I'm a huge fan of music from Sweden. It's not my intention to go out and love everything that comes out of the country, yet somehow I always end up finding out my new favorite band hails from there. So does this mean I want to learn Swedish? Actually, yes! On a larger scale of what I'm feeling, students at the University of Austria are so enamored by metal bands from Finland that they are taking up the country's native language themselves. According to Ice News:
"University of Vienna students in Austria were asked their reasons behind choosing to learn Finnish, with 97 per cent of respondents saying the main factor behind their decision was heavy metal music. Helsinki-based Centre for International Mobility Secretary General Marjut Vehkanen described this as somewhat surprising."
97-percent?! Holy hell! Is the other 3-percent just friends with the 97-percent and are only taking the language because they want to be in a class with their friends? I was expecting maybe a handful of students, but apparently Austrian students love them some Finnish death metal. It's interesting too because the article points out that bands students cite as influences are Stratovarius, Children of Bodom, Lordi, HIM and Nightwish, which are all bands whose lyrics are in English.
