Languages Act (LangA)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only, has no legal force and may not be relied on in legal proceedings.
Art. 14 Student exchange schemes
1 The Confederation and the cantons shall encourage the exchange of school students and teachers at all school levels. 2 The Confederation may grant financial assistance to the cantons and exchange organisations.
Art. 15 Teaching
1 The Confederation and the cantons shall, within the scope of their responsibilities, ensure that the teaching language, and in particular its standard form, is accorded special attention at all academic levels. 2 They shall, within the scope of their responsibilities, encourage plurilingualism among learners and teachers. 3 They shall, within the scope of their responsibilities, be committed to a system of teaching foreign languages that guarantees that at the end of their compulsory schooling, students have skills in at least one second national language and one other foreign language. The teaching of the national languages shall take account of the cultural aspects of a plurilingual country.
Art. 16 Further measures to promote language skills
The Confederation may grant financial assistance to the cantons to: a. devise the basic requirements for the teaching of a second and third national language; b. promote skills in the local national language among those who speak a different language; c. promote the skills of those who speak a different language in their own mother tongue.
Art. 17 Academic institutionpromoting plurilingualism
In order to coordinate, introduce and conduct applied research on languages and plurilingualism, the Confederation and the cantons may support an academic institution suitable for this purpose.
Art. 18 Support for organisations
The Confederation may grant financial assistance to: a. news agencies of national importance that report on the four language regions of the country; b. non-profit-making organisations and institutions of national importance that by their activities promote understanding in at least one language region or carry out fundamental work promoting plurilingualism and publish the results; c. joint bodies that support projects that increase understanding between the linguistic communities.
Art. 19 Financial assistance for translation work
The Confederation may grant financial assistance to non-profit-making organisations and institutions active in Switzerland for written translations from one official Swiss language into the others.
Art. 20 Plurilingualism in public service
1 The Confederation shall encourage its employees to further their knowledge of the national languages. 2 The Confederation shall ensure that the linguistic communities are fairly represented in the federal authorities and extra-parliamentary committees, and shall encourage plurilingualism in the armed forces. 3 The Confederation and the cantons shall make their terminology databases available to each other free of charge.