On average, the citizens of which country can speak the most languages?

star_gazer

The German-speaking Swiss (Deutschschweizer), i.e. Alemannic German, historically amalgamated from the Gallo-Roman population and the Alemanni and Burgundii, including subgroups such as the Walser. "Swiss" from the 16th to 18th centuries referred to this group exclusively, and only with the expansion of the Swiss confederacy following the Congress of Vienna was the term applied to non-Alemannic territories. Closely related German-speaking peoples are the Alsatians, the Swabians and the Vorarlbergians. The French-speaking Swiss (Romands), traditionally speaking Franco-Provençal dialects, today largely assimilated to the standard French language (Swiss French), amalgamated from the Gallo-Roman population and Burgundians (the historical Upper Burgundy). They are closely related to the French (especially those of Franche-Comte). The Italian-speaking Swiss (Svizzeri italofoni), traditionally speakers of Lombard language (Ticinese variety) today mostly assimilated to the standard Italian language, amalgamated from Raetians and Lombards. They are closely related to the Italians (especially Lombardians and Piedmontese). The Romansh, speakers of the Romansh language, settling in parts of the Grisons, historically of Raetic stock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Germans Jan 20 09, 4:01 PM

Baloo55th

I think I've been misunderstood - my point was that I took it to be the number of languages a person can speak irrespective of the number spoken locally. For example, I speak two languages (and read quite a few...). Many people in the UK speak French or German or Spanish - none of which are native languages to the UK. Many kids in Wales will speak English, Welsh and French (or German, etc). Few of the people in PNG will speak many languages. It's just my interpretation. Jan 20 09, 4:05 PM

author

The most bi-lingual country might be Luxembourg: 98 % speak more than one language there. http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:VCS7vjYmxJsJ:www.cilt.org.uk/news/archive/pressrelease/00_01_02/UKrelease.rtf+the+citizens+of+which+country+can+speak+the+most+languages&hl=no&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=no Jan 21 09, 5:18 PM