Comments on: Telegrams from Switzerland

By: helen moat

helen moat — Fri, 27 May 2011 17:07:55 +0000

Having lived in Switzerland, I think the Swiss have no choice but to be diverse in their language skills. Pick up a carton of milk, and it will have 3 languages on it – German, French and Italian. There is, of course a fourth language – romanisch spoken by a ‘handful’ of people in the mountains.
Then there is Swiss-German, that is barely comprehensible outside of Switzerland. In fact, there are marked differences between dialects in the different Kantons (equivalent to counties).
As for the Germans, they need sub-titles when Swiss German is spoken on TV. As you can imagine, the French and Italian speakers also struggle with Swiss German. No wonder the Swiss are so good at English! It is the common language for many.
Living there, I found many German speaking Swiss preferred to speak English than high German.
This may change with the growth of foreign nationals. High German must now be spoken in schools and universities. The Swiss resent this, but this is a necessary move to accommodate the large non-Swiss born population.

By: Sayar Dehsabzi

Sayar Dehsabzi — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:46:34 +0000

Afghanistan as part of its current endeavour to attain social harmony which can conduce to bringing about social democracy need to introduce a comprehensive programme of learning all Afghan languages, these include languages such as Wakhi, Pashaiee, Baluchee. Perhaps this may be a farfetched objectives however such principle to inform people of their obligation that every citizen to respect all cultural norms. I would like to express my appreciation of Switzerland approach on the issue of learning foreign languages. After all the world is becoming a single home for all of us where boundaries and so called boarder can no longer separate mankind. This can be achieved through respect and trust.

Sayar Dehsabzi

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:09:56 +0000

Great article. I’m really sad there are not more countries such as Switzerland, where languages are equally treated and people actually enjoy speaking another language.

By: Brian Barker

Brian Barker — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:06:57 +0000

I agree with Bill Chapman. Where on earth did you receive the information that everyone, worldwide, speaks English fluently?

Not even the England football manager speaks English.

An interesting Youtube video, albeit also from Switzerland, perhaps also deserves attention!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU

By: Bill Chapman

Bill Chapman — Sun, 18 May 2008 07:35:57 +0000

What an interesting article! We do live in a multulingual world. I am not sure that English is as widespread or useful as people claim.

I would like to argue the case for Esperanto.
It is a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states. Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net

Esperanto works! I’ve used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.
Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there’s the Pasporta Servo , which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries. In the past year I have had guided tours of Berlin and Milan in the planned language. I have discussed philosophy with a Slovene poet, humour on television with a Bulgarian TV producer. I’ve discussed what life was like in East Berlin before the wall came down, how to cook perfect spaghetti, the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, and so on. I recommend it, not just as an ideal but as a very practical way to overcome language barriers.

Iwonder what other readers of Nouse think about Esperanto?