What language do they use in Switzerland?

Show all answers

Bix

1. German, French and Italian. The troops are usually not mixed. When I was in the army, I translated for some of our officers from French to German and from German to French because some of our officers didn't speak a foreign language, at least not sufficiently.

The Swiss Army does have generals in times of peace. J.P. is not quite correct here. A 4 star general (in our case a general with four edelweisses) is indeed elected in times of war. We had four of them in our history (Dufour, Herzog, Wille and Guisan).

However, a Brigadier, a Divisionaire and a Commandant of the Corps (1 edelweiss to 3 edelweisses) are technically also generals. These officers and other officers in such high ranks speak at least one other official language of Switzerland. Besides that, there are enough staff officers who are perfectly able to translate. A German speaking higher officer speaks at least French and a French speaking higher officer at least German. The Italian speaking higher officer usually speaks German and French because of the minority status of the Italian speaking part.

2. The Federal Constitution is written in German, French, Italian, Rhaeto-Romanic and English. Only German, French and Italian are so called official languages. Rhaeto-Romanic is a highly protected national language. Therefore, only the German, French and Italian versions of the Federal Constitution are legally effective. The English version is for the information of English speaking people. The Rhaeto-Romanic version has symbolic character because Swiss people want to preserve Rhaeto-Romanic.

3. They (you probably meant the 7 Federal Councilors, the Federal Chancellor acts as the general staff of the seven-member Federal Council) usually use their mother-tongue (which has to be an official language). In speeches of great importance, they switch from one language to another. Sometimes, they even speak Rhaeto-Romanic in such situations in order to stress the importance of such a speech. Nevertheless, the major part of such speeches is held in their mother-tongue.

This is an edelweiss:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leontopodium_alpinum_detail.jpg

This is a divisionaire (DivisionÃ¤r in German) wearing his 2 edelweisses:

http://www.tagblatt.ch/storage/pic/online/schweiz/84691_1_Peter_Stutz2.jpg

Jean-Paul J

1. As said earlier on, they make use of French in French-speaking units, German in German-speaking Units etc. etc. In any case, there are no Generals in the Swiss Army. A General is only appointed (by parliament) in times of war (1847 â€” the Civil War) or threat of war (i.e WW1 and WW2)

2. The Federal Constitution exists in all four official languages and English, although any legal questions arising in regards to the constitution are based on the 'official versions'. It can be found in its entirety on the website of the government

3. The Federall Chancellor will make use of any language he or she (currently she) would like to use in formal situations. There is no actual rule regarding the language question, however if she was (say) in Geneva, the Federal Chancellor would be expected to speak French..

Phil S

I am not sure about the entire army, but I was asking a Swiss Air Force officer this same question and he said that to be in the Air Force you MUST speak Swiss German.

Nella15

1.) French (Romansh isn't used anymore...It's a written language not a spoken one. The French section used to the be romansh one but we speak French and are referred to as " la partie suisse-romande")

2.) All 3

3.) French

Zezi

Switzerland's four official languages, traditionally spoken in different regions of the country, are German, French, Italian and Rumantsch [sometimes also transcribed as Romansh, Romansch Rhaeto-Romanic or even Romance etc.]). Some statistics showing a fairly high percentage of "other" languages might give a false idea, if not interpreted properly.

Language --- Public use --- Mother Tongue
German 74 % 63.7 %
French 21 % 19.6 %
Italian 4 % 6.6 %
Rumantsch 1 % 0.5 %
Spanish n.a. 1.7 %
Serbo-Croatian n.a. 1.4 %
Portugese n.a. 1.3 %
Turkish n.a. 1.1 %
English n.a. 1.0 %
Albanese n.a. 0.7 %
Other Languages n.a. 2.4 %

Goddess of Grammar

1. German in the German part, French in the French part, Italian in the Italian part, probably also German in the Romansch part.

2. Pretty sure it's in all four.

3. Depends who he's talking to. German would be his first choice, but I'm sure he can speak French and Italian ok.

edit: oops, I didn't know there was a Federal Chancellor, who is indeed currently a she. I assumed you meant the President. Not sure the Chancellor does any formal talking!

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: