Culture and language in Switzerland

This chapter provides information about the Swiss people, the four languages that are spoken and national holidays.

Are you planning to travel by train or mountain lifts? Be sure to read all about the Swiss Pass.

A clean country

Picture:  PicSwiss.

The Swiss are proud of the beauty of their country. There is a lot of untouched nature and in general people are careful with it and set great store by protecting the environment. As a result, Switzerland is far advanced in recycling waste material. Chemicals, paper, carton, glass, plastic, cans, textile, oil and cooking fat are all collected separately. The way this is done differs per town. In many cases, containers to hand in these materials are available at a central point like the railway station or the post office. Such a location is often called an 'Abfall-Sammelstelle' or 'Wertstoff-Sammelstelle'. The remaining materials should be put in special bags for the local waste processing firm to collect it. Due to an additional tax ('Sackgebühr'), these bags are pretty expensive. If you just need a couple of bags while staying in a vacation rental, your renter will generally be able to provide some. These bags can often not be found in the shopping section of the supermarket, but only at the checkout or the supermarket kiosk. It is common practice to stuff in as much waste matter as possible and then place it on the roadsite on the designated day. In many cases, there is a nearby container as well to dispose of these bags.

For most tourists, these measures are relatively drastic compared to the situation at home. However, you will get used to it quickly and the advantages are clear: Switzerland is a very clean country. You will not find a lot of street litter along your way. Road traffic is also influenced by the special attention for the environment: the Swiss are mainly trying to limit the amount of cargo transportation by offering alternatives like railway transportation and putting trucks on trains. One way to help Switzerland to remain as clean as it is, is to travel by the excellent train system instead of car when possible. A Swiss Pass or other Swiss rail pass make it easy to do so.

Languages in Switzerland

No less than four languages are spoken in Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Rhaeto-Romanic. Swiss people working in tourism usually speak English as well. The great number of languages spoken in this relatively small country can be explained when looking at the history of Switzerland.

An overview of the regions where German, French, Italian and Rhaeto-Romanic are spoken.

German spoken in Switzerland in also being called 'Schwitzerdütsch'. It sounds totally different than 'standard' German. This language has its own words and a different pronunciation. Some examples of typical Swiss words are grüezi (hello), grüezi miteinand (hello alltogether) and Buttergipfel (croissant). And what about Chuchichäschtli (kitchen cabinet)?

Swiss national holidays

An overview of the most important Swiss holidays is displayed below. Note that in some cases an holiday is not celebrated in specific cantons, but there are also some holidays that are not listed here because they are celebrated in a limited number of cantons only.

Swiss cuisine

Precision and accurate preparation characterize Swiss cooking. Fresh products and herbs are used as much as possible. These products often originate from Switzerland. Swiss cuisine today is mainly based on traditional recipes. It is hard to name typical national dishes since the majority of Swiss recipes is formed by the numerous regional specialities. Cheese is used a lot in all sorts of different recipes like fondues and raclette, soups, soufflés, salads and even sweet dishes. Besides cheese, butter and cream are used as well, which makes Swiss dishes not the most low calorie ones available. These dishes were originally prepared for farm workers, in order to offer them a nutritious meal.

Switzerland is known for its famous national dish called rösti: grated potato fried in a pancake. It can be found in many different regional varieties. Other 'typical Swiss' dishes are mostly regional specialities.

When going out for dinner, you might notice that there are also lots of Italian dishes like pastas and pizzas. It is customary to have a salad as the first course. Little or no vegetables are served with the main course.