The Swiss Linguistic Landscape: Challenge and Opportunity

Swiss Linguistic Landscape (2000) - www.bfs.admin.ch

We live very close to the so-called "Röstigrabe" or "Barrière de Rösti," that is, the term for the linguistic border, especially between French and German-speaking populations. (Click here for a linguistic map.)

This is not to be confused with the Swiss borders with France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. That's challenging enough when you consider that Switzerland (15,940 sq mi/41,285 km²) is smaller than my home state of Virginia (42,774.2 sq mi/110,785.67 km²).

To give you an idea of this linguistic landscape, look on a Swiss map for Senèdes (where we live, hard to find!) and Giffers (where Lilian works, also hard to find!). Senèdes is a French-speaking village. There are no road signs or shops in German to help those from the other side. Lilian drives ten minutes to the east and she's in Giffers, a German-speaking village. Now, politically, Senèdes and Giffers are both in the same canton (similar to a state). Official documents are always in both languages. Kids learn German, French, and English, so they are supposed to be able to communicate well with each other. Many are bilingual, even trilingual. Swiss people grow up with visual and audible reminders that they live near "other speakers." This ranges from multilingual ingredients on food products, technical instructions, media, and public announcements like in trains. Or on a more personal level, you might meet someone who just speaks to you in their language, since you are supposed to understand it, and you have the right to answer back in your language. This happened one day when I was trying to figure out how to get a bus ticket from the vending machine on the French-speaking side of Fribourg. The bus driver noticed my perplexity and compassionately got out of the bus to help me. So, I started to speak to him in French, but he let out the ticket for me explaining the whole process in his German dialect. It worked. Sometimes this linguistic encounter can be quite simple like when you enter Fribourg (where I work), you are greeted by a bilingual sign with "Fribourg" and "Freiburg." Not too hard to figure that out. Yet, if it were only that easy...the difference in place names can be so drastic as "Düdingen" (in German) and "Guin" (in French)!

Besides these obvious differences between languages, a few things complicate real communication. First, on the German-speaking side, they also speak dialects. So, you can imagine how the French-speaking population feel...they learn standard German in school and not one of the Swiss German dialects (because there are in fact many Swiss German dialects!). This problem can be overcome by the fact that French speakers can just speak standard German, because the German dialect speakers know standard German well...or at least they should...You see they are very proud of their own language and in general don't really like to speak standard German. Ugh. You see how it's complicated...and this leads to the next challenge or opportunity, namely, the use of English!

Second, these days most Swiss youth like to learn and speak English. This is true on both sides of the linguistic border. So, what often happens is that when young people from German and French-speaking sides meet, they often choose English as their common language. It works quite well when both parties feel comfortable expressing themselves in English. This happens in private conversation, but even in university classrooms and research centers. At the University of Fribourg/Freiburg, I constantly here German, Swiss German, French, Italian, and English. Sometimes you can hear people switch from one  language to another in mid-sentence.

So, for English speakers, this means it is fairly easy to mix with Swiss people, right? Yes and no. Yes, with the younger folks, but much less with the older generations. Also, English can only get you so far socially, since it isn't reasonable to expect an entire group (class, family, club, etc.) to switch to English just because you are there. Swiss are hospitable...but let them be Swiss, please. There simply has to be an agreement when English is necessary to allow communication to happen or to get the job done.

Now, you might be wondering what this "Rösti" is all about. It is a Swiss dish like "hashed potatoes," which represents one of those national myths that Rösti is a defining factor between the regions, that is, that the Swiss Germans actually eat more Rösti than their French-speaking compatriots! In fact, people on both sides enjoy this dish and there are different competing recipes for it. So, if you want to eat well, come to Switzerland (there's more than just Rösti!), but even more so, come to Switzerland if you want to experience a linguistic challenge or opportunity!

Salut, Tschüss, Ciao, Bye!

My new book on the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles

I'm pleased to announce that my book on the thoroughfare motif in "Luke-Acts" has been published. Many thanks to God, my family, and many friends for their help and encouragement in this project. I certainly have a sense of relief and satisfaction.

For those interested, here is the abstract: 
"Luke-Acts is an impressive two-volume narrative seeking to convince and engage readers regarding the spiritual impact of Jesus of Nazareth on the Jewish people and other nations. To this end, Luke employs an impressive arsenal of literary and narrative techniques. This book focuses on a motif and its performance, the thoroughfare motif, which includes those figurative and concrete expressions involving ways, roads, city streets, and country paths. This study traces this motif's performance within the unfolding plot asking what difference the motif makes—progressively and cumulatively—to the reader's encounter with the story's emphasis on salvation. For example, why does Luke take pleasure in describing transformational events on or in relation to thoroughfares? What are the connections between expressions like "the way of peace," "the way of salvation," and "the way of God/Lord"? Why does Luke use such an unusual expression like "the Way" to describe Jesus' followers? How do such expressions contribute to the spiritual landscape of Luke-Acts, the intermingling of concrete and figurative uses of physical imagery? Like an instrument in an orchestra, the thoroughfare motif works together with other motifs and themes to create a captivating exploration of spiritual transformation, received and opposed."

Click here for the publisher's link to the book.

Let me know if you have questions or comments on this book.