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Light Side Last Updated: Aug 9, 2023 - 2:26:49 PM


Lawmakers forbid use of Swiss German during parliamentary debates
By Swiss Info 3/5/23
May 8, 2023 - 12:10:55 PM

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Federal parliamentary debates in Switzerland are typically given in High German, French or Italian, and very occasionally in Romansh.

Swiss lawmakers have decided that speeches should not be delivered in Swiss-German dialect during federal parliamentary debates.

Switzerland has four national languages: German (spoken by about 63% of the population), French (23%), Italian (8%) and Romansh (0.5%). Swiss German - a collection of local dialects – is spoken by people in the German-speaking part of the country. It is very different from High German (as spoken in Germany) – even mother-tongue Germans find it tough to understand.

+ How do the multilingual Swiss talk to each other?

Most parliamentarians (164 for and 20 against) in the House of Representatives decided on Tuesday that the variants of Swiss German should not become an official accepted language for debates.

This content was published on Sep 26, 2019 Sep 26, 2019 Ensuring Swiss politicians can understand each other is challenging, stressful but rewarding, says one of parliament’s official interpreters.

Lukas Reimann of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party had launched a parliamentary motion urging colleagues to save and value Swiss German, which he believes is a symbol of the identity and diversity of the Alpine country.

The dialect is experiencing a renaissance and is popular among young people and on social media, according to the Keystone-SDA news agency. In some cantonal parliaments, including in Aargau, Basel Country, Solothurn and Schwyz, local lawmakers are allowed to use both High German and Swiss German.

English as a common language in Switzerland: a positive or a problem?

(This content was published on Apr 4, 2021 Apr 4, 2021)

 It’s not unusual to hear Swiss people from different parts of the country chatting away in English. But what does it mean for national identity?

But parliamentarians said the use of Swiss German at the federal parliament level in Bern would complicate understanding and exchanges between language regions.

To prove this point, Philip Bregy launched into a speech in the Swiss German dialect from the upper Valais region: “We wouldn’t be able to function. We need a common language. The French-speaking region has their local patois, but they speak in French.”

On top of legal and linguistic issues, the use of Swiss German as an official language in Bern would also create problems for simultaneous interpretation and for the written publication of speeches. Interpreters would have to master each dialect with their unique specific terms and usage.


Source:Ocnus.net 2023

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