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Switzerland has long been known for its chocolate, its beautiful mountains, and its ability to stay out of the European wars of the 20th century. Switzerland is an example of a multicultural society in which people manage to coexist peacefully and thrive economically in spite of their linguistic differences. Over the last 2,000 years, Switzerland has been inhabited by Germanic tribes, Franks, and Romans, all of which left behind their languages. Today, Switzerland is a country of immigrants, with nonresidents making up more than 20 percent of the population. And 50 percent of the population has a parent born in another country. With so many ethnicities, it's not surprising that Switzerland has four official languages and many other home languages and dialects spoken throughout the 26 cantons, the states of the confederation.
German is the predominant language, spoken by about two-thirds of the Swiss people and in 19 of the 26 cantons. These areas where German is spoken are in the northern, central, and eastern parts of Switzerland and include the cities of Bern, Zurich, and Basel. Although standard German is the official language, there is also a distinct Swiss German dialect or dialects, known as Schweizerdeutsch (pronounced SHVITE-suh-doitch). Swiss German is not a formal written language, so spellings and pronunciations of words differ from one town or region to the next. Swiss German differs from standard German in vocabulary and the use of tenses. For example, in Swiss German, speakers often add an -li ending, meaning "small," to many nouns. Some suggest that because they come from a small country, the Swiss like the idea of smallness. If you speak standard German, you will have no trouble communicating in these regions of the country.
The next most popular language is French, which is spoken by about 20 percent of the population. It is spoken in four of the western cantons of Switzerland, which include the cities of Geneva and Lausanne. Three other cantons are bilingual in German and French. Unlike German, the French used in Switzerland is nearly identical to the French spoken in France. So, if you are traveling from France into French-speaking Switzerland, you will notice little difference. Not surprisingly, Italian is spoken in the cantons close to the Italian border, including the cities of Lugano and Locarno. However, only about four percent of Swiss speak Italian as their first language.
Romansch (or Rumantsch),the fourth official language of the country, is in jeopardy. It is only spoken by about one percent of the population, those living in a small area in southeastern Switzerland. Because so few speak it, most speakers of Romansch can speak German as well. This area of the country was settled by the Rhetians about 2,000 years ago. The Rhetians had adopted the language of Rome, so Romansch derived from Latin. The language has been officially recognized as one of the four national languages of Switzerland since 1938, and in an attempt to preserve it, in 1983 the federal parliament passed a law for the protection of the Rhaeto-Romansch language and culture.
Unfortunately, the language has declined over the last few decades, with speakers dropping by a third from 1980 to 2000 for several reasons. Because the Romansch speakers lived in narrow isolated valleys, speakers developed seven separate dialects and three different written forms. Romansch speakers live in an economically depressed area of the country. As tourism becomes more important, German becomes a more viable language, and as German speakers move into the canton of Graubenden where Romansch is spoken, the Romansch speakers assimilate.
However, because of the efforts of a grassroots revival and government support, there is hope for Romansch. The government made it an official language in 1996, meaning native speakers can use the Romansch idiom for government correspondence. The government spends about $25 million a year to promote the language. They are also trying to standardize the written form of it. But help has come from another source—new technology. Microsoft has released a Romansch edition of its Office software, even flying a linguist over to Switzerland to help develop the spell-check program. And Google has followed, developing a version of its search engine in Romansch. Now, the Swiss can stay connected, no matter which of the four official languages they speak.
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