Fact File – Schools and Languages (Switzerland)

Children begin primary school at age six or seven and continue through grade nine. After that, they have two choices. They can either go to high school or take lehre (LAY-reh). A lehre is an apprenticeship for learning a trade such as carpentry or plumbing.


Switzerland has four languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. Two-thirds of the people speak a dialect, or types of German called Schwyzertütsch. People in Geneva and the west speak French. Italian is spoken in southern Switzerland. A few people in the eastern Alps speak Romansch, a very old language. Many Swiss people know two, three, or even four languages. Sometimes when two people talk, each person is speaking a different language!

Source: Harris, K. Pamela. Admit One Switzerland. Chanhassen: The Child’s World, Inc.