The hedgehog was celebrated on Swedish Finns' Day

On the occasion of the Day of the Finns of Sweden, Polarbibblo introduced another language on its website. The platform for language development and reading promotion for children has now expanded its language offering to include Finnish, to give children the opportunity to explore different linguistic worlds, together with Meänkieli, Sami languages ​​and Swedish.

Polarbibblo is run by the Norrbotten Regional Library together with the public libraries in Norrbotten, but is available to all children throughout Sweden. The assignment to initiate a preliminary study of how the Finnish language could best be included on the site came from the Royal Library in 2022. A solid work began, including through invaluable collaboration with Finnish-speaking students at schools in Central Sweden.

When it was finally time for the launch of Finnish, it was the hedgehog who invited us to a housewarming party. Each language and variety on Polarbibblo is symbolized by its own animal, and the hedgehog was the animal voted for by the children. And it really was a party! Libraries, schools and Finnish associations all over the country have ordered party supplies, and up to 1800 children have celebrated the hedgehog's arrival.

These children have fortunately not experienced the Swedishization process that characterized Sweden just a few generations ago, but its consequences are still visible today. Many have lost contact with their native languages, and although mother tongue instruction is now offered, it is often limited to a short period each week.

– Many children cannot get help from their parents or other adults around them when they want to read or write in languages ​​other than Swedish, and then it feels fun to be able to offer help and support. The first tentative attempts might involve playing a language game on Polarbibblo, and a little later writing a picture story where the child can get feedback from adult editors who speak their own language, says Annette Kohkoinen, who works as webmaster for national minority languages ​​at Polarbibblo.

The editors play an important role on the website. In addition to helping children with language development, they ensure that nothing offensive is published. Foul language, bullying or attacks are not allowed. Polarbibblo is a safe place on the internet. By children, for children.

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