Is Switzerland coming together or falling apart? Or is it simply inevitable and insignificant? Join the discussion!
From the article English as a common language in Switzerland: a positive or a problem?
Many years ago when I worked some time in Switzerland both in French and German speaking parts everyone one wanted to try their English. I had/have a mental block about German as after WW2 the family moved to England where I started school and learn to speak English properly (something like the late Queen). My French was just school boy French with mainly reading
Switzerland is integrated well with the national languages through schools, and is even more integrated by using English. With 20% foreigners and immigrants from many cultures, English as a second or extra language is helping in all ways.
I am American living in Bad Ragaz for 8 years. After 2 years of German classes, I gave up trying to speak it because “dialect” prevails. I teach English in my home to boys and girls learning English in school (ages 10-16). They love English because their Interests lie in music, movies, Animae, travel and “being cool”. English is the universal language (not Esperanto) and these kids will change the face of Switzerland. Their connection is more universal thinking, openness, individualism, freedom of expression, some of the desired characteristics of the American culture. We are not all loud and obnoxious. English is a vehicle that connects an isolated, lonely culture.
I too am American. And yes, learning German is difficult here when hearing Swiss German. I worked always on English and Spanish and that together with the Swiss people’s abilities in English hindered my progress in German which complex grammatically. I learned from my mother, a language teacher, that one should always make an effort to learn the language out of respect. Most Swiss will ask if you prefer them to speak hochdeutsch when they hear your accent.
English has become the most popular international language, so it's natural that Swiss professionals would use English, of which they have better mastery than the various official languages.
I understand why many Swiss on the French or Italian side of Switzerland don’t speak German. They have the opportunity to learn high German in school but then get confronted with people speaking Swiss German which is, honestly speaking, quite different from high German. Many just give up then trying to speak it.
The same applies to learning French or Italian because many Swiss German speakers will not use it often enough in their daily lives if they don’t live in those Cantons.
English is a language almost everyone learns in school and continue learning through watching English language movies and being online. It is admittedly, a widely spoken international language, far more widely spoken than French, German or Italian.
I live in Lausanne and it isn’t uncommon for me to see Swiss Germans speaking in English here when they’re in stores. It’s a language almost everyone understands. English is also the most commonly spoken language in the corporate world in Switzerland. I’ve personally experienced French, German and Italian Swiss resorting to English to communicate and understand one another.
Instead of seeing English as a language that divides Switzerland, we should see it as a common language that can unite everyone in Switzerland.
Personally, I'm sorry, because English is not our culture. All the people who converse in this language, by ease, choose to "kill" our heritage and cultural difference.
Afterwards, these are often the same people who will come and lecture you about "buying local", or not globalizing, while being on the other hand the first to use a "globalist" language ....
Personnellement cela me désole, car l'anglais n'est pas notre culture. Toutes les personnes qui conversent dans cette langue, par facilité, choisissent de "tuer" notre patrimoine et différence culturelle.
Après ce sont souvent ces mêmes personnes qui viendront vous faire la morale sur le "achetons local", ou non à la mondialisation, tout en étant de l'autre côté les premiers à utiliser une langue "mondialiste"....
I agree that language and its usage is part of culture. Look at the difference between British English and US English, for example. The differences are used in comedy all the time. __However, I think learning another language can enrich the native language and culture as well. I speak Spanish and I am working hard to improve speak French, because I like to converse and communicate with people.
I assist with English language instruction here in Japan and it is extremely interesting. Its a real challenge to say the least and there are many barriers, primarily political and cultural that discourage and inhibit unfortunately the simple capacity for understanding and usage of the English language in the general population. They stuggle their whole lives to communicate effectively internationally and remain in the island bubble easily influenced by the national media’s planned narrative on world events. The seed for the tree of English cannot grow in the shade of this permanent cloud. Switzerland must avoid this and encourage the expansion of English. So smile!!
