Languages of Switzerland#Other languages

The main languages of Swiss residents from 1950 to 2015, also continuing in percentages, were as follows:{{cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/sprachen-religionen/sprachen.assetdetail.4542311.html|title=Die zehn häufigsten Hauptsprachen der ständigen Wohnbevölkerung|date=28 February 2018|publisher=Swiss Federal Statistical Office FSO|location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland|language=de, fr, it|type=official website|access-date=18 November 2018}}

In the 2012 survey, for the first time, respondents could indicate more than one language, causing the percentages to exceed 100%.

While the National Council offers simultaneous translation to and from German, French and Italian, the Council of States does not translate debates – its members are expected to understand at least German and French.

Employees of the federal government are expected to write documents in their native tongue. 77% of the original official documents were edited in German, 20% in French, and 1.98% in Italian. More than half of the Italian speakers employed by the federal government are translators.{{Cite web |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/leben-und-altern/bundesverwaltung-ist-eigentlich-zweisprachig/7241630 |title=Bundesverwaltung ist eigentlich zweisprachig |date=2009-03-01 |access-date=2024-03-17 |publisher=Swissinfo}}

The Federal Supreme Court publishes its decisions only in one language, usually in the language used in the earlier instance. The so-called regest – a summary of the decision – will be offered in German, French and Italian, but only in important and influential cases (German "Leitentscheide").{{Cite web |url=https://www.bger.ch/index/federal/federal-inherit-template/federal-faq/federal-faq-38.htm |title=Werden die Urteile des Bundesgerichts übersetzt? |access-date=2024-03-17 |publisher=Supreme Federal Court of Switzerland |language=de |trans-title=Are the decisions of the Federal Court translated?}}

{{Further|Swiss German|Swiss Standard German|German-speaking Switzerland|Walser German}}

File:Brunig-Napf-Reuss-Linie.png dialects. Marked in red is the Brünig-Napf-Reuss line.]]

File:Hoechstalemannisch.png dialects]]

The German-speaking part of Switzerland ({{langx|de|Deutschschweiz}}, {{langx|fr|Suisse alémanique}}, {{langx|it|Svizzera tedesca}}, {{langx|rm|Svizra tudestga}}) constitutes about 65% of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switzerland, most of the Swiss Plateau and the greater part of the Swiss Alps).

In seventeen of the Swiss cantons, German is the only official language (Aargau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Glarus, Luzern, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Uri, Zug, and Zürich).{{cite web |url=http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/101/a1.html |title=SR 101 The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 (Status as of 12 February 2017): Art. 1: The Swiss Confederation |date=12 February 2017 |publisher=The Federal Council |location=Berne, Switzerland |website=The portal of the Swiss government |type=Federal Law collection |access-date=13 June 2017 |archive-date=4 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004144901/http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/101/a1.html |url-status=dead }}

In the cantons of Bern, Fribourg and Valais, French is co-official; in the trilingual canton of Graubünden, more than half of the population speaks German, while the rest speak Romansh or Italian. In each case, all languages are official languages of the respective canton.

While the French-speaking Swiss prefer to call themselves Romands and their part of the country is Romandy, the German-speaking Swiss used to (and, colloquially, still do) refer to the French-speaking Swiss as "Welsche", and to their area as Welschland, which has the same etymology as the English Welsh (see Walha).{{cite web

| url = https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/48ajo6/til_that_the_swiss_german_word_for_a_swiss_french/?rdt=33694 | title = TIL | website = Reddit | date = 29 February 2016 | access-date = 7 March 2024}}

Research shows that individuals with a French-sounding name in the German-speaking part suffer from social discrimination.{{Cite journal|last1=Nesseler|first1=Cornel|last2=Carlos|first2=Gomez-Gonzalez|last3=Dietl|first3=Helmut|date=2019|title=What's in a name? Measuring access to social activities with a field experiment|journal=Palgrave Communications|volume=5|pages=1–7|doi=10.1057/s41599-019-0372-0|doi-access=free|hdl=11250/2635691|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Dietl|first1=Helmut|last2=Carlos|first2=Gomez-Gonzalez|last3=Moretti|first3=Paolo|last4=Nesseler|first4=Cornel|date=2020|title=Does persistence pay off? Accessing social activities with a foreign-sounding name|journal=Applied Economic Letters|volume=28|issue=10|pages=881–885|doi= 10.1080/13504851.2020.1784381|doi-access=free|hdl=11250/2659779|hdl-access=free}}

Nevertheless, in 2017, 11.1%, or about 920,600 of the Swiss residents speak Standard German ("Hochdeutsch") at home, but this figure likely includes numerous German (and Austrian) immigrants.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/kataloge-datenbanken/tabellen.assetdetail.7226746.html|title=Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach zuhause gesprochenen Sprachen - 2017 {{!}} Tabelle|last=Statistik|first=Bundesamt für|date=29 January 2019|website=Bundesamt für Statistik|language=de|access-date=21 February 2019}}

File:Sprachgebiete der Schweiz im 20. Jahrhundert.jpg's collection.]]

