[Italian abstract: Ticino7 tratta il tema del plurilinguismo in Svizzera. Forse si dovrebbe usare l'inglese come lingua franca (e già avviene in molti contesti: universitario, business). Questo toglierebbe il vantaggio che chi parla (svizzero)tedesco ha da sempre, in Svizzera. E forse i governi di Paesi come gli US o UK, fortemente avvantaggiati da questa diffusione dell'inglese, non dovrebbero pagare per i corsi d'inglese. ]
This week, the main theme in Ticino7 is language. Editor Matteo Airaghi and journalist Nenad Stojanevic (the article in Ticino7 is online on his website) talk about the fifth swiss language: English. In Switzerland, official languages are three: German, French and Italian. The fourth national language is Rumanch.
Several people talk in English very often, in Switzerland. In the academic world, this happens very often: in administrative meetings (I was in Lausanne, last week, and I gave my presentation in English to a (swiss)german/french/italian speaking people) , in academic meetings and more often in classes. For instance, at the University of Lugano (Università della Svizzera italiana), we have lot of masters that are thaught in English.
Should English be the language to talk among people speaking different languages, in Switzerland? Nowadays, (swiss)german speaking people have great advantages. Italian speaking people are a minority.
And the part I prefere: should US and UK government pay for English classes in foreign countries?
