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Hugo Loetscher 
Alan Bridgman, Translator
Translated from the German by Alan J. Bridgman
We do not write as we speak. This refers not to morals but to language.
The situation is not as unusual as we suppose. But we Swiss tend to think that what distinguishes us is unique. Even if we do have problems, we do not wish to share them.
The fact that in the homeland of Pestalozzi there are functionally illiterate people does not fit into our virtuous view of ourselves. Should we be consoled by the statistics from the schools that tell us our young people are better at arithmetic than reading?
What, on the other hand, does a Chinese think of our problem? He can read what other Chinese ethnic groups write, but he does not understand them when they speak, because the characters are pronounced differently. Thus, a film made in Hongkong in Cantonese will be shown in Taiwan with Chinese subtitles for those who speak Mandarin - community through writing, not through speech.
And how could we explain our problem to an author who speaks a language for which there may not yet exist a possibility of being published? To a Nigerian, for instance, who speaks one of the languages counted by hundreds in his country? Do we want to complain to African writers, faced with the dilemma of whether, in order to reach a larger public, they should write in English, French or Portuguese: indicting what colonialism has done to their people, but in the language that was imposed on them by their former colonial masters?
Our situation is not all that interesting for the world, even though it is still true to say: we do not write as we speak.
We - this refers to us, the German-Swiss. This restriction is not without significance; after all, Switzerland is a country with four languages.
An Indian might report that in his country 15 principal and regional languages are authorised and in addition 24 independent languages can be found, without even mentioning the 700 dialects and tribal languages. But is it not unfair and unacceptable to compare a sub-continent with an Alpine statelet? Is it not malicious of a Third World inhabitant to ask what we would do if, instead of the Rhaetians, Moslems lived in the Engadine, and in the South not Tessiners but black people, and in the Upper Valais nomads with ibex herds! Will it help us to argue from history then, that we too have had religious wars, even though they were only between ourselves, between Christian brothers?
Another comparison puts things in perspective: with a population of 9oo million in India, a minority of 4.7% represents almost 45 million Gujarati, and 1.3 % Rajasthani are still 12 million. How modest is our conception of minorities next to those figures - in other countries the dwarfs are bigger.
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Obviously, in conditions such as those of India or Nigeria, the demand arises for a language of communication. In these and other cases, it is English.
We have no such solution for mutual comprehension in our country. Or have we? Even if only to a small extent. As we consider ourselves a federal state, we ensure in an egalitarian manner that none of our four languages is given precedence; as a result, we go back to a dead language which, although it inspires nobody, hurts nobody. The English of our federalism is Latin:
CH is the abbreviation for Confoederatio Helvetica, Swiss Confederation. These initials are seen on motor vehicles and appear in front of postal codes as the international symbol for the country. When a national cultural foundation is set up, we call it "Pro Helvetia," and the copyright protection society is named "Pro Litteris." If we think of young people, we choose "Pro Juventute" for the old "Pro Senectute" and for the physically handicapped "Pro Infirmi." The Latin need not always be quite correct, whether it is " Pro Instruct" or "Pro Print." But when it comes to emphasising tradition and a reactionary programme, what could be more appropriate than a dead language, namely "Pro Patria et Familia."
But on the banknotes we respect four languages: Schweizerische Nationalbank, Banca Naziunala Svizra, Banque Nationale Suisse, Banca Nazionale Svizzera.
No, the Swiss franc is not a dead currency.
German, French, Italian, Romansh - one country with four languages. This does not correspond to the definition of a nation that was developed at the time of the Romantic Movement and of growing nationalism: one country, one language, one history - leading to the horrible memory of what was to last a thousand years: one empire.
Switzerland shares three languages with neighbours whose history took a different course, and the history of our own country was not the same for all the linguistic regions.
How little European states themselves abided by their formula for a nation can be seen from the frontiers drawn for ex-colonies, such as African states, which were released into new independence and old tribal feuds.
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Switzerland created for its own situation the expression "Willensnation" (nation created by its own will). A self-satisfied formula if it implies that other nations arose purely from natural causes and that no act of will began their history, quite apart from the fact that such a nation depends not only on its own will but also on that of others, if we think for instance of our neutrality and the respect shown for it by the great powers.
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