Switzerland Languages

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Description[edit | edit source]

Switzerland has four official languages: (Many Swiss speak more than one language)

German - 65% of the population (spoken in fifteen cantons)
French - 18% (spoken officially in six cantons: Fribourg, Vaud, Jura, Valais, Neuchâtel, and Geneva)
Italian - 10% (spoken in Ticino and parts of Graubünden)
Romansh - 1% (an old Latin dialect spoken mainly in the mountains of Graubünden)
Others - 6%

Records are written in the major languages and Latin which was used extensively in early records.^[1]

↑ 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.