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S U B S C R I B E
WRS stories about language
Switch to Swiss-German signage causes chaos
Friday, 24 July, 2009
Ambulances are getting lost, pedestrians are losing their way and residents getting annoyed—the changing of thousands of placenames on maps in the canton of Thurgau is upsetting lots of people. It began last year after the federal government decided they should be changed to Swiss-German. Which isn’t a written language, of course. To confuse matters further, in many cases a map will call a village by one name, while the street signs say something completely different. WRS’s Conor Lennon spoke to Hannes Steiner, Thurgau’s deputy canton archivist, and asked him about the problems all this confusion is causing.
Friday, 24 July, 2009
Ambulances are getting lost, pedestrians are losing their way and residents getting annoyed—the changing of thousands of placenames on maps in the canton of Thurgau is upsetting lots of people. It began last year after the federal government decided they should be changed to Swiss-German. Which isn’t a written language, of course. To confuse matters further, in many cases a map will call a village by one name, while the street signs say something completely different. WRS’s Conor Lennon spoke to Hannes Steiner, Thurgau’s deputy canton archivist, and asked him about the problems all this confusion is causing.
The WRS Debate: English as an official language?
Wednesday, 1 July, 2009
WRS’s Jordan Davis invites Guy Mettan, Geneva politician and member of Défense du français, Felix Gutzwiller, Liberal party Senator from Zurich, and University of Geneva professor François Grin to discuss the idea of raising English to the level of a semi-official, or even official language.
Wednesday, 1 July, 2009
WRS’s Jordan Davis invites Guy Mettan, Geneva politician and member of Défense du français, Felix Gutzwiller, Liberal party Senator from Zurich, and University of Geneva professor François Grin to discuss the idea of raising English to the level of a semi-official, or even official language.
Time Capsule: The origins of Switzerland
Tuesday, 19 May, 2009
Natasha Proietto begins a new series delving into the mists of time to revisit key moments in Swiss history. Appropriately enough, today’s debut sees Natasha go right back to the beginning to early tribal settlers in the Alps, and the origins of the country’s modern linguistic divisions
Tuesday, 19 May, 2009
Natasha Proietto begins a new series delving into the mists of time to revisit key moments in Swiss history. Appropriately enough, today’s debut sees Natasha go right back to the beginning to early tribal settlers in the Alps, and the origins of the country’s modern linguistic divisions
The multi-lingual generation
Wednesday, 11 March, 2009
Michele Mischler is joined by Duff Gyr, Primary Principal at La Grande Boissière International School and middle school teacher Carlo Palusci for a discussion of how children can benefit from multi-lingual environments.
Wednesday, 11 March, 2009
Michele Mischler is joined by Duff Gyr, Primary Principal at La Grande Boissière International School and middle school teacher Carlo Palusci for a discussion of how children can benefit from multi-lingual environments.
English as a must?
Thursday, 29 November, 2007
Step back and the picture is pretty black and white: One small country with four national languages, divided neatly (it is Switzerland after all) into four geographic areas. But start painting over that map with the country’s fifth and decidedly unofficial language—English—and suddenly the lines blur and new layers of complexity emerge.
Thursday, 29 November, 2007
Step back and the picture is pretty black and white: One small country with four national languages, divided neatly (it is Switzerland after all) into four geographic areas. But start painting over that map with the country’s fifth and decidedly unofficial language—English—and suddenly the lines blur and new layers of complexity emerge.
