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Article: The language balance: Switzerland's multilingual tradition makes bilingualism very common, but very few Swiss cities have been federally designated as bilingual cities. One is Biel/Bienne--where French and German reign as equals.(SWISS CITY)
- Article from:
- Swiss News
- Article date:
- March 1, 2008
- Author:
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Helena is a French Swiss who lives in Biel/Bienne. Sitting around one of the tables of the cafe La Rotonde, she explains how easy it was to adapt to the city:
"I always feel at home in Biel. Both French- and German-speaking people feel they belong to the place. I worked for several years in Bern and the feeling was different, although a lot of people speak very good French there, you know you are in a German-speaking city. In Biel it is different. And I like that."
In particular she remembers the time that she had to call the fire department in the middle of the night due to an emergency. The person who picked up the ...