Language tips | Switzerland

Video 1 Transcript

Something kind of interesting about Switzerland is the amount of languages that they speak there. The main three is Swiss German, French, and Italian. However, over in Geneva, Switzerland, the working language is actually English because of the World Health Organization and the United Nations. So going to Geneva, I was kind of shocked to hear so much English and for everyone to know that language there. But the people in Switzerland in school are usually taught more than one language. So one of my best friends who is from Switzerland speaks Swiss German, German, French, English, and Spanish all fluently. And she's learning Italian at the moment too, which is just so incredible to know how many different languages are spoken in that country. And it also gave me kind of like a sense of comfort to know that I could be understood wherever I was.

Video 2 Transcript

Learn the language of the canton you're in, or depending if you live in a bilingual canton, the city you're in. You know, there's so many different dialects of Swiss German. The French is pretty close to standard with a few minor differences. The same with Italian. Romance is a regional language that they're working hard to preserve. Yeah, and then there's a lot of different other groups, you know, Serbian, Kosovar, Albanian, Portuguese, Spanish are all common groups that are non-national languages that are commonly spoken. English as well is sort of a lingua franca so that people can communicate.