It is surprising to hear 2 swiss people speaking in English because if swiss is their language and they take the efforts to learn English to communicate I am sure the expat living there can also learn German to communicate.
Local languages are good in their respective countries because it helps us better to understand the diverse history, culture and most important governing rules of a country.
Khudos to swiss nationals who speak in English I also plan to learn German to understand Mother Switzerland better.
Last but not least Switzerland is the most beautiful country in the world.
Thank you
Vinayak Seshadri
India
Es ist überraschend, dass 2 Schweizer Englisch sprechen, denn wenn Schweizer ihre Sprache ist und sie sich bemühen, Englisch zu lernen, um zu kommunizieren, bin ich sicher, dass die dort lebenden Expats auch Deutsch lernen können, um zu kommunizieren.
Lokale Sprachen sind in ihren jeweiligen Ländern gut, weil sie uns helfen, die vielfältige Geschichte, Kultur und die wichtigsten Regeln eines Landes besser zu verstehen.
Khudos an englischsprachige Schweizerinnen und Schweizer Ich plane auch Deutsch zu lernen, um Mutter Schweiz besser zu verstehen.
Nicht zuletzt ist die Schweiz das schönste Land der Welt.
Danke
Vinayak Seshadri
Indien
Well, I am a foreigner but lived in different Cantons for enough time to observe the following: French speakers do not want to even try to learn German. German speakers try French, but the results are calamitous. Italian don't even waste their time to think about the other two... or three. So English came to the rescue for inter-cantonal love relations, and it is a easy language to learn in bed. So I like it, it show plasticity and is useful
I hold 3 passports and I made quite a few expats friends. Sadly most of them left, though I look forward to reuniting with some of them next year after I also leave Switzerland. Just too unfriendly to expats, especially the state officials.
Most Swiss are not good with other languages. I don't know about the big cities because I only work with farmers. Also, they are not willing to change how they do things to be better at farming and learn like the German and the Dutch learn fast.
I have the same experience. Local officials treat you in an awful manner. Honestly, if I knew they would behave that way I would have never come as I had a choice between Switzerland and an even better paying job in the US.
If it wasn't for the good event of meeting my husband 4 years ago in Germany, I would have no regrets in saying that I should have chosen the US. As things stand, Switzerland has been awful from the persective of dealing with state officials, but I have a family now and after 9 years here, by the end of the year I will leave, exactly in time for the 10 year aniversary.
I'm Swiss and most of my friends are expats. We only speak English or Italian. My husband is Italian but we raised our children in English. Italian is a second language for them and German will eventually be a third as they will benefit a lot more by speaking English. Why should they not have the best chances possible in life by speaking the language the whole world does?
For the last 20 years I've been working in pharma and all work is done in English.
If our country would have any brains at all, we would add English as an official national language. Companies would like it a lot and all the people would have a better chance at good jobs in this international world.
Our family farm is in a smaller village, but some of our neighbors come from Serbia and Portugal. They are very good and kind people and we talk in English almost every day. I think we should have English as an official language. It will make it easier for people this kind to feel part of the country and it will stop all the fighting between people speaking German, French or Italian.
Also, I do not like movies with voice translations. Let them stay in English as they were made. It takes away half the skill of the actors. Make English an official language.
I think Switzerland should make English mandatory from first grade, Switzerland is the richest country in the world and that is because of the center for business. Nestle, Roche, Novartis, UBS etc. could not be among the largest corporations in the world without English. Switzerland needs to recruit the smartest brains to lead the development, on the international arena. As far as I know ABB now 100% Swiss har English as corporate language. Now that EU is going down the tubes its perfect for Switzerland to increase its presence. Now it need more of the best education, where is the Swiss, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia etc. The problem is the French complex, that language is not important anymore.
