‘The ability to speak more than one language is one of the more notable strengths of the Swiss people and economy. It also makes Switzerland a good test case for how the world might benefit from more multilingualism in economics and trade’, argues Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, a Swiss language expert.
In fact, Switzerland has four language regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The number of German, Italian and Romansh speakers is falling, while French speakers are increasing. Non-national languages are also gaining in importance. The two most widely spoken non-national languages are English and Portuguese. Multilingualism is an essential part of Switzerland's identity.
Here are some interesting linguistic facts to consider when working or living in Switzerland:
Over 60% of the Swiss population speak German as their main language. They do not speak standard German but rather various Alemmanic dialects collectively called Swiss German.
French is the main language in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, known as the Romandie.
Italian is the main language in Ticino and in parts of the canton of Graubünden.
Romansh is a Rhaeto-Romanic language derived from Latin, which is spoken widely in the canton of Graubünden.
Four cantons (Bern, Fribourg, Valais and Graubünden) and two cities (Biel and Fribourg) are officially multilingual.
Swiss German is the most widely used language in the workplace (over 60%), followed by standard German (over 30%), French (nearly 30%), English (20%), and Italian (nearly 10%).
Over 40% of people over the age of 15 regularly use more than one language.
Foreigners living in Switzerland also contribute to the country's linguistic diversity. English and Portuguese are the most commonly spoken foreign languages in Switzerland.
Spanish, Serbian, Croatian, and Albanian are also common languages in Switzerland.
Multilingualism is important to people's identity, and Switzerland has a law to govern the use of the official languages and promote multilingualism.
Language-skill shortages in the workforce can harm the economy which has been the case of several countries during the last couple of years. According to Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, recent surveys have shown that one-in-four UK and one-in-six US businesses are losing out due to lack of language skills and cultural awareness among their personnel. By contrast, Swiss research suggests that a multilingual approach can yield unique business benefits. In fact, the economic value of multilingualism to Switzerland has been estimated to be 9% of its gross domestic product. So, multilingualism can be considered a source of considerable wealth for the country. In particular, its value to IT services has been calculated to be nearly 25% and its value to the chemical, transport and mechanical engineering industries to be over 15% each.
If your project involves one of the Swiss national languages, whether it is French, German or Swiss German, Italian or Romansh, you can count on our experience and expertise. Please contact us without obligation to discuss your requirements.
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