Multilingual Switzerland at Stake.

5 February 2022

The author discusses a topical debate about using the four national languages. Switzerland has four languages: Romansh, French, German and Italian.

The teaching of languages is the competence of the cantons. The spoken language of the canton is compulsory in primary school. The problems or choices appear in secondary school.

Is a second language of the country mandatory or English? It is a fact that fewer and fewer Swiss can express themselves in another national language. It is no exception that (young) Swiss from, for example, French- and German-speaking Switzerland communicate in English.

This book (in French) pays attention to this development and the role of English. The subject is also topical because the four languages are an integral part of the federal structure of this multicultural and multilingual country.

José Ribeaud, La Suisse plurilingue se délingue, Neuchâtel, 2010.