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In the wake of globalization, mobility in various forms has become more common. The tendency to move applies not least to older people who, in connection with retirement, choose to spend at least part of the year in a warmer country, a phenomena known as “International Retirement Migration” (IRM). In this article, I report on a study of language habits among a group of older Scandinavian migrants on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Their language habits have been investigated by using language diaries and interviews, but also by fieldwork. At the same time as these people are aging, a linguistic reorientation of secondary language character (Spanish), must take place, as well as an activation of previously learnt foreign language skills (especially English and German). The study shows that the senior migrants live in a multilingual environment rather than in a Spanish one and that knowledge of different languages – including Spanish – is used in a flexible and pragmatic way, well according to the demands of the situation.

In Iceland, Danish is taught as a foreign language parallel to English. One purpose for this is to promote inter-Nordic communication, since Danish is generally held to be intercomprehensible for both Norwegian and Swedish speakers. Assuming the role of tourists, field workers who were native speakers of Danish, Norwegian or Swedish approached Icelandic adolescents (aged 15-20), asking in their native language for directions to the Nordic House in Reykjavik. The investigation was conducted at three different time periods (1983, 1999/2004 and 2006) and showed that the proportion of young people understanding the question thus posed to them decreased from two thirds (1983) to a little less than 40% (2006). At the same time, the number switching to English while answering the question increased. In 2006, a large majority (80%) was inclined to do so, while only one third did so in 1983, roughly 25 years earlier.