Locale De Ch

Reference data for the German (Switzerland) locale — endonym Deutsch (Schweiz), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: de-CH
• ISO 639-1: de
• ISO 639-3: deu
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: CH (Switzerland)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 5,600,000
• L2 (additional): 500,000
• L1+L2 (total): 6,100,000

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale De 001 (German), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

• one — i = 1 and v = 0 (e.g. 1)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale De 001 with Swiss conventions. Written Swiss Standard German (Schweizer Hochdeutsch) differs from German in Germany; Swiss German dialects (Schwiizertüütsch) are spoken and are not used in standard writing.

• Orthography: the Swiss do not use ß; write "ss" ("Strasse", "Fussball"). Capital ẞ is also not used.
• Quotation marks: «…» and ‹…› are standard in Switzerland.
• Numbers and currency: Swiss franc (CHF); amounts are written "CHF 12.50" with a decimal point; the thousands separator is the apostrophe (1’234.50) in everyday use, but check CLDR de-CH and the product convention.
• Vocabulary: "Velo" (bicycle), "Billett" (ticket), "parkieren", "Trottoir", "Natel" (older word for mobile), "Znüni" (morning snack), "Spital" (hospital). Federal terminology follows the Federal Chancellery.
• Register: "Sie" is the default for service and "du" is common in informal and corporate culture; "Grüezi" and "Guten Tag" are both used in greetings.
• Gender-inclusive language: the Federal Chancellery issues guidelines for gender-fair language in federal texts; follow them for federal and cantonal content.

Common pitfalls

• Writing ß in Swiss copy.
• Using German-Germany vocabulary (Fahrrad, Fahrkarte) where Swiss readers expect "Velo" and "Billett".
• The general pitfalls in Locale De 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Swiss Federal Chancellery, Leitfaden zum geschlechtergerechten Formulieren
• Swiss Federal Chancellery terminology database termdat (https://www.termdat.ch)