Swiss Review 3/2021

Swiss Review / June 2021 / No.3 9 “Many believe that speaking Ro- mansh puts them at an advantage. Romansh is a gateway to other Latin languages like French, Spanish and Portuguese.” Naomi Arpagaus 100 % 100 % 200 % 200 % 0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 10 150 20 250 ofMolière is no longer amust in Thurgau andZurich once pupils enter secondary and upper secondary school re- spectively. “This has also had an impact in terms of the people signing up for our language camps,” says Weber. But school is not the only place where people are picking up languages. According to the FSO survey, 25 per cent of the population learn one ormore languages fromthe age of 25 – of which English is the most popular. It also goes without saying that friLingue attendees fromdifferent language regions sometimes switch to Eng- lish to communicate with each other. But Weber is re- laxed about this. “We don’t think of ourselves as a school, but want to enthuse people about languages.”Weber him- self not only uses German and French on a daily basis, but English and Portuguese too. He lived as a Swiss Abroad in Brazil for ten years and has a Brazilian son who speaks Swiss German. “Languages help you to get to know and understand other cultures andmentalities. They open up new horizons.” Languages used on a daily basis These are the languages regularly used by Switzerland’s permanent resident population. The figures far exceed 100 per cent when added together, because respondents to this survey (published in 2021) were able to indicate more than one main language. Switzerland’s main languages These are the main languages (mother tongues) spoken by Switzerland’s permanent resident population. The figures exceed 100 per cent when added together, because respondents to the 2019 survey were able to indicate more than one main language. Source: Federal Statistical Office Albanian 3,1 % Bosnian/Croatian/ Montenegrin/Serbian 3,2 % Portuguese 4,8 % Spanish 6,3 % Italian 15 % French 39 % Other languages 7,9 % Romansh 0,5 % Spanish 2,3 % Croatian, Serbian 2,3 % Albanian 3,3 % Portuguese 3,5 % English 5,7 % German 76 % Swiss German 65 % English 45 % German or Swiss German 62,1 % French 22,8 % Italian 8,0 %