Switzerland Languages: Difference between revisions

Switzerland has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh.  The German speakers are 65% of the population while the French are 18%, Italian 10%, Romansh 1% and others 6%.  Many Swiss speak more than one language. Romansh is an old Latin dialect spoken mainly in the mountains of Graubünden. French is spoken officially in six cantons:  Fribourg, Vaud, Jura, Valais, Neuchâtel, and Geneva. Italian is spoken in Ticino and parts of Graubünden. German with a myriad of dialects is spoken in the other fifteen cantons: Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden (consists of half cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden), Glarus, Zug, Solothurn, Basel (consists of half cantons of Basel-Stadt and Baselland), Schaffhausen, Appenzell (consists of half cantons of Appenzell-Innerrhoden and Appenzell-Ausserrhoden), St. Gallen, Aargau, Thurgau, and in the rest of Graubünden.  Major foreign groups are southern and Eastern Europeans. Records are written in the major languages and Latin which was used extensively in early records.<ref name="profile">The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Switzerland,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1984-1998.</ref>