I'd like a coffee please Oh, thanks. Hello everyone. And welcome to the Langfocus channel.
My name is Paul Today, I'm going to talk about
the languages of Switzerland. Switzerland is a fascinating country,
known for many things such as: the Swiss Alps, Swiss chocolate,
Swiss watches, Swiss banking, but it's also known for being a multilingual nation
and a model of coexistence. Located at the crossroads of Germany, Austria,
France, Italy and Liechtenstein, Switzerland has four recognized national languages. Those are German, French, Italian and Romansh. Three of those, German, French and Italian are official
languages used by the state, but don't assume that
everybody can speak four languages. Switzerland is a federation of 26 Cantons
which are like states with a high degree of autonomy. This federal type of government fits well
with Switzerland's multilingualism. At the national level Switzerland is essentially
trilingual in German, French and Italian That means that, for state purposes, you can use any
of those three languages and those three languages
are used in Parliament and government offices. Romansh is recognized as a national language
but it's not an official language of administration. Probably because there just aren't
that many speakers of Romansh. The Swiss Constitution guarantees linguistic freedom
for speakers of those four national languages, meaning that they are free to use any of those
languages to communicate with each other
or with the government in their respective regions. Because Switzerland's linguistic communities
are connected to specific territories, the federal government gives each canton
the right to choose its own official language That effects which language is used at school,
which language is used at government offices,
on radio broadcasts and TV, all of those sorts of things. And in the cantons that have more than one official
language, the canton grants each municipality,
the right to choose its own official language. That means that you sometimes have
one town with one official language
and the neighboring town with a different one. And there are even a handful of bilingual municipalities
that provide services such as schools in both languages,
depending on where you live in that municipality. Now, let's take a look at each
of the four national languages. The most widely spoken language is German, specifically Swiss German which is spoken
by 5 million people or 63.5% of the population. And it's spoken in the largest area in northern, central
and eastern Switzerland, as well as on the Swiss plateau
and part of the Swiss Alps. It is the official language of 17 cantons
and it is co-official in 4 more cantons. Swiss German does not refer to one unified language
but rather to a group of related alemannic dialects
that are spoken inside Switzerland. These dialects are not considered inferior to standard
German and they are used for all aspects of daily life
by basically all German speakers. Swiss German is generally unintelligible
to speakers of standard German but it isn't eligible to some Germans who live across
the border in nearby areas who speak related dialects. And it's also understood by people in Liechtenstein
as well as border areas of Austria. Aside from spoken Swiss German dialects,
there is also standard Swiss German, which is basically the same as
the standard German spoken in Germany. In Switzerland, it is the written language and all Swiss
German speakers learn the standard language in school. But basically in speech, they almost exclusively
use Swiss German dialect. As I said before, speakers of standard German
can't really understand Swiss German. And that includes Swiss people who learn German
as a second language in school. That causes problems because, when they travel
to the German speaking areas, they find that the German speakers speak to them only
in Swiss German dialect and they can't understand it. Well, why doesn't the german-speaking population
make more of an effort to speak standard German? Well, according to some sources I've read,
that was actually happening but then,
when World War 2 broke out, the Swiss German population wanted to be separate
from Germany, they wanted to be distinct, so they started de-emphasizing standard German
and relying more on their spoken dialect. The second most widely spoken language is French
with 1.8 million native speakers or 22.5% of the population. The French-speaking region of Romandie is located
in western Switzerland on the border with France. The French language in Switzerland differs very little
from the French language in France. I've taken lessons with some teachers in Switzerland,
I noticed very little difference. For example the number 70.
In France, it's "soixante-dix" (sixty-ten)
but in Switzerland its "septante" (seventy) Also, the number 90.
In France, it's "quatre-vingt-dix" ("four-twenty-ten")
but in Switzerland is "nonante" ("ninety") Or the word for "breakfast".
