German
A written and official language with a strong dialect tradition in everyday life in German-speaking Switzerland.
ONE SWITZERLAND, MANY VOICES
Languages in Switzerland
Four national languages, dialects, patois and regional traditions form part of Switzerland’s linguistic diversity.
The voices of time.
NATIONAL LANGUAGES
Four languages at the heart of Switzerland
The Swiss Constitution recognises four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.
French
The language of French-speaking Switzerland, with Swiss usages and a rich heritage of regional speech.
Italian
Used mainly in Ticino and Graubünden alongside various regional dialect traditions.
Romansh
Switzerland’s fourth national language, rooted in Graubünden and characterised by several regional traditions.
DIALECTS AND VARIANTS
Explore Switzerland’s linguistic diversity
These entries present regional speech, dialects and linguistic traditions. They document Switzerland’s linguistic diversity without changing the interface language.
German-speaking Switzerland Alemannic dialects
Swiss German encompasses numerous regional dialects and is not a single uniform dialect.
French-speaking Switzerland Regional French and patois
Swiss French has regional features, while several patois form part of the linguistic heritage of French-speaking Switzerland.
Italian-speaking Switzerland Italian and regional dialects
Italian-speaking Switzerland combines Italian with various regional dialect traditions, particularly in Ticino and the southern valleys of Graubünden.
Romansh Five regional idioms
Romansh comprises several regional traditions. This diversity should be preserved and documented without reducing it to a single spoken form.
This explorer is documentary: choosing an entry does not change the general interface language of Exact time.
GERMAN-SPEAKING SWITZERLAND
Swiss German is not a single dialect
What is commonly called “Swiss German” comprises many Alemannic dialects. Zurich, Bern, Basel, St. Gallen, Upper Valais and many other regions have their own distinctive speech.
For the Exact time interface, we therefore use Swiss Standard German with the de-CH locale rather than artificially imposing one dialect as the general language.
FRENCH-SPEAKING SWITZERLAND
The patois of French-speaking Switzerland: a living memory
Before French became widespread, different forms of Franco-Provençal and Franc-Comtois were spoken in several regions of French-speaking Switzerland.
The Vaud patois is now part of the intangible cultural heritage documented by the Canton of Vaud.
Vaud patois
A linguistic heritage to document, transmit and listen to — without confusing it with contemporary Swiss French.
EXACT TIME
A Swiss interface without turning languages into folklore
Exact time remains available in Switzerland’s four national languages as well as English. Each version favours Swiss usage: fr-CH, de-CH, it-CH and rm-CH.
FR · fr-CH
DE · de-CH
IT · it-CH
RM · rm-CH
EN · en-CH
TOMORROW
Hearing the voices of Switzerland too
This page can gradually include expressions relating to time, regional variants and, when reliable sources are available, audio samples.
Dialect forms will not be invented: they will be documented and sourced.
SOURCES