Why is Switzerland a French-speaking country?

Answer 1

Switzerland is a confederation of different speaking states. The states closest to

France speak French. Others next to Germany and Austria speak German.

AnswerWhat in fact is correct - but doesn't explain at all why french is an official language in Switzerland, no?

In ancient times Europe was split up... northern regions mainly influenced by German tribes (this is culturally not the same as today's Germans!), southern regions under the influence of the Roman Empire. This means in the north German influenced languages evolved (German, dutch, and in some way slavic languages), while in the south latin based languages evolved (spanish, french, Italian, etc.).

Switzerland was founded 1291 as coalition of regions to protect their interests. First there were only three states (states are called cantons). Today there are 20 full and 6 semi-cantons in Switzerland, they all joined from 1291 on until early 1800.

During these times France, Italy, Germany, etc. didn't exist in the same form as they do today (even if France was relatively homogenious). This means some regions joining the 'Swiss agreement' as states brought in their German roots, others their latin roots. Switzerland and the neighboring areas evolved differently due to circumstances...

And now - even if people in Switzerland speak German, French, Italian or Rumansch according to the region where they live - all these languages exist in specific Swiss dialect forms, too. These dialects show that the i.e. the regions of today's France and the one of french Switzerland have already split up during the evolution of this language.

So french has evolved together with Switzerland as a country :). Don't think they simply adopted the language because France was so close...

Answer 2

Switzerland has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. The French-speaking region in Switzerland is mostly located in the western part of the country. This linguistic diversity is due to Switzerland's historical and cultural ties to neighboring countries where these languages are spoken.