Where do they speak english in Switzerland?

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Goddess of Grammar

Obviously English isn't the official language anywhere in Switzerland, and I doubt it's a majority or even significant minority language anywhere, but there are several thousand of us native English speaking permanent residents (and even citizens--my children for two) and I'd say a good 20% of all Swiss residents are quite proficient in English, with another 30-40% who can speak some. And yes, Geneva and Zurich, I believe in that order, have the highest concentration of all the above groups (other than the group consisting of my children, who are both just outside Zurich).

Many international NGOs (mostly in Geneva) and corporations (mostly in Zurich) have English as their internal official language, so most of their employees have to speak English and generally do so quite well.

In most places, people in tourism tend to speak pretty good English--that includes everyone from train conductors to waiters. In the real touristy areas (Zermatt, St. Moritz, Lucerne), basically everyone does.

Somewhere like Appenzell or La-Chaux-de-Fonds, not so much. People in the German part are more likely to know English than in the French or Italian parts.

For the flight, might be worth checking out flying into Frankfurt and taking the train.

Selah

English is no official language in Switzerland, but it is amazing how many people do speak it. The Swiss people are generally very friendly, and will try to help as much as they can with the little english they know - as long as you are not going to the country, you will be fine in all swiss cities.

Ray C

Both of them speak English but Geneva is the home of the United Nations and so they speak English everywhere there. Geneva is also close to the French border, so you can pop across the border to get things like food cheaper!

Miss USA 2009

A lot of people there speak english if you ask nicely they will

lananas1988

There are people in every area of Switzerland that speak English. In bigger cities nearly everyone speaks English because of business and tourism. Zurich, Geneva, Bern, and Basel are cities you should have no trouble in.

Flights to Switzerland in the summer months, especially July and August are more expensive because more people go during the summer vacation months. If that's the only time of year you'll be able to go try booking far in advance. You can check monthly on sites such as Swiss.com, which is Swiss Air's website, or expedia, etc. They'll be having sales on summer months in the coming months. Otherwise, if you can go any time of year, September-October or April-June are less expensive times to visit.

cRuNcHiE

Popular travel sites like www.farecompare.com and www.kayak.com are good places to start for getting good fares. If your schedule is flexible, you can get very cheap tickets during off-peak days especially on weekends that don't coincide with school or public holidays.

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