Switzerland has four official languages, German, Italian, French and Romansh and English is so widely spoken that it is sometimes considered a fifth unofficial language.

German is a West-Germanic language and part of the Indo-European group of languages. German is one of the large world languages and is spoken by more than 150 million people. It is closely related to Dutch and related to English and the Scandinavian languages.

French is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and is today spoken by about 350 million people as either a native or a second language in over 54 countries around the world.

Italian is a Romance language and belongs to the Indo-European group of languages. Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian has retained the contrast between short and long consonants which existed in Latin.

The last official language in Switzerland, Romansh, is also the most obscure and spoken by less than 50,000 people. It is a Romance language in the Indo-European language family and is closely related to Latin.

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