SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY
Sir,-No one will doubt the patriotism of the Swiss, who were defended by Miss Josephine Werner last week; nor could one doubt the patriotism of New Zealanders of Swiss descent who have made this country their own. Miss Werner says that the German language spoken in Switzerland would scarcely be understood in Germany. Without wishing to detract in any way from the great national qualities of the Swiss, I would point out that the Encyclopedia Britannica gives the following information, dated 1930: 2,924,314 residents of Switzerland speak German, or 7154 per cent. of the total population; 831,100 speak French; 241,985 speak Italian; and 44,204 speak Romansch. The three official languages are German, French, and Italian; the German is a High German Patois. There are seven universities, all on the German model. Those figures seem to suggest that Germans would have no difficulty in understanding the language spoken in Switzerland. Despatches of recent date from American journalists resident in Switzerland have suggested that the Swiss Government has been deeply concerned by the activities of the "Fifth Columnists" there, but in the light of more recent events since the capitulation of France their services will no longer be required. Yours, etc.,
O.A.
G.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 59, 9 August 1940, Page 20
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204SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 59, 9 August 1940, Page 20
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