In Swedish compulsory school, students can choose to study a modern language in addition to English, i.e., French, Spanish, or German. Since 1994, instruction time for modern languages has been extended, the learning objectives have been made more attainable, and national assessment materials have been introduced. The government made these changes so that more students would study modern languages and achieve the syllabus goals. Existing statistics, however, indicate that these changes have been ineffectual compared to earlier years. Sixteen modern language teachers were interviewed about why state policies have failed. The results suggest that political intentions have not been realized for several interacting reasons. First, the state lacks a central school administration to translate political intentions into concrete goals. Second, teachers have not perceived the reforms as important. Third, government actions are not aligned with research explanations of why students do not choose to study modern languages.