By the Middle Ages, a marked difference had developed within the German-speaking part of Switzerland between the rural cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus, Zug, Appenzell, Schaffhausen) and the city cantons (Lucerne, Berne, Zurich, Solothurn, Fribourg, Basel, St. Gallen), divided by views about trade and commerce. After the Reformation, all cantons were either Catholic or Protestant, and the denominational influences on culture added to the differences. Even today, when all cantons are somewhat denominationally mixed, the different historical denominations can be seen in the mountain villages, where Roman Catholic Central Switzerland abounds with chapels and statues of saints, and the farmhouses in the very similar landscape of the Protestant Bernese Oberland show Bible verses carved on the housefronts instead.

In addition to this more widespread notion of Swiss German dialect, there is also Walser German, another Highest Alemannic speech brought by Walser emigrants from Valais.

Because German is the dominant language in Switzerland, many Swiss people whose first languages are French, Italian, or Romansh move into the German-speaking regions. Consequently, their children, born in these predominantly German-speaking areas, usually grow up speaking German as their primary language.

File:Arpitan francoprovencal map.jpg language area map with place names in Arpitan and historic political divisions]]

{{Main article|Swiss French|Suisse romande}}

Romandy ({{langx|fr|Romandie, la Suisse romande}}, {{langx|de|Romandie, Welschland, Welschschweiz, or in some contexts: Westschweiz}},{{efn|name=Welsch|"Welsch" is an old German word for "Foreign" and is the same word the Anglo-Saxons used for the original British inhabitants which today are the Welsh people.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}}} {{langx|it|Svizzera romanda}}) is the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It covers the area of the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Jura as well as the French-speaking parts of the cantons of Bern (German-speaking majority), Valais (French-speaking majority), and Fribourg (French-speaking majority). 1.9 million people (or 24.4% of the Swiss population) live in Romandy.{{cite web|url=http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/01/02/blank/data/01.Document.67224.xls |format=XLS |title=Bilan de la population résidante permanente (total) selon les districts et les communes |date=2 January 2015 |publisher=Swiss Federal Statistical Office |location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland |access-date=24 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806213408/http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/01/02/blank/data/01.Document.67224.xls |archive-date= 6 August 2011 }}

Standard Swiss French and the French of France are highly mutually intelligible, though some differences exist. For example, like most Francophone Belgians, speakers of Swiss French use septante (seventy) instead of soixante-dix (literally, "sixty ten") and nonante (ninety) instead of "quatre-vingt-dix" ("four twenty ten"). In the cantons of Vaud, Valais and Fribourg, speakers use huitante (eighty) instead of "quatre-vingts" (four twenties) used in most of the rest of the French-speaking world; the cantons of Geneva, Bern and Jura use "quatre-vingts".{{cite web |author=Dominique Didier |url=http://monsu.desiderio.free.fr/curiosites/septante.html |title=Septante, octante ou huitante, nonante |publisher=Monsu.desiderio.free.fr |access-date=22 October 2015}}{{Cite web|first=Mathieu|last=Avanzi|url=https://francaisdenosregions.com/2017/03/26/comment-dit-on-80-en-belgique-et-en-suisse/|title=Comment dit-on 80 en Belgique et en Suisse ?|website=francaisdenosregions.com|date=26 March 2017|access-date=12 October 2021}}{{Cite book|last=Thibault|first=André|title=Dictionnaire suisse romand : particularités lexicales du français contemporain|publisher=Zoé|others=Pierre Knecht|year=2004|isbn=978-2-88182-870-6|edition=Nouvelle éd. revue et augmentée|location=Carouge (Geneva)|pages=457|language=French|trans-title=Swiss French Dictionary: lexical particularities of contemporary French|chapter=huitante|oclc=828226325|quote=Local. VD, VS, FR ; les autres cantons emploient quatre-vingt(s), comme en français de référence.|trans-quote=Local. VD, VS, FR; the other cantons use {{lang|fr|quatre-vingt(s)}} like in Standard French.}} "Sou" is used throughout Romandy for a 5-centime coin, as is "tune" (or "thune") when referring to a 5-Swiss-franc piece. Swiss French also uses "déjeuner, dîner, souper" for breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of "petit-déjeuner, déjeuner, dîner" used in France.