In France, it's "petit-déjeuner" but, in Switzerland,
it's "déjeuner" which means "lunch" in France And, in some areas, people use some German
loanwords in their French but basically
the differences are very minor. There are also some loanwords from Franco-provençal Franco-provençal is an unofficial regional language
in France and it is also still to some extent spoken in some
of the rural areas in Switzerland but it has mostly
become replaced by standard French. So, unlike the situation
of Swiss German and standard German, French speakers in Switzerland really have no problem
communicating with French speakers in France
or Belgium or elsewhere. The third most widely spoken language is Italian
with 645,000 native speakers or 8.1% of the population. It is an official language in only one canton called Ticino. And it is one of 3 official languages
in one other canton called Graubunden. Both of those cantons are on the southern border with Italy. Swiss Italian is very similar to standard Italian
and there really are no problems communicating between speakers of those two varieties
but there is a different kind of accent or intonation and there has been some influence of Swiss German
and French on the vocabulary, a little bit. And there's been some influence of
the original Italian dialect of that area. Just like standard French has grown to replace
Franco-provençal, standard Italian has grown to replace
the original Italian dialect called Ticinese It is actually quite different from standard Italian
and it could be considered its own language. It is still spoken to some extent especially
in rural areas and by elderly people but it is basically being overtaken by Swiss Italian. The least widely spoken of the four national languages,
by a long shot, is Romansh. It has only 40,000 native speakers
or 0.5% of the population. There are immigrant languages that have more speakers
than Romansh. Serbo-croatian has almost three times
as many speakers as Romansh. It is an official language in only one canton and
it's not the only one it's one of three official languages. It's that Canton Graubünden that I mentioned before. Romansh is a Romance language that developed
from the spoken Latin of the Roman Empire. But it was also influenced by the local Celtic
and Raetic languages of its region in Switzerland. It seems like a mystery why Romansh is even a national
language at all because so few people speak it. But think about this:
in 1939, Romansh was made an official language. That was right about the time when Hitler wanted
to incorporate all ethnic Germans inside Germany and Mussolini wanted to include
all ethnic Italians inside Italy. So Switzerland might have felt nervous about that
and decided to emphasize that they are a different country, a multilingual,
multi-ethnic country and they showed that
by making Romansh an official language. According to some sources I've read, that was the case. About 10% of the population speak other languages,
those people are mostly foreign workers or immigrants. The largest group is Serbo-croatians
with about 100,000 speakers. Non-swiss people often assume that Swiss people
are all quadrilingual, that they can speak 4 languages. But that's rarely the case. Language use is highly decentralized and it differs,
depending on the region, the canton and even the town. Of course, Swiss people speak their own native language
but then, from the 3rd grade of elementary school,
they have to study a different national language. That's usually French for German speakers
and German for everybody else. They also take English at school and, in high school,
they have to study a third national language. Most people say that they are not fluent
in a non-native national language but
that they can get by in one But people aren't always very excited to speak
a different national language. I hear that French speaking Swiss people
don't really like to speak German and vice versa. In the old days, they might have tried to speak
the other language but, these days,
some people just use English instead. English is becoming more and more important
in Switzerland because of globalization and because of the presence of
more foreign companies in the big cities. Many Swiss people, these days, speak English better
than they speak any of the other national languages. So some people want to emphasize English education
in school instead of other national languages. And basically make English the lingua franca
between the different linguistic communities. But some people don't like that idea. They think that that undermines Switzerland's
national identity and their multi-linguistic character. In the absence of a neutral lingua franca like English
or some other language, communication can be a tricky issue. An issue that's different depending on the city and on the region. There are a handful of bilingual cities,
along the Röstigraben in Switzerland. The Röstigraben is basically the invisible linguistic
boundary between French speaking and
German-speaking Switzerland. In some of these bilingual cities, on one side of the river,
you have French-speaking zones and, on the other side
of the river, you have German-speaking zones. Cities like this are typically not integrated.
The schools are not bilingual. They have separate schools
with languages for the different communities. So, in a city like that, when you meet someone
from the other side, which language do you speak?
It's always a tricky question. There are some multilingual cantons but sometimes,
they have disputes over linguistic policy or linguistic identity. And in one case, a whole new canton
was created to solve the dispute. The area of Jura was split off from the canton
of Bern in 1977 and became its own canton. That is because Jura was primarily French-speaking
while Bern was primarily German-speaking. But generally speaking the Swiss attitude towards
multilingualism seems to be one of peaceful coexistence with separate and distinct linguistic communities. That seems to be at the heart
of what it means to be Swiss. The only problem is everyone wants to speak their own
language and wait for the other side to bridge the gap. But, since all of the official languages are supposed to
be equal and no preference is supposed to be shown, then maybe a neutral lingua franca like English would be
the best way to unite the different linguistic communities. These days some cantons want to stop teaching
other national languages as second languages and focus instead on English
and make that the lingua franca. Do you think that is a good idea? Let us know in the comments down below
and we'll discuss it. Thank you for watching the Langfocus channel
Have a good day.
That was actually pretty well researched and I've even learned a thing or two
That rectangular flag though
No mention of Valais German? I think that's as far from Swiss German than it is from any other of the languages...