What other languages besides Romansch are spoken in the St. Moritz area of Switzerland?

Question

Does anyone get the idea that in Switzerland, ppl tend to speak the language of their given region and maybe English? It struck me that the ppl in Geneva speak only French and not German, Italian or Romansch. Perhaps this is similiar to other parts of that country (e.g. Zurich ppl speaking German, but not Italian, French, etc.).

Answer 1

I lived in Switzerland for three years and I can tell you without question that Swiss-German is the local language in St. Moritz.

Romansch is spoken more to the South and of all four "official" languages is the one that is spoken the least.  I think only something like 14% of the population even know it.  French, Swiss-German, Italian and Romansch are th four official languages.  Of course, English is understood everywhere.

Yes, to answer your question, people do speak the language of their region and the younger ones speak English as well.  Not everyone speaks English, but more do than don't.

Answer 2

Swiss-German and some Italian. There are certainly people in Saint-Moritz who CAN speak English, but few if any who have English as their native language, and the same is true of French.

Yes, Switzerland's French/German language barrier is quite well-defined (it's called the Roesti-Graben, the fried-potato ditch, because Roesti is FAR more typically a dish made in the German part). The Italian/German language barrier is also largely well-defined because there are huge mountains between the two. However, Graubunden, which is the canton St. Moritz is in, is officially a trilingual canton (German/Italian/Romansch).

There are actually a whole lot of Italian speakers in Zurich, but the vast majority are real Italians, not from the Italian part of Switzerland. There are a fair number of French speakers in Zurich, too, but again, probably as many are French as are Swiss-French.

Answer 3

The people of Switzerland actually speak all three languages

mostly, in St. Moritz they also speak perfect English simply because its such a famous tourist resort. Geneve people speak

English as its the seat of many of the UN employees etc. I think there are very few who speak Romansch.

Answer 4

Have a look at the map of Switzerland. The neighboring countries have a large influence on the languages spoken. All the Swiss people I work with in Basel speak Swiss-German, German, French and English. In Zurich as it is further from France there is less influence and hence fewer French speakers. The same goes for the south (Ticino) where the inhabitants would have a major Italian influence.

But to answer your question, I would guess that the locals of would speak a combination of German, Italian, French and English due to St. Moritz being a top winter resort.

Answer 5

I used to work in st.moritz. The people whos family lived there over generations do speak romansch there. the kids in school are educataed in romansch and in german.

Because we have 4 languages in switzerland, we have to learn some in school. But i prefer to talk in englisch rather than italian or french. Romansch is only spoken by 1 per cent in Switzerland. that's why everybody whos native language is romansch has to know german.

as i read above, someone already mentioned, that people speak swiss german in st moritz. thats because meanwhile do more swiss germans live there than nativ romansch people.

people there do try to keep the language, since its very unique and very close to latin. it would be a big loss if the language would die.

Answer 6

german

Answer 7

The people of St. Moritz will speak French as it is in the french speaking part of switzerland however when I visited, they spoke German too. I'm sure that some people will speak English as most people do in Switzerland. General advice- People in the German parts of Switzerland speak 10 times better English than anyone in the Italian or French parts. I haven't found any parts that speak Romansch yet. But good luck!