The Swedish language represents a kind of "what might have been" for Irish speakers - although there were less Swedish speakers than Irish in the world at the beginning of the 19th century, Swedish is the language of choice for millions of people who also have perfect English.

In today's episode, Gearóidín phones in from Finland to tell Darach and Eimear about how Swedish is a minority language there, how different it is from Finnish, and how the story of the Finns sounds familiar to Irish people. The cultural impact of these countries is considered, including Stieg Larsson and Max Martin.

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Join Darach at the Seamus Heaney Homeplace Centre in Magherafelt on the 9th of August. He’ll be in conversation with Lynette Fay from BBC Radio Ulster about his journey since starting @theirishfor. Tickets at https://seamusheaneyhome.ticketsolve.com/shows/873602197?_ga=2.124528527.424322507.1564084535-1144120869.1564084535 

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]