Up to the year 2000, Switzerland carried out a census to collect data on all residents. As of 2010, only random sampling will be done, which excludes statements on the level of the individual municipalities and which is particularly problematic for assessing the vitality of Rhaeto-Romanic.

Languages offered in pre-primary education

In its promotion of language skills in pre-primary education, the authorities focus clearly on a given region's official language. In current educational policy, children generally attend nursery for two years and, as a rule, language integration takes place through immersion. In nurseries with a high percentage of children who speak a foreign language, lesson sequences in small groups and with special, language-learning modules are offered.

In the coming years, the specific measures promoting integration should increasingly support projects which provide early (i.e. preschool) intervention to help children with an immigration background learn the local language.

Zurich

Geneva

Ticino

Languages offered in primary education

In Switzerland, compulsory schooling lasts nine years. After the seventh year, the majority of cantons have two or three different categories based on academic ability. Students generally enter higher secondary school (gymnasium) after the eighth or ninth class.

Teaching a second national language is a traditional part of compulsory school. The past few years, however, have seen language teaching undergo major reforms: An agreement (HarmoS) between a majority of the cantons has been drawn up with the aim of harmonising both the sequence of subjects taught and the educational goals. The concrete changes to language teaching are as follows: alongside a second official language for all students, English must be taught. In addition, the first foreign language must have been introduced by the third class at the latest, the second foreign language by the fifth class (Ticino: by the seventh class). In future, German will be the first foreign language taught in French-speaking Switzerland and in areas of Graubünden where Rhaeto-Romanic or Italian are the regional languages; French will be the first foreign language in Italian-speaking Ticino and in many German-speaking cantons in western Switzerland. In the German-speaking territories of Graubünden, Italian will be the first foreign language, while a majority of the German-speaking cantons in central and eastern Switzerland will introduce English as the first foreign language. The fact that a part of German-speaking Switzerland has chosen English over the national language French has given rise to a great deal of criticism.

The stated aim of HarmoS is that students achieve comparable language skills in both foreign languages during their compulsory schooling. Educational standards for all languages taught are currently being drafted.

As a general rule, the promotion and cultivation of the first language of children with immigration backgrounds lies in the responsibility of the nations concerned and private organisations are also at times involved. The Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education recommends that the cantons support Heritage Language and Culture courses. In most cantons, school infrastructure (classrooms, etc.) are provided for these courses, and some German-speaking cantons accredit them provided they adhere to a prescribed framework curriculum. In these cantons, there are various forms of cooperation between regular and heritage language teachers, as well as integrated instruction.

Zurich

Geneva

Ticino

Languages offered in secondary education

The teaching of national and foreign languages and the promotion of plurilingualism continues to be a major preoccupation of the cantonal and federal authorities in secondary education. As a rule, two foreign languages (generally another national language and English) are compulsory for all pupils until the end of higher secondary education. At the end of upper secondary school, pupils are expected to have attained level B2 according to the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Many higher secondary schools offer bilingual curricula. The predominant language combination is the regional official language and English, especially in German-speaking Switzerland.

For pupils with an immigration background there is also the possibility of extracurricular courses in immigrant languages organised by these language communities but often supported by local school authorities.

Languages offered across 3 VET institutions in Switzerland

Languages offered across 3 higher education institutions in Switzerland

Switzerland has a comparatively low percentage of students who acquire a university entry qualification. This is because a great deal of value is placed on high-quality vocational training. In vocational programmes, apprentices work in a company or trade while attending a so-called vocational school one or two days per week, with a very diverse degree of focus on the promotion of the regional official language or of foreign languages. Within commercial training programmes, for example, language is given a prominent role (a second official language plus English are compulsory), whereas in professions requiring primarily manual labour, foreign languages are only very perfunctorily treated, if at all. Therefore, it is impossible to make general statements on the treatment of foreign languages in vocational education.

Languages offered in audiovisual media and press across 3 cities in Switzerland

National radio and television programmes from the various language regions are broadcast throughout the whole of Switzerland. Programmes of comparable quality are broadcast on the same terms within the four language regions. There is a considerable redistribution of licence fee income to the regional companies of the minority language regions in order to support and promote linguistic and cultural diversity.

