Climate:The temperature is moderate with no extremes of hot and cold, so Switzerland can be visited at anytime of year. Summer is warm lasting from about June to September, and although good for outdoor activities it is also the most crowded time for a holiday. Ski resorts open in late November and remain so until the snow begins to melt in April.
Money: Currency in Switzerland: Swiss franc (CHF), Exchange rate equals=1.194069Francs to0.837473 U.S. Dollars
Culture:Switzerland's official title, the "Swiss Confederation" (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, or CH for short), indicates that it is a union of individual allies and recalls the fact that Switzerland is not a homogeneous linguistic and cultural community. The Helvetians were among the Celtic tribes who inhabited the region of present-day Switzerland in Roman times, and numerous names of mountains, rivers and places are still reminiscent of the Helvetic and Roman cultures that helped to shape the country. In later times, new younger peoples such as the Burgundians and Alemanni settled in what is now Switzerland. Ethnographically speaking, there is no Swiss people and no homogeneous Swiss nation. Nor can one talk about a Swiss culture, because various cultures came into contact with one another and even today still overlap. Switzerland has remained a mosaic of world and regional history, religions, languages, and dialects, all confined in a very small space. The basic principle that holds the country together is a political will to remain culturally independent, and not just a collection of peculiarities in the heart of Europe. Much of 700-year-old Switzerland remains from early times, not just in museums and restored town centers, but also in the people themselves: in their reserved attitude toward the outside world, in their sobriety, and in their industriousness. This industriousness is often over-estimated because, although in earlier times such diligence was vital in a country which possessed hardly any mineral resources, Switzerland's welder today depends mainly on international trade relations. Many Swiss are no longer aware that only a century ago thousands of people were forced to emigrate in order to feed themselves.
Language:There are four languages spoken in Switzerland: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. In principle, all four languages are equal. In practice, however, things sometimes work out rather differently and the smaller groups often have to struggle to assert their political and economic influence, although in purely cultural matters the ideal of equal rights is never disputed. Switzerland's religious and linguistic frontiers do not coincide, and the country also entertains strong cultural links with neighboring regions. These relationships are somewhat ambivalent as they vary historically between a strong leaning toward a neighboring culture and a rejection of it because it appears to pose a threat to Swiss identity. The Federal Constitution stipulates that German, French, and Italian are Switzerland's official languages. They enjoy equal status in Parliament, the federal administration, and the army. In 1938 Romansh was declared the fourth 'national language,' but it is not an official one. The most recent census produced the following picture of how the language groups are divided: German 65%, French 18.4%, Italian 9.8% and Romansh 0.8%. Schools play a key role in bringing the languages closer together, for cantonal school regulations require that every child learn a second national language from his or her seventh school year at the latest.
The German-speaking region:
This is the largest language region, and was for a long time a mosaic of urban
and rural areas with a profusion of very distinct Alemannic dialects, which
still exist today despite an increasing tendency to even out the differences.
The German-speaking Swiss learn their cultivated official language, High German,
at school; they call it 'written German,' and it always retains an element of
strangeness for them. In normal speech they use an unwritten everyday language
which varies greatly from region to region. The grammar and vowels of these
dialects, known by the collective term "Schweizerdeutsch" or Swiss-German,
can be traced back to Middle High German. They have produced their own literature
since the nineteenth century (see Alfred Wyler's Dialect and High German in
German-Speaking Switzerland, published by Pro Helvetia). Radio and television
allow the dialects plenty of scope, and they are also used to a certain extent
in churches and schools.
Several languages within a single country: e.g., in Biel-Bienne even the street
signs are bilingual!
The French-speaking region:
The second national language is spoken in the cantons of Geneva, Jura, Neuchatel
and Vaud, as well as in parts of the cantons of Berne, Fribourg and Valais.
The Romandie (as French-speaking Switzerland is called) also used to have its
dialects, but the church and schools suppressed them in the rural districts.
The French spoken in western Switzerland has some regional characteristics,
but otherwise its citizens speak French as it is spoken in France. The Protestant
teachings of the Geneva reformer Jean Calvin played a decisive role in shaping
the cultural identity of these cantons.
The Italian-speaking region:
Italian is spoken in the southern valleys up to the St.Gotthard, Lukmanier,
and San Bernardino passes. This region comprises the whole of the canton of
Ticino and the valleys of Misox/Calanca, Bergell/Bregaglia, and Poschiavo in
the canton of Graubuenden (also known as the Grisons). But although the construction
and development of international traffic routes (e.g., St.Gotthard Pass) and
tourism from the north brought an economic upswing to what was previously the
somewhat impoverished southern part of Switzerland, it also resulted in a threat
to the region's cultural identity. The rich local dialects have remained intact,
particularly in rural areas, whereas artists and writers tend to look toward
nearby Milan, the cultural center of northern Italy.
The Romansh-speaking region:
The ramified valleys of Rhaetia (today's Graubuenden) were conquered in 15 A.C.
by the Romans, and this resulted in the latinization of the original inhabitants.
The isolation of the numerous valleys led to the development of at least five
distinguishable idioms - a unique linguistic phenomenon in such a small area.
But in recent years the influx of tourists and migration to the economic centers
of German-speaking Switzerland have constituted a threat to even this linguistic
idyll. Endeavors such as the creation of a single written language known as
'rumantsch grischun' have been made to try to stop the erosion process. (Information
available from Lia Rumantscha, Via da la Plessur 47, 7000 Chur, Swirzerland.)