Historically, the vernacular language used by inhabitants of most parts of Romandy was Franco-Provençal. Franco-Provençal (also called Arpitan) is a language sometimes considered to be halfway between the langue d'oïl (the historical language of northern France and ancestor of French) and Occitan (the langue d'oc, spoken in southern France). Standard French and Franco-Provençal/Arpitan, linguistically, are distinct and mutual intelligibility is limited. Increasingly, Franco-Provençal/Arpitan is used only by members of the older generations.{{cite journal |last= Meune|first= Manuel |date= 18 December 2018|title= From Little Fatherlands to Imagined Protonation: The Discourse on Francoprovençal in the Journal de Genève and the Gazette de Lausanne (1826–1998)

|url= https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/64815|journal= Advances in Discourse Analysis|pages= |doi= 10.5772/intechopen.81502|access-date=7 March 2024|doi-access= free|isbn= 978-1-78985-757-3 }}

In parts of Jura Franc-Comtois dialects are also spoken; these belong to the same Oïl bloc as Standard French.

The term Romandy does not formally exist in the political system, but is used to distinguish and unify the French-speaking population of Switzerland. The television channel Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) served the Romande community across Switzerland and worldwide through TV5Monde until it was merged with the Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) and renamed RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse) in 2010.

{{main article|Swiss Italian|Ticino|Italian Graubünden}}

File:Suisse italiene.png]]

Italian Switzerland ({{langx|it|Svizzera italiana}}, {{langx|rm|Svizra taliana}}, {{langx|fr|Suisse italienne}}, {{langx|de|italienische Schweiz}}) is the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, which includes the canton of Ticino and the southern part of Grisons. Italian is also spoken in the Gondo Valley (leading to the Simplon Pass, on the southern part of the watershed) in Valais. The traditional vernacular of this region is the Lombard language, specifically its Ticinese dialect.

The linguistic region covers an area of about 3,500 km² and has a total population of around 350,000,{{in lang|fr}} [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/01/02/blank/data/01.Document.67126.xls Bilan de la population résidante permanente selon les cantons] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090920100559/http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/01/02/blank/data/01.Document.67126.xls |date=20 September 2009 }}; calculated adding up the inhabitants in Ticino and 11% of the inhabitants of Grigioni, Swiss Federal Statistical Office with the number of Italophones residing in Switzerland being 545,274 (about 7% of the Swiss population).{{cite web |title=Bevölkerung, Strukturerhebung der eidgenössischen Volkszählung 2011: Bevölkerung nach Sprache und Religion, Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach zuhause gesprochenen Sprachen, 2011 |url=http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/news/04/01.Document.169329.xls |type=Statistics |format=XLS |date=30 May 2013 |publisher=Swiss Federal Statistical Office |location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland |language=de, fr, it |access-date=22 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114071643/http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/news/04/01.Document.169329.xls |archive-date=14 November 2013 }}

The proportion of Italian-speaking inhabitants had been decreasing since the 1970s, after reaching a high of 12% of the population during the same decade. This was entirely because of the reduced number of immigrants from Italy to Switzerland. However it has increased again during the last decade.{{when|date=September 2022}}

{{main article|Romansh language|Canton of Grisons}}

[[File:Schulsprachen Romanischbünden 2003.PNG|thumb|Languages of instruction in the traditionally Romansh-speaking areas of Grisons as of 2003

{{Legend|#0000FF|Romansh school}}

{{Legend|#51A8FF|Bilingual Romansh-German school}}

{{Legend|#04D00F|German school, Romansh as a subject}}

{{Legend|#008000|German schooling only}}]]

Romansh is an official language in the trilingual Canton of Grisons, where the municipalities in turn are free to specify their own official languages.

Romansh has been recognized as one of four "national languages" by the Swiss Federal Constitution since 1938. It was also declared an "official language" of the Confederation in 1996, meaning that Romansh speakers may use their language for correspondence with the federal government and expect to receive a Romansh response. Although Romansh is split into several dialects, the federal and cantonal authorities use the standardized version (Romansh Grischun) exclusively.

Romansh speakers remain predominant in the Surselva, the Albula Region, and the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region.

