Subcultures in Switzerland
The culture of Switzerland is made up of four subcultures: the German, French, Italian, and 1% indigenous population who speak Romansch.
The Germans
Record numbers of Germans have flocked to Switzerland since free movement accords were signed with the European Union in 1999. swissinfo.ch decided to meet up with three expatriates to find out what they think of their adopted country.
German residents have more than doubled their numbers in Switzerland in the past ten years, becoming the second largest group of foreigners in the country.
Some Swiss are concerned about the influx. Highly qualified Germans are now able to compete directly with Swiss citizens for top jobs. Flare ups of “German bashing”, notably from the political right, periodically hit the news.
The large percentage of German academics residing in Switzerland is no coincidence. Switzerland does not produce enough academics to meet demand.
“A high number of German academics actually end up moving back to Germany. Many people in Switzerland are not really aware of this,“ Günter said. She herself fully expects her academic career path will take her outside of Switzerland at one point.
While standard German is an official language in Switzerland and used for reading and writing, Swiss German dialect is spoken almost exclusively in daily life, at the workplace, and in social situations. Because of the huge differences between the two, a newly arrived German would not normally be able understand Swiss German.
Whereas Swiss are almost always encouraging when non-native speakers try to learn Swiss German, Germans seem to be the exception to the rule
Swiss French
Swiss French (French: français de Suisse) is the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, the others being German, Italian, and Romansch. As of 2015, around 2 million people in the country (24.4% of the population) spoke French as their primary language, and around 29.1% of the population has working knowledge of French.
The French spoken in Switzerland is very similar to that of France or Belgium due to historical French policy of education in Francien French only in schools after the French Revolution. It has only minor, mostly lexical, dialectal differences influenced by its local substrate languages. This contrasts with the differences between Standard German and Swiss German, which are largely mutually unintelligible.
Swiss French is characterized by some terms adopted from the Arpitan language, which was formerly spoken widely across the alpine communities of Romandy but only by a few today. Also, expressions have been borrowed from both Swiss and Standard German. Although Standard French is taught in schools and used in the government, the media and business, there is no uniform vernacular form of French among the different cantons of Switzerland. For example, some German terms in regions bordering German-speaking communities are completely unused in the area around Geneva near the border with France.
Many differences between Swiss French and the French of France are due to the different administrative and political systems between Switzerland and France. Some of the distinctive lexical features are shared with Belgian French (and some also with Quebec French):
The use of the word septante for seventy and nonante for ninety as opposed to soixante-dix (literally 'sixty-ten') and quatre-vingt-dix (literally 'four twenties-ten') of the "vigesimal" French counting system.
The use of the word déjeuner for "breakfast" ("lunch" in France, which uses petit déjeuner for "breakfast"), and of the words le dîner and le souper for "lunch" and "dinner" respectively (in French of France, déjeuner and dîner respectively), much like the varying uses of dinner and supper throughout the English-speaking world.
Other examples which are not shared with other varieties of French:
The word huitante is sometimes used for eighty instead of quatre-vingts (literally 'four twenties'), especially in the cantons of Vaud, Valais and Fribourg; the term octante (from the Latin octaginta) is now considered defunct.
The word canton has a different meaning in each country; in Switzerland, a canton is a constituent state of the Confederation, but in France, it is a grouping of communes. In Belgium, it is a group of municipalities, but in Quebec, it is a township municipality.
In France, a post office box is called a boite postale (BP),but in Switzerland (as in French Canada), it is called a case postale (CP).
The Germans
Record numbers of Germans have flocked to Switzerland since free movement accords were signed with the European Union in 1999. swissinfo.ch decided to meet up with three expatriates to find out what they think of their adopted country.
German residents have more than doubled their numbers in Switzerland in the past ten years, becoming the second largest group of foreigners in the country.
Some Swiss are concerned about the influx. Highly qualified Germans are now able to compete directly with Swiss citizens for top jobs. Flare ups of “German bashing”, notably from the political right, periodically hit the news.
The large percentage of German academics residing in Switzerland is no coincidence. Switzerland does not produce enough academics to meet demand.
“A high number of German academics actually end up moving back to Germany. Many people in Switzerland are not really aware of this,“ Günter said. She herself fully expects her academic career path will take her outside of Switzerland at one point.
While standard German is an official language in Switzerland and used for reading and writing, Swiss German dialect is spoken almost exclusively in daily life, at the workplace, and in social situations. Because of the huge differences between the two, a newly arrived German would not normally be able understand Swiss German.
Whereas Swiss are almost always encouraging when non-native speakers try to learn Swiss German, Germans seem to be the exception to the rule
Swiss French
Swiss French (French: français de Suisse) is the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, the others being German, Italian, and Romansch. As of 2015, around 2 million people in the country (24.4% of the population) spoke French as their primary language, and around 29.1% of the population has working knowledge of French.
The French spoken in Switzerland is very similar to that of France or Belgium due to historical French policy of education in Francien French only in schools after the French Revolution. It has only minor, mostly lexical, dialectal differences influenced by its local substrate languages. This contrasts with the differences between Standard German and Swiss German, which are largely mutually unintelligible.
Swiss French is characterized by some terms adopted from the Arpitan language, which was formerly spoken widely across the alpine communities of Romandy but only by a few today. Also, expressions have been borrowed from both Swiss and Standard German. Although Standard French is taught in schools and used in the government, the media and business, there is no uniform vernacular form of French among the different cantons of Switzerland. For example, some German terms in regions bordering German-speaking communities are completely unused in the area around Geneva near the border with France.
Many differences between Swiss French and the French of France are due to the different administrative and political systems between Switzerland and France. Some of the distinctive lexical features are shared with Belgian French (and some also with Quebec French):
The use of the word septante for seventy and nonante for ninety as opposed to soixante-dix (literally 'sixty-ten') and quatre-vingt-dix (literally 'four twenties-ten') of the "vigesimal" French counting system.
The use of the word déjeuner for "breakfast" ("lunch" in France, which uses petit déjeuner for "breakfast"), and of the words le dîner and le souper for "lunch" and "dinner" respectively (in French of France, déjeuner and dîner respectively), much like the varying uses of dinner and supper throughout the English-speaking world.
Other examples which are not shared with other varieties of French:
The word huitante is sometimes used for eighty instead of quatre-vingts (literally 'four twenties'), especially in the cantons of Vaud, Valais and Fribourg; the term octante (from the Latin octaginta) is now considered defunct.
The word canton has a different meaning in each country; in Switzerland, a canton is a constituent state of the Confederation, but in France, it is a grouping of communes. In Belgium, it is a group of municipalities, but in Quebec, it is a township municipality.
In France, a post office box is called a boite postale (BP),but in Switzerland (as in French Canada), it is called a case postale (CP).
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