In addition, most households have cable – or internet television – and thereby have access to numerous additional domestic and foreign programmes in diverse languages. It must, however, be noted, that most TV and radio consumers prefer broadcasts in their own language.

Although print media in the national and many foreign languages are available throughout the country, they are, however, mainly read by the respective language communities.

Languages offered in public services and spaces across 3 cities in Switzerland (N ≥ 2)

In the Federal Administration, the percentage of employees from one of the official language communities is proportional to the overall population. Nonetheless, there are hierarchical disparities, with a partial underrepresentation of the national minorities in executive roles. Moreover, deficiencies were observed regarding the advancement of individual multilingualism of employees in the Federal Administration.

Immigrant minority languages are also clearly underrepresented in the Federal Administration.

Traditionally the army has been an important national site where the various linguistic communities, especially the smaller ones, were able to use their respective languages. In the recent past, the troop size of the Swiss army was reduced considerably, which entailed an increase in linguistically mixed groups (the army used to be organised territorially and thus largely in monolingual groups, in correspondence with the traditional principle of territoriality). In the absence of a coherent language policy in the army this development gives rise to fears of Germanisation in the national minority groups, since mixed groups tend to function in the majority language, German.

Languages other than English offered in business across 32 companies in Switzerland (N ≥ 2)

Major factors for businesses to place value on language skills can be linked to the individual branch, the clientele and an individual's role in the company's hierarchy. While the present study is only able to mirror this statement to a very limited degree, the data do confirm larger studies which reveal that other national languages continue to occupy an important position in the professional world. These studies have also indicated that one cannot speak of a general, but rather a sectoral and local displacement of the regional language in favour of English. Many smaller businesses in all parts of the country are monolingual. 

In compulsory education, the strong economic relevance of English has led to competition with the official languages not spoken in a given region. The situation weakens the position of smaller official languages, especially Italian. Indeed Rhaeto-Romanic and Italian are barely represented in school settings or in public life outside their own territory.

The progress of integration and valorisation of original languages spoken by immigrants is unsatisfactory, both at school and in society.

The “Schweizer Institut für Kinder- und Jugendmedien” promotes family literacy. Their project "Schenk mir eine Geschichte" (loosely translated as "tell me a story") specifically addresses immigrant families and encourages them to cultivate their own languages. 

(http://www.sikjm.ch/d/?/d/lesefoerderung/projekte/family_literacy.html)

"ch Foundation" is an important contact point for language exchange programmes in Switzerland and abroad for school students, trainees and university students. It is for the most part financed by the Confederation and the cantons. (http://www.chstiftung.ch/)

The canton Basel-Stadt initiated an overarching language concept for schools, which acknowledges the roles of the various languages: German as the main language, the taught foreign languages and the original languages of children with an immigration background. (http://sdu.edubs.ch/faecher/fremdsprachen/herkunftssprachen)

The “Forum du bilinguisme” in the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne supports projects that promote multilingualism. For example, the organisation awards a "label of bilingualism" to companies that practice a culture of bilingualism. (http://www.bilinguisme.ch/)

Several academic institutions perform applied research in the area of multilingualism. These include the “Osservatorio linguistico della Svizzera italiana” and the “Fachstelle für Mehrsprachigkeit” at the University of Teacher Education Graubünden. Both institutions observe the current situation regarding language policy in Italian- and Rhaeto-Romanic-speaking Switzerland and formulate calls for action. The Research Centre on Multilingualism in Fribourg/Freiburg, which receives funds from the Confederation, coordinates research done at academic institutions on the topic of institutional and individual multilingualism. 

(www4.ti.ch; www.phgr.ch; www.institute-multilingualism.ch/en)

Swiss law on languages: http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/ff/2007/6951.pdf.

Law on languages: www.gr-lex.gr.ch/frontend/versions/238. 

Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK), Teaching languages (in German and French): http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11911.php (accessed January 2012).

Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK), Teaching in immigrant languages (in German, French and Italian): http://www.edk.ch/dyn/19191.php (accessed January 2012).

Georges Lüdi; Iwar Werlen (2005) "Sprachenlandschaft in der Schweiz", Neuchâtel, available at Swiss Federal Statistical Office.