Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Here’s what you need to know about languages in Switzerland

What percentage of people in Switzerland can speak three national languages fluently? How many native English speakers are there in the country? And what exactly is Romansh? Here is what you need to know about languages in Switzerland.

Published: 31 December 2019 11:00 CET
Updated: 23 January 2022 16:19 CET
Here's what you need to know about languages in Switzerland
File photo: Depositphotos

Switzerland has four main languages.

Switzerland has four so-called national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh, which is spoken by an estimated 60,000 people, mainly in the south-eastern canton of Graubünden. More on that below.

All official Swiss documents must appear in German, French and Italian while the Swiss government also uses Romansh when it is communicating with Romansh speakers.

German is the country’s main language.

German is the chief language for around 63 percent of the Swiss population, down from 66 percent in 1970. It is the main language spoken in large cities including Zurich, Bern and Basel.

A copy of the classic tale The Little Prince in the Swiss German dialect of Bern. Photo: AFP

But it is important to realise that while Swiss people use standard (or ‘high’) German in written communications, they actually speak one of large number of dialects collectively known as Swiss German. 

READ ALSO: Swiss German tips and quirks – your introduction to ‘Dialekt’

These dialects can vary markedly from region to region although they are generally mutually intelligible so that someone from the canton of Valais in the southwest can still understand someone from St Gallen in the northeast despite some different vocabulary and different pronunciation.

There is no official written form of Swiss German, although you will sometimes see dialects written down, as with the version of the classic tale The Little Prince in the photo above.

French is on the rise.

French is the second most widely spoken language in Switzerland with just under one in four people (22.7 percent) using this language. It is the main language spoken in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Jura and is also on the rise. In 1970, only 18 percent of the Swiss population had French as their number one language.

READ ALSO: Eight reasons Swiss-French is better than French-French

There is little difference in the French of Switzerland and that of France, although there are some vocabulary differences and Swiss French sounds slower because of its longer vowels.

There are around 350,000 Italian speakers.

A further 8.1 percent of the Swiss population speaks Italian (down from 11 percent back in 1970). That’s around 350,000 people, chiefly in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino and in Graubünden. Swiss Italian is influenced by German and French and there are differences that might throw people who have studied standard Italian. More on that here.

Switzerland also has a fourth language – Romansh.

Romansh is a Romance language of the Rhaetian people, who are thought to have arrived in the Alps around 500BC. Some 60,000 people are thought to speak the language. 

READ ALSO: 18 interesting facts about Switzerland’s fourth language, Romansh

In 1982, the ‘standard’ language of Romansh Grishun was unveiled. Invented by a Zurich linguist, Romansh Grishun is the Romansh you will see on Swiss bank notes or in official texts, but it is actually a composite language based on five regional written Romansh dialects. The composite language remains controversial with critics saying it is artificial.

A petrol station sign in Romansh. Photo: AFP

Very few people are bilingual in Swiss national languages.

A 2014 study revealed that just 2 percent of the Swiss population are fully bilingual French and German speakers – although this figure climbs to 7.5 percent if you include people who use both languages on the street and at work.

For Italian and German bilingual speakers, the figure is 1.8 percent. 

And the number of people who trilingual speakers of German, French and Italian in Switzerland? This is just 0.2 percent, according to the 2014 study. But the study also found 1.8 percent of people use all three languages in their job or daily life.

There are four bilingual or multilingual cantons.

A number of Swiss cantons have two official languages. These are Bern (German and French), Fribourg (German and French), Valais (French and German) and Graubünden (German, Romansh and Italian).

There are also two bilingual German/French cities: Biel/Bienne and Fribourg (German and French).

Foreign languages have a large presence in Switzerland.

Just under one in four people in Switzerland do not have a Swiss national language as their native language. The most commonly foreign native language is English (5.4 percent of people in 2019), followed by Portuguese (3.7 percent) and Albanian (3.2 percent). English is therefore the fourth most common language in Switzerland.

READ ALSO: Nine German words that strike fear into foreigners in Switzerland

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

PROTESTS

How free are people to protest in Switzerland?

As a centre of international diplomacy and cooperation and with its unique system of direct democracy, Switzerland enjoys a reputation for upholding fundamental human rights—but how free are the Swiss to express their opposition to power?

Published: 24 April 2024 15:25 CEST
How free are people to protest in Switzerland?

In its recently released 2024 report, Amnesty International criticised Switzerland for imposing restrictions on the right to protest and for dispersing protests violently. 

So what’s the problem? 

While not an explicit ban on protest, Amnesty International considers the obligation in some Swiss cantons for protest organisers to gain official approval and shoulder potential costs to be a repressive measure—essentially a ‘workaround’ in cooling dissent.

Amnesty International’s criticism comes on the heels of other concerns.   

In 2024, Amnesty International joined with the United Nations in criticizing moves by some Swiss cantons and cities to ban protests regarding the Middle East conflict as ‘disproportionate’. 

Read More: How ordinary citizens can try to change the law in Switzerland

The organization has also highlighted the continued use of rubber bullets by Swiss police in dispersing protests as a serious area of concern. 

Furthermore, any changes to protests are controlled or permitted in Switzerland must be made through individual cantons due to the country’s devolution of specific powers – a process that could take years. 

So what restrictions have been introduced in Switzerland?

In early March, the ‘Anti-Chaoten’ initiative put forward by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) youth wing, which would have placed significant legal and financial burdens on protesters, was rejected in a Zurich cantonal referendum. However, a counterproposal by cantonal authorities was accepted at the polls.

The successful counterproposal requires explicit permission from authorities to hold a protest or rally, as well as passing on the cost of the police operation, as well as any intentional damage, to protest organizers. Failure to gain approval for protests can result in charges being laid. 

Following the success of the Zurich measure, the Basel SVP intends to introduce a similar proposal to be voted on in August – with the same likely result.

Which protests have been dispersed violently in Switzerland? 

Due to global events, protests have become increasingly common in Switzerland over the last five years. Most have been peaceful, but there have been exceptions.

Measures introduced to limit the spread of the coronavirus between 2020 and 2022 led to violent protests being dispersed in Bern, Zurich and Lucerne. 

Read More: Switzerland to impose tougher penalties for violent protesters

Climate change protests have also been violently dispersed by police, using pepper spray and rubber bullets – such as in Basel in February 2023.

Amnesty International has also raised serious concerns regarding the police dispersal of an International Women’s Day protest in Basel on March 17th of this year, in which rubber bullets were also used. 

Most recently, opponents of the Eritrean regime were dispersed with tear gas and water cannons at a demonstration in Gerlafingen, Aargau, on March 31st. 

What right do the Swiss have to protest? 

The right to peaceful protest is enshrined in the Swiss federal constitution—Article 16 provides for freedom of expression, while Article 23 protects the right to free association. 

Indeed, in 2020, the country successfully introduced a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling for world governments to protect the right to protest and not use the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to curtail freedoms. 

Read More: What foreigners should know about the Swiss constitution

Furthermore, the country is a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, which could have some bearing on how protests are dispersed.  

SHOW COMMENTS