School children in French speaking canton Vaud will be taught Swiss German after a narrow vote in the cantonal Grand Council.
The Green member, David Raedler, says while children are taught high German in schools – once they are in German speaking areas of the country, they struggle to understand ‘schwyzerdütsch’, he says.
But others say there are so many Swiss German dialects, it’s impossible to choose which one to teach.
The point is not to teach it as a language, says another Green Party member, but to give children a background, so they can roughly understand it.
Vaud won’t be the only French speaking canton to offer Swiss German awareness courses – it’s already done in Geneva and Neuchatel, but bi-lingual Valais has rejected it
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