CH: English seen as "most useful" foreign language

[Francis Hult]

Eurogates

 

English seen as "most useful" foreign language

 

A majority of Swiss reckon that English is the most useful foreign language in the country, although it is not Switzerland's "lingua franca" as commonly believed. 

 

A National Science Foundation study also shows the Swiss have good multilingual skills, although the people of Luxembourg and the Dutch show more talent for speaking languages other than their own.

 

In Luxembourg, people speak three foreign languages, while in the Netherlands this figure is 2.2 and in Switzerland two. The European Union average before its expansion into eastern Europe was 1.14.

 

In German and Italian-speaking Switzerland, people speak approximately another 2.2 languages, mainly French and English. French speakers are less likely to make use of foreign languages (1.7).

 

The most frequently cited foreign languages in the study are French and German. English fails to come out in top position in any of the country's linguistic regions.

 

In German-speaking Switzerland, French is the preferred option (71 per cent) ahead of English (67 per cent). In the French part of the country, High German and German dialect are also preferred to English (47 versus 43 per cent) while Italian speakers put German and French well in front.

 

Full story:

http://www.eurogates.nl/en_european_news_education/id/839/

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