poor competence in the other Scandinavian languages and rather cool
sentiments towards Scandinavism. That is, we see how there is a (dialectic) relation between
official language policy and investment in the ideology of the Nordic.
We have also shown how some of the smaller peripheral societies can use the ideology of
the Nordic for other purposes; in claiming participation in a larger Nordic community, partly
for its own sake, partly as a gate to the rest of the world; or, as among the Finland Swedes, as
support against a majority language which is perceived as a larger linguistic threat than Eng-
lish.
At the same time, we have shown how this ideology is challenged by globalization. Glo-
balization among other things means that traditional communities – national, regional etc. –
are questioned, while new, global and individual communities are made possible. Globaliza-
tion also means the promotion of new values and new discourses for interpreting the world.
In our study we have seen how different ideologies struggle. We have seen how the argu-
ments in favor of English – the pro-globalization ones, as it were – revolve around ‘practicali-
ty’ whereas the pro-Nordic revolve around ‘communality’ and ‘identity’. This, we claim, il-
lustrates a more common trend, viz. that globalization forces people to explain their actions
and stances in a ‘rational’ rhetoric and a rhetoric that inscribes their stances with maximal
market value – what we have termed ‘marketization’. This stands in stark contrast to the ideo-
logy of the Nordic as perceived and practiced in the national romantic period. Here the rheto-
ric was one of ‘history’, of the ‘identity’ (even the ‘spirit’) of a ‘people’. Linguistically, the
most predominant proof that globalization is a fact in the Nordic countries is how practically
all our informants claim that it would be easier, more practical and even ‘more fair’ to use
English in inter-Nordic communication. But still, in spite of the ‘practicality’ of global Eng-
lish, we have seen how ‘the Scandinavian’, even ‘the Nordic’ is still promoted, indeed by ar-
guments from history, community and identity. The themes of ‘practicality’ vs. ‘identity’ are
also played out through language norms in the interviews. It is quite common that informants
point out how the English used does not need to be in any way perfect, it just needs to work.
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