Ok lets see your figures. I know things have changed in the last 10 years, but the most recent figures I find are that Serbo-Croatian is the most spoken non national language. In fact in 2000 all non national languages in the country together accounted for just a little more then Italian. I realise that the number of expats have increased since then, but they are not just English expats. The upsurge in expats is from many countries and many may have language problems. I used Czech as an example because in the 60's there was a huge increase in the number of Czechs who came to Switzerland. They all had to learn the language!!! These days with the bilateral agreement there are many more people coming to Switzerland. We also have electronic translators, google translate, language schools etc it has never been easier to get by in a foreign language, yet we still think we should not have to learn the language?

English speaking people seem to expect everyone to speak their language and make no (or very little) allowances in their own countries for non-native speakers. Suddenly when we find ourselves in a country where English is not the national language we expect to be treated differently to how we would treat foreigners in our own country. What makes us better?

The attitude that everything must be translated into English to suit a minority (Yes, we are still a minority) plays right into the hands of the SVP in showing that foreigners come here to take from the country and don't want to integrate into society. If we keep going on with this kind of attitude there may be one day more support for the SVP and it may be much harder for people to come to work and live in Switzerland.