While learning one of the other national languages at school is important, many Swiss nowadays find it easier to use English as a lingua franca with other Swiss people of different linguistic backgrounds.[https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/english-as-a-common-language-in-switzerland--a-positive-or-a-problem-/46494332 English as a common language in Switzerland: a positive or a problem?] from Swissinfo.ch In 2022, Switzerland ranked 23rd in Europe in the English Proficiency Index of EF language school.{{cite web | title=Swiss are not as good at English as they might think, study finds | website=SWI swissinfo.ch | date=2023-07-16 | url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/swiss-are-not-as-good-at-english-as-they-might-think--study-finds/48666690 | access-date=2023-08-18}}

Swissinfo, a multilingual outlet of Swiss Radio and Television, reported in 2021 that interview subjects are often asked technical questions in English, given that interviewers are often not proficient enough to do so in the local language. The interviewees then answer in their own local language. The interviews are later translated and dubbed over at the studio. A 2003 study on the online communication behavior of Swiss medical students showed that they quickly changed to English as soon as students from other languages were involved. The main drivers behind using English were the Italian-speaking students from Ticino, as students from other parts of the country rarely understood their messages.{{Cite news |title=English as a common language in Switzerland: a positive or a problem? |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/english-as-a-common-language-in-switzerland-a-positive-or-a-problem/46494332 |last=Stephens |first=Thomas |date=2021-04-07 |access-date=2024-03-17 |publisher=Swissinfo}}

In advertising and sports, English slogans and labels are frequently used, as it reduces the need for regional branding. For example, Swiss railways sell tourism offers through the "RailAway" label since 1999, and many national sport federations have English names (e.g. Swiss Olympic and Swiss Super League), with their German or French names almost never being used.

;Franco-Provençal and Lombard

Besides the national languages and the many varieties of Swiss German, several regional Romance languages are spoken natively in Switzerland: Franco-Provençal and Lombard.

;Sinte

About 20,000 Romani speak Sinte, an Indic language. File:Logo der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft.svg, in the four national languages of Switzerland]]

;Sign languages

Five sign languages are used: Swiss-German, French, Italian, Austrian, and German.{{cite web |author=Wittmann, Henri |date=1991 |title=Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement |publisher=Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 10:1.215–88 |url=http://www.nou-la.org/ling/1991a-class.pdf |language=fr |access-date=22 October 2015|author-link=Henri Wittmann }}

{{See also|Name of Switzerland}}

File:Fünffranken (cropped).jpg with the Latin inscription Confoederatio Helvetica]]

File:Bundeshaus Bern 2009, Flooffy.jpg

To avoid having to translate the name of Switzerland into the four national languages,{{efn|name=Name of Switzerland|When there is no room to use the four official languages, unlike on the banknotes of the Swiss franc, on the logo of the Federal administration of Switzerland and on the Swiss passport.}} Latin is used on the coins of the Swiss franc (Helvetia or Confoederatio Helvetica) and on Swiss stamps (Helvetia). The country code top-level domain for Switzerland on the internet is .ch, the abbreviation of the Latin name, Confoederatio Helvetica (Swiss Confederation); similarly, the International vehicle registration code for Swiss automobiles is "CH". The Federal Palace of Switzerland bears the inscription {{Smallcaps|Curia Confoederationis Helveticae}}.{{cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bern_Parliament_Pediment_Inscription_2019-09-14_00-09.jpg |last=Tschentscher |first=Axel |title=File:Bern Parliament Pediment Inscription 2019-09-14 00-09.jpg |website=commons.wikimedia.org |date=14 September 2019 |access-date=22 March 2020 }}

To have a unique name across the country (without favoring German, French or any other language), several Swiss foundations and associations have Latin names, such as Pro Helvetia, Pro Infirmis, Pro Juventute, Pro Natura, Pro Patria, Pro Senectute, Pro Specie Rara, Helvetia Nostra, and many more.

• Swiss people
• Demographics of Switzerland
• Röstigraben, referring to the asserted difference in mentality between German Swiss and the French-speaking Romands
• Swiss literature
• List of multilingual countries and regions

{{notelist}}

{{Clear}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Languages of Switzerland}}

• [http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2009/07/07/auto-correcting-german-and-swiss-german/ Swiss German]
• [http://www.eldrid.ch/swgerman.htm A quick guide to the Swiss German language]
• [http://www.all-about-switzerland.info/swiss-german-dialects.html Characteristics of Swiss German dialects]
• [http://www.sieps.ch sieps.ch] Information Services on Swiss Private Schools and Universities
• [http://www.pimsleur.com/Learn-Swiss-german Pimsleur Swiss German] Pimsleur Swiss German Course

{{Languages of Switzerland}}

{{Switzerland topics}}

{{Languages of Europe}}

{{Portal bar|Language|Switzerland}}

{{Authority control}}

als:Romandie

{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages of Switzerland}}

Linguistic

Category:Geography of Switzerland

af:Romandie

cs:Romandie

it:Svizzera Italiana

nn:Romandie

pl:Romandia

sv:Romandiet