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A great diversity of languages is spoken in the Canton of Vaud. It is therefore of interest for the academic community as well as for the public to take a closer look at this cultural heritage. The aim of this project is to bring linguistic topics and studies that are being carried out in the canton closer to the general public; after all, it is the society and the people speaking different languages that are at the core of all of our questions:

What do we learn about our history from the Vaudois accent? What place do the national languages (Swiss German, French, Italian and Romansh) have in the canton? What place do the dozens or even hundreds of heritage languages such as English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian have in our society? How are immigrants linguistically integrated in the canton? What effect does multilingualism have on the construction of our sense of identity as a Vaudois or as a person more generally? In what way can the knowledge of various languages be useful in the working world? How do children learn several languages – and what are the benefits and challenges of being multilingual? Also, what happens to the various languages we speak when we grow older? In other words, does our proficiency in several languages remain unchanged or can we observe changes in the use of our languages?

As you may have noticed while exploring this website, all these questions are essential to the understanding of our society. That is why the project Vaud Multilingue will interest everyone who wants to learn more about questions related to multilingualism, and in particular the linguistic work that is being done in and that is related to the Canton of Vaud. Of course, the results of studies conducted in various places around the world produce fundamental knowledge that is useful to answer our questions.

We hope that this website will allow you to find out more about this subject that concerns all of us. Please feel free to contact us if you want to attend our events and/or contribute to the project.

The Vaud Multilingue team welcomes you warmly on the new website and is pleased to guide you through the world of languages, which constitutes the reality of our canton.

Enjoy your visit!