Switzerland is home to four national languages: Swiss-German, French, Italian and Romansh.

However, do not assume that a Swiss person can speak fluently in all four languages as this is rarely the case.

Although Swiss people often speak at least two national tongues, language in the country is very much decentralised to specific regions and or cantons.

In fact, the English language is often used as a lingua franca between the four different linguistic groups.

English speakers thinking of moving to Switzerland will have little to no problem communicating to the locals in English.

Apart from speaking their own national language, Swiss children start to learn English as well as a second national language in primary level schooling.

Later on in their education system, a third national language is also thought.

German (or swiss-German as it is known), Italian and French are official languages as well as national ones.

This means that they are spoken at state level.

However, due to its low number of speakers, Romansh is not an official language.

Swiss-German is the most widely spoken of all four national languages.

From a population of roughly 8 million, up to 5 million (63.5%) speak Swiss-German as a first language.

It is the official language in 17 out of 26 cantons and is also co-official in four other cantons.

Swiss German itself does not refer to one Alemannic language but rather to a group of related dialects.

The most common of these are the Valais and Zurich dialects. The dialects are named after the cantons and or cities where it originated from.

People who speak standard German often find Swiss-German to be unintelligible but not the other way around.

French is the second most widely spoken language with 1.8 million speakers (22.5%).

It is most prominent in the western cantons of Switzerland closer to France.

Unlike Swiss-German and standard German, the French language in Switzerland differs very little from that of France.

Apart from the occasional phrase or word, Swiss-French speakers would not have any trouble communicating with people from France.

Italian is the dominant language spoken in the southern canton of Ticino.

It is also one of three official languages in the canton of Graubünden.

In Switzerland, Italian is the third most widely spoken language (645,000 speakers) and accounts for 8.1% of the total population.

As with swiss French, Swiss-Italian speakers have very little problem communicating with Italian people.

Romansh is a rare and fascinating language.

Many believe it to be one of the closest living languages related to ancient Latin.

It is also the least spoken national language in Switzerland with only 40,000 native speakers (0.5%).

In fact, there are many immigrant languages such as Serbo-Croatian that have more native speakers than Romansh.

There is no canton where Romansh is an official language.

However, it is one of three co-official languages in the canton of Graubünden.

‘Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno’ is an ancient Latin phrase that in English translates to ‘One for all, all for one’.

The term is often affiliated with the famous novel “The Three Musketeers” by French author Alexandre Dumas.

It is also an unofficial moto for Switzerland and fits in well with the nation’s multilingualism.

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