Radio för alla?

Inslag på engelska och andra språk i Sveriges Radios svenskspråkiga radioprogram

Abstract

Radio for everyone? Passages in English and other languages in Swedish public service radio

This article focuses on Swedish public service radio (Sveriges Radio, SR) and how interviews in languages other than Swedish are given in SR. In the article, the result of a close analysis of 42 hours of broadcasting from SR is presented. All in all, a dozen languages are identified; however, English clearly dominates the radio programs besides Swedish. Pronounced differences are also found between the two public radio channels P1 (including news) and P3 (with more entertaining programs). In the latter, interviews in English are abundant – in one program English is spoken a fourth of the total broadcasting time. In addition, interviews in English are seldom translated. This indicates that a listener not understanding English will have trouble comprehending all the content published by Swedish public radio. In the article, this is discussed from the perspective of democracy and inclusion in society, since not all people in Sweden master English.