Swiss Review 3/2021

Swiss Review / June 2021 / No.3 8 Focus in Switzerland (45 per cent). Young people are particularly anglophone, with nearly three quarters of 15- to 24-year- olds shown to have been regularly using English in 2019. “And this is a good thing,” says Verio Pini. “English is actu- ally essential.” Pini is president of Coscienza Svizzera, an organisation that promotes language diversity. He is a good fit for the job, given that he grew up in Ticino, studied in Lausanne and Berne, lives half the time in Berne and the rest of the time in Ticino, and also uses French, English and Spanish on a regular basis – mainly for reading the press. English is undoubtedly important, Pini continues. “Nevertheless, it exerts considerable pressure on Switzer- land’s official languages – not only onRomansh and Italian, but onGerman inGeneva and French inZurich.” Languages are often only promoted in the region towhich they are na- tive, he explains. However, mobility and cultural diversity compel us to look beyond language borders. “Italian, for ex- ample, is spoken by more people north of the Alps than in Ticino.” Politicians now realise this, he adds. In itsmessage on culture for 2016 to 2020, the Federal Council set out the objective of promoting the Italian language and Italian cul- ture outside Italian-speaking Switzerland. However, par- liament is pushing for amore concerted, dynamic approach tomultilingualismthat promotes national togetherness as well as integration. “Our different language regions would certainly be able to understand each other better if everyone used English,” says Pini. “However, national and social cohesion adds up tomore than getting ourmessages across. It alsomeans un- derstanding the culture of other language regions.” People in Switzerland seem quite aware of this fact. According to the FSO survey, 84 per cent of the Swiss population believe that speaking other national languages is key to cohesion within the country. Learning languages outside school Philipp Alexander Weber shares this view. Weber, who grew up inWinterthur, went to Fribourg to study econom- ics and had trouble understanding French at first. “Maths was more my thing at school.”Weber quickly realised that Swiss German or standard German? Some regard Swiss German as a dialect, others as a language in its own right. Jürg Niederhauser, president of the Swiss Association for the German Language (SVDS), views this as an “ideological matter” on which linguistic factors have no bearing. Be that as it may, Swiss German is often an everyday impediment to people who come from other language regions or from abroad. Furthermore, use of Swiss German is becoming increasing popular as more and more people prefer to talk in an informal manner. “Television coverage of sports events used to be entirely in standard German 70 years ago. Now the studio pundits speak in Swiss German,” says Niederhauser, adding that this makes it harder for Swiss from other language regions to understand – and that German-speaking Swiss have, in turn, become more reluctant to speak standard German, because it is used almost exclusively in formal contexts like at school. (EH) “English exerts considerable pres- sure on Switzerland’s official lan- guages – not only on Romansh and Italian, but on German in Geneva and French in Zurich.” Verio Pini learning the language in situ was much easier than from a textbook. He therefore founded friLingue in 2007 – an or- ganisation that offers language stays to young people in Switzerland. “I wanted to build bridges over the language divide,” he explains. At present, around 1,000 children and teenagers aged between eight and 18 attend friLingue language camps each year.Weber has noticed thatmore andmore French-speak- ing teenagers are visiting the camps. “French, the tongue of diplomacy, has always been a draw for German-speak- ing Swiss who regard it as a very ‘cultured’ language to learn, while French-speaking Swiss tend to have a difficult relationship with German. Simply because they learn standard German at school but then have to cope with dif- ferent dialects in places like Berne, Zurich and Basel.” How- ever, the German language became more appealing to French speakers after the 2006 FIFAWorldCup inGermany, saysWeber. Germany turned into a popular travel destina- tion for them within a few years. Many now want to go to Berlin for a gap year or to German-speaking Switzerland for a language stay. Meanwhile, several cantons in central and eastern Switzerland have relegated French in favour of English at school. Primary schools inUri andAppenzell Innerroden, for example, no longer teach French, while the language