![The French- and German-speaking areas of Switzerland meet on the hills above the town of Biel-Bienne](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/flurnamen-ch-deutsch-fr-300x225.jpg)
The different fates of Switzerland’s dialects
Dialects play different roles in Switzerland’s language regions: in German-speaking Switzerland they dominate everyday life, while in French-speaking Switzerland they have virtually disappeared, and in Italian-speaking Switzerland they are only spoken with close friends and family. The reasons behind these differences can be found in history.
![Switzerland’s language regions. Red: German, purple: French, green: Italian, yellow: Romansh](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/sprachraume-der-schweiz-300x207.jpg)
‘Fläckehans’ aka Johann Weisshaupt from Eggerstanden in Appenzell Innerrhoden, tells a joke in Appenzell dialect. Segment from “Schweiz aktuell unterwägs’ of 24.08.1990. SRF
Traditional herdsmen’s songs are common in Switzerland’s rural regions, from the Bernese Oberland and Appenzell to Jura and Vaud. One of the most famous is the ‘Ranz des vaches’ from Greyerzerland. The text is written is Fribourg patois. RTS/YouTube
In 1547, Jacques Gruet from Geneva protested against the growing influence of French priests. He put up a threatening note in patois on the walls of Saint-Pierre Cathedral. The first line says “Gro panfar, te et to compagnon gagneria miot de vot queysi”, which means “Hey fatso, you and your associates should keep your mouths shut!” Recording of Jacques Gruet’s pamphlet of 1547, read by Olivier Frutiger, 2023. Archives d'Etat de Genève
![Schools in Ticino banned dialects and taught in Italian. A Ticino classroom, circa 1920. Photograph by Rudolf Zinggeler-Danioth.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/tessiner-schulstube-um-1920-dig-28989-lm-79509-300x211.jpg)
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Vüna par ün: Don Francesco Alberti speaking Ticino dialect from Bedigliora, 1939. © Phonogram Archives of the University of Zurich
Multilingual Switzerland
In Switzerland, you can hear countless dialects, accents, types of slang and immigrant languages in addition to the four national languages. Visit the National Museum Zurich for a sensory journey through Switzerland’s language areas. Find out through interactive sound technology how the predecessors of our languages emerged, evolved or died out, how new linguistic and cultural borders arose and how they were (and still are) disputed.