Language Diversity in Switzerland

Fritzi Wittmann

IB German 5

Quarter 1

Facts Article: Swiss urged not to forget language diversity • Switzerland has four nationally recognized languages:

French, German, Italian, and Romansh.

• Due to the global popularity of English Switzerland’s multilingual culture is under attack.

• Due to immigration and migration of language itself, Switzerland is, in many ways, more multilingual than before.

• When polled, 80% of students attending a high school in Geneva agreed that it is important to be multilingual.

• While all German speaking students in schools are taught French as a second language it does not mean that the students are fluent throwing the legitimacy of being “multilingual” in to question.

Romansh, a Latin based language, accounts for approximately 0.5% of the populations language of choice.

FactsArticle: Switzerland's Linguistic Landscape

• Other minority languages spoken in Switzerland Serbian, Croatian, Spanish, and English.

• While, for the most part, Switzerland’s linguistic boarders are clearly defined there are definite areas of overlap.

• July 1st, 2011 the Ordinance on National Languages and Understanding between the Linguistic Communities came to be.

• Each language is urged to promote multilingualism in order to preserve their own culture.

• The most popularly spoken language in Switzerland is German (63.7%) followed by Italian (9%) and French (6.5%)

This sign exemplifies the multilingual aspects of the Swiss culture.

FactsArticle: A Study on Linguistic Diversity

• The Swiss National Science Foundation recently began a study on linguistic diversity and language competency.

• Language is pre-assigned to each territorial division of Switzerland.

• Approximately 25% of the Swiss population are foreigners.

• Schools focus primarily on teaching German and French to their pupils.

• The SNSF is likely to use their collected data to produce new guidelines for schools to follow in the upcoming years.

This book illustrates how “Swiss” is truly a compilation of distinct languages yet is has managed to make them its own .

QUIZ!1. What percent of Swiss speak Romansh?

a) 10%b) 2 %c) 0.5% d) 7%

2. What percent of Students in Geneva believe that being multilingual is very important?a) 75%b) 20%c) 15%d) 80%

Answers:

1. C; It is estimated that 0.5% of the population speaks on of the several dialects of Romansh.

2. D; When polled, 80% of students acknowledged the importance of multilingualism.

Online Sources

• http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Home/Archive/Swiss_urged_not_to_forget_language_diversity.html?cid=670236

• http://www.ch.ch/private/00987/01052/01054/02165/index.html?lang=en

• http://www.usefoundation.org/view/607• http://images.travelpod.com/users/

obrian0620/1.1289495297.switzerland-s-linguistic-diversity.gif

• http://www.gps-club.de/media/swiss_flag_big.gif