To be knowledgeable and fluent in another language is a gift .As someone who fortunately learned French speak English .As a Scot I am appalled at the insular indolent attitudes that prevail in Scotland perpetrated by the Scottish government in their for years underfunding of teaching other languages yet the SNP convey they wish to be in a union with the EU .It is a travesty that young Scots are denied the chances from an early crucial age to embrace and be confident in conversing in other European based languages .
I was once at a meeting with Swiss from different areas - German, French, Italian, Romansch. We could all speak German, but only not everyone likes German, so we all spoke English. I think English should be the first language here, as it's the only one that links all Kantons. But that will never happen as there are too many traditionalists who will never change the status quo.
I find it sad that we want to impose English on the same level as our four national languages! We are losing a little more of our culture every day. Of course, English is important in professional life, as well as German, depending on the environment in which you work. I'm sorry that I don't speak Swiss German despite my Lucerne and Bernese origins, but having a French mother, unfortunately I didn't learn it. It's so easy for a child up to 10 years old to learn several languages and in a playful way. It would be especially good to teach two national languages 50/50 in primary school and English in secondary school.
Je trouve triste de vouloir imposer l'anglais au même titre que nos 4 langues nationales! Nous sommes en train de perdre un peu plus chaque jour de notre culture. Bien évidemment l'anglais dans la vie professionnelle est important, tout autant que l'allemand suivant le milieu dans lequel on travaille. Je suis désolée de ne pas parler le suisse-allemand malgré mes origines lucernoises et bernoises, mais ayant une mère française, malheureusement je ne l'ai pas appris. C'est tellement simple pour un enfant jusqu'à 10 ans d'apprendre plusieurs langues et de façon ludique. Il serait surtout bon dès l'école primaire d'enseigner 2 langues nationales à 50/50 et dès le cycle l'anglais.
I think it is a great opportunity that Switzerland has 3 useful official languages, especially since lots of Swiss people can usually speak in 2 or even in 3 of them. This is very good for them but I wish they were willing to learn and speak more English as well! Compared to other European countries like Sweden and Norway, people here are less happy with learning and speaking in English. In general, the more useful languages you speak, the more opportunities you will have (both on personal and societal levels).
I once told an American wishing to come over to work in Europe to learn French or German. She, like me, was fluent in Spanish. However, for most of the continental European countries, either German or French are more useful than Spanish. And of course English is for many used in business. Not many people study Norwegian or Swedish unless they have familial ties.
Thanks to British naval and economic pre-eminence in centuries past, English is THE global language. The reality in Switzerland, four languages and a geographically central location between the economic powers of Europe have forced the adoption of a pragmatic solution to communicate both inside and outside the borders. English is here to stay and will only increase in importance. The nature of Swiss-German contributes to the adoption of English as CH is one of the few places in the world where new arrivals are forced to learn two local languages, one written and one spoken. Oh and for the record, Zueri-Duetsch is the "gold standard" of Schwyzer dialects.
A language does not represent a nationality and neither does being born in a country.
So it's not really useful to speak one or the other of the more than 200 languages spoken on the planet. The important thing is to communicate and understand what the other person is saying.
Une langue ne représente pas une nationalité et la naissance dans un pays non-plus.
Donc pas vraiment utile de parler l'une ou l'autre des plus de 200 langues parlées sur la planète. L'important c'est de communiquer et de comprendre ce que dit l'autre.
I speak quite a few languages...
Is English my favorite? No
German or French? Also not top-listed...
Does it matter? Definitely not!
What is important however is the communication!
And Switzerland is a country where people focus on the communication itself and not the language that is spoken.
I couldn’t believe my ears when I once heard 2 ladies in the train discussing and laughing and realized that the one was actually speaking only German and the other just French!
Therefore, I can only see a positive when a common language (whatever this is) serves communication... the problems come when there’s lack of good intentions.
Communication is the key and languages were created for this purpose!
Let’s keep it this way...
Well, may be I am slightly embarrassed to speak English in Geneva, sorry, but it just comes easier.
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