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One country, four languages. Multilingualism and coexistence of four national languages in Switzerland are one of the main characteristics of this country. Even though there are four national languages, in reality Switzerland speaks more languages than that. Over time, the other languages have made their road into the everyday life. Federal Statistical Office (OFS) has decided to run an inquiry and learn what are Swiss population linguistic practices. |
Quadrilingualism is a fundamental aspect of Switzerland, it is even listed in the Federal Constitution.
Therefore, identification of the principal languages of the population is always treated with particular attention.
For over a century and a half, this information is used primarily to define the linguistic regions
and administrative language practices.
A principal language is the language(s) which a person knows the best and feels the most comfortable with. This concept replaces that of a mother tongue since the 1990.
Languages designed as regularly used refers to the languages that a person uses at least once a week, orally, at
writing or reading, in at least one of the following contexts:
- with the partner, children,other family members and friends living in the same household or not,
- to read, watch TV, listen to the radio, browse the internet
- as part of work
*a person could indicate more than one principal language
| Color | Languages spoken |
|---|---|
| 1 language | |
| 2 languages | |
| 3 languages | |
| 4 languages | |
| 5+ languages |
*In this inquiry, German and Swiss-German respectively, Italian and the Ticino or Italo-Grison dialect were considered as one language. By grouping them in this way, there were no significant difference between the linguistic regions in terms of the number of languages used regularly.
| Color | Category |
|---|---|
| 15-24 | |
| 25-39 | |
| 40-54 | |
| 55-64 | |
| 65-74 | |
| 70+ |
*In this inquiry, German and Swiss-German respectively, Italian and the Ticino or Italo-Grison dialect were considered as one language. By grouping them in this way, there were no significant difference between the linguistic regions in terms of the number of languages used regularly.
*In this inquiry, German and Swiss-German respectively, Italian and the Ticino or Italo-Grison dialect were considered as one language. By grouping them in this way, there were no significant difference between the linguistic regions in terms of the number of languages used regularly.
| Color | Languages |
|---|---|
| English | |
| French | |
| German | |
| Italian | |
| Spanish | |
| Swiss-German | |
| Portugese | |
| Russian | |
| Japanese | |
| Arabic |
WORK: For professional reasons / TRAVEL: To use it on vacation or while traveling / PLEASURE: For personal pleasure or for the love of the language / CONTACT: To use it with friends or relatives / IMPORTANT: Because it is an important language / COUNTRY: To better understand the language of the country or region of origin/ EDUCATION: For studies or training / OTHER: Other reasons
Source: Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), Neuchâtel 2016