Swedish nursery to teach rare Viking-era language

Alvdalen is the only remaining community where Elfdalian is still spoken

A rare language that dates back to the Viking Age will be taught at a new nursery school in central Sweden, it's reported.

Elfdalian will be the sole language spoken to children attending the pre-school in the town of Alvdalen, which is the only community that still uses it, Radio Sweden reports. Elfdalian is believed to be the closest descendant of Old Norse, which was spoken by Scandinavians more than 1,000 years ago.

At the moment, only about 2,500 people can speak the language, fewer than 60 of them children, reports The Local website. To help preserve Elfdalian, councillors in Alvdalen on Tuesday voted unanimously to build the new nursery school.

The Local quotes the town's mayor, Peter Egardt, as saying that officials were aware of their responsibility to "get a new generation to speak our unique language, thus giving the language more of a chance to survive in the long term".

The new nursery school will be up and running in the autumn, and the site says that pupils will continue to learn the language until they turn 18.

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