What are the languages spoken in Switzerland?

Question

What languages, in order of common usage, are spoken by the Swiss?

would one who knows only English need to learn French or German as well to integrate into Swiss(sp Zurich) society?

Answer 1

It truly depends upon what region you are in; , German, French Italian and Romansh, in that order. Here is some info from Wikipedia for you to peruse.....


"Switzerland (German: die Schweiz, French: la Suisse, Italian: Svizzera and Romansh: Svizra), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked Alpine country in Central Europe. A male native of Switzerland is said to be a Schweizer and a female is a Schweizerin in German; Suisse (male) or Suissesse (female) in Swiss French and svizzero (male) or svizzera (female) in Italian.

The country, which borders Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east, was historically a confederation, and has been a federation since 1848. Switzerland has a strong economy in finance and banking, and a long and strong tradition of political and military neutrality. This background allows Switzerland to host various international co-operations and organizations.

Confoederatio Helvetica, the country's official Latin name, means Helvetic Confederation. The use of Latin avoids having to favour one of the four national languages. The abbreviation (CH) is used for the same reason. The titles commonly used in French (Confédération suisse), Italian (Confederazione Svizzera) and Romansh (Confederaziun svizra) translate as "Swiss Confederation", while the German name of Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft translates literally as "Swiss Oath Fellowship" or "Swiss Commonwealth of the Covenant".

Demographics

Main languages in Switzerland[5]:
German, French, Italian, Romansh
Switzerland sits at the crossroads of several major European cultures that have heavily influenced the country's languages and culture. Switzerland has four official languages: German (64%) in the north and centre; French (19%) to the west; Italian (7%) in the south; and Romansh (a Romance language), that is spoken locally by a small minority (< 1%) in the southeastern canton of Graubünden. (Some dialects of Franco-Provençal have speakers in rural communities in the region where French is spoken. This language has no legal status.) The federal government is obliged to communicate in the four official languages. In the federal parliament, German, French, Italian and Romansh are the official languages and simultaneous translation is provided. The German spoken in Switzerland is predominantly a group of dialects collectively known as Swiss German, but written communication and broadcasts typically use standard High German. Similar there are some dialect in the other speaking part of Switzerland, called Swiss French and Ticinese. Also the official languages (German, French and Italian) take use some terms not understood outside of Switzerland, i.e. terms from other languages (German Billette [2] from French), from similar term in an other language (Italian azione used not as act but as discount from German Aktion). Learning one of the other national languages at school is obligatory for all Swiss, so most Swiss are supposed to be at least bilingual.

Resident foreigners and temporary foreign workers make up about 21% of the population. Most of these are from European Union countries (Italians being the largest group, at 4%), with smaller numbers from the rest of the world, including refugees from the former Yugoslavia (5%) and Turks (1%)."

Answer 2

People in Switzerland should be able to speak all 3 languages. However, like in Belgium the French speakers refuse to speak Dutch and the Dutch speakers kind of refuse to speak French, each region has it's own "main" language. Italian is spoken mostly in canton Ticino, but German is spoken almost everywhere in Switzerland. I believe most Swiss do speak some English as well though.

Answer 3

German and French

Answer 4

Mostly French

Answer 5

swiss-german mostly and a little french

Answer 6

swiss german,english

Answer 7

All of the above, plus variations due to local dialect. It really depends which country's border you are closer to. France, Italy, Germany, etc.

Answer 8

(Swiss)German 63.9%,
French 19.5%,
Italian 6.6%,
Romansh 0.5%,
others 9.5%

Answer 9

schwietzer deutch, italian, french

Answer 10

french and spanish