[2] The minority languages have been legally recognized to protect the cultural and historical heritage of their respective speech communities.
To be accorded official minority status, a language must have been spoken in Sweden for a significant amount of time.
A precise figure has not been revealed, but qualified estimations consider 100 years to be reasonable, based on the included and excluded languages.
It is also required that the language be spoken by a significant number of people and be centred in a specific geographical region.
Furthermore, it is a condition that the granting of official minority language status should be of cultural benefit to the group speaking it.
Even though many current Swedes are of full or mixed Finnish descent, Swedish is the main language in practice for many bilinguals.
Finnish and Meänkieli can be used in the northernmost municipalities of Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala and Övertorneå and its immediate neighbourhood.
Yiddish has been a common language of Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jews since early in their history.