Language distribution

Switzerland has four national languages, but they vary greatly in the number of speakers.

German

German is by far the most widely spoken language in Switzerland: 17 of the 26 cantons are monolingual in German.

French

French is spoken in the western part of the country, the "Suisse Romande." Four cantons are French-speaking: Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel and Vaud. Three cantons are bilingual: in Bern, Fribourg and Valais both French and German are spoken.

Italian

Italian is spoken in Ticino and four southern valleys of Canton Graubünden.

Rhaeto-Rumantsch (Rumantsch)

Rumantsch is spoken in the only trilingual canton, Graubünden. The other two languages spoken there are German and Italian. Rumantsch, like Italian and French, is a language with Latin roots. It is spoken by just 0.5% of the total Swiss population.

The language spoken in German-speaking Switzerland is quite different from standard German - called High German. The German Swiss speak Swiss German, often called "Mundart" - which itself is broken up into numerous local dialects

German 63.7%

French 20.4%

Italian 6.5%

Rumantsch 0.5%

Other 9 %