Locale Fr Ch

Reference data for the French (Switzerland) locale — endonym Français (Suisse), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

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

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 2,000,000
• L2 (additional): 300,000
• L1+L2 (total): 2,300,000

Base locale

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

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, many, other (3 forms).

• one — i = 0,1 (e.g. 0, 1)
• many — e = 0 and i != 0 and i % 1000000 = 0 and v = 0 or e != 0..5 (e.g. 1000000, …)
• other — everything else (e.g. 2~17, 100, 1000, 10000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale Fr 001 with Swiss conventions. French is one of four national languages; Swiss federal French follows translation of German-language sources, which affects terminology.

• Numbers: "septante" (70), "nonante" (90), and "huitante" (80, in Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg) are used; written "quatre-vingts" is also current. Verify the target canton.
• Currency: Swiss franc (CHF), written "CHF 12.50" or "12 fr. 50"; check CLDR fr-CH for decimal and grouping separators.
• Vocabulary: "natel" (mobile, older), "déjeuner / dîner / souper", "cornet" (bag), "bancomat", "pharmacie", "Confédération", "Conseil fédéral", "canton". Official federal French follows the Federal Chancellery's terminology.
• Gender-fair language: the Federal Chancellery publishes guidelines for gender-fair language; use them for federal and cantonal materials.
• No ß or German-specific letters: all Swiss languages use the standard Latin alphabet with local accents only.

Common pitfalls

• Using France-only numbers ("soixante-dix") for a Swiss audience.
• Using a euro sign or euro formats in Swiss material.
• The general pitfalls in Locale Fr 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.
• Microsoft Localization Style Guides, French (https://aka.ms/french-france-styleguide and https://aka.ms/french-canada-styleguide)
• Unicode CLDR locale data for number, date, and currency formats (https://cldr.unicode.org)
• Federal Chancellery (Switzerland), Guide de formulation non sexiste / gender-fair language guidance