Why do people from Switzerland speak French German Romansch and Italian and what is the history of their official languages?

Answer 1

There are 4 official languages in Switzerland. In order of the percentage of the population which speak them they are: German (63.7%), French (20.4%), Italian (6.5%) and Romansh (0.5%). Different languages are spoken in different parts of the country.

The languages were spoken before Switzerland existed. Switzerland as a democratic country adopted the languages of its citizens as official languages.

Switzerland borders these countries, that has something to do with why they speak French German

• Germany
• Austria
• France
• Italy
• Liechtenstein

Answer

Not every Swiss speaks all these languages... first, every region in Switzerland has "its" mother tongue. The west is french, the south Italian (and rumantsch) - the whole rest with east, central and north is German (swiss german). There are several possibilities to learn at least some of the languages at school... German and french are the most popular ones. And yes, quite a few are able to speak all three.

Switzerland is composed of states (cantons), 20 full states and 6 semi-states. The three co-founder central states were the first members of this confederation in 1291. All the others joined one by one. Now the languages developed over whole Europe... Italian is the "child" of the old latin of the Roman Empire... french is another latin language (gallia was occupied by the Romans) and German is the language of the ancient German tribes.

The swiss german part has the same roots as the German and Austrian regions, but the Swiss territory remained independent after about 1600. That's why the real swiss german is in fact the German of the medieval times (it remained more stable than the German in Germany).

The Swiss cantons in the north towards Germany, joining the Swiss confederation are therefore German-speaking. The ones joining from the west preferred entering the confederation; they didn't want to stay a part of the Savoys (France). The southern region joined avoiding the northern Italy and its influence. But it wasn't always paradise; there were occupations, clashes, among other things, finally forming the Switzerland of today.