English as a lingua franca has snuck itself into our daily lives, thus also affecting the language practices in many workplaces all over Switzerland. In the world of music, there are plenty of anglicisms that we use on a regular basis: DJ, Hip Hop, Rap, Charts, R’n’B and Jazz, among many others. This study aims […]

  For my project, I was interested in the language practices of an international student organization, based at a university in the Swiss German-speaking part of Switzerland. The organization creates events for exchange students to get to know each other and explore Switzerland and the city the university is located in. Of the 25 members […]

  Asking Swiss employees about their English use and the challenges they face A city like Basel, which is located right next to the Dreiländereck and houses two of the biggest pharma companies worldwide, attracts people from various cultural but also linguistic backgrounds. The employees of a small property management company at the boarder to […]

English in the pharmacy in Basel Have you ever wondered how present English is in pharmacies around you? How is it perceived and how often is it used in a country with four national languages? I interviewed six workers about this. Working in two different pharmacies in two different locations, the only thing that unites […]

Have you ever wondered about the two mysterious figures sitting in the cockpit, entrusted with the lives of hundreds of passengers? How did they get there? And what does it take to wear the pilot’s hat? Among many other qualities, it takes a good amount of English language skills. But how good exactly? And how […]

  In a multicultural and multilingual country, English is beginning to take on more and more of an important role. Also playing an important role in this globalisation is the medium of emails. Thanks to today’s technology, larger scale communications can take place simultaneously and anachronistically. One does not have to immediately be available to […]

  English is around us all the time as it has become a lingua franca and is especially important in the workplace. This study aims to understand the reasons and motivation of adults learning English.  The participants (5 in total, two female and three male) wanting to learn English are between the ages of 30 […]

  I decided to have a look at how well a person who does not speak any of the four Swiss national languages and therefore would lean towards speaking English, either as a first language (L1) or additional language (L2 /+), experiences the Universitätsspital in Basel. The cantonal hospital is the biggest health center in […]

  The language makeup of Switzerland can help contextualize the findings and improve the understanding of the individual blogposts overall. In this contribution, we aim to summarise and point out relevant information concerning English in the workplace. Language Profile of Switzerland The Swiss authority of statistics published statistics concerning language use in Switzerland. They included […]

  Have you ever been told that learning English will open up the gate to a successful career? In most businesses, a certain proficiency in English is the premise. Switzerland has a particularly rich linguistic environment, starting with four national languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh). Could the “common” language English bridge the linguistic difficulties […]