Romandy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Romandy (French: la Suisse romande, German: Welschschweiz or Westschweiz), is the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It covers the area of the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Jura as well as the French-speaking parts of the cantons of Berne, Valais, and Fribourg. About 1.5 million people (or 20% of the Swiss population) live in Romandy.
Swiss French and the French of France are the same language, with some differences. For example, like some other regions of the French-speaking world, Swiss people (as well as many Francophone Belgians) use septante (seventy) instead of soixante-dix (literally, "sixty ten") and nonante (ninety) instead of "quatre-vingt-dix" ("four twenties and ten"). In much of Romandy, speakers use huitante (eighty) in place of the standard in France and elsewhere of "quatre-vingt" (four-twenty) and "sou" for a 5-centime coin. [1]
The term Romandy does not formally exist in the political system but is used to distinguish and unify the French-speaking population of Switzerland. The television channel Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) serves the Romande community across Switzerland, and is syndicated to TV5.
[edit] See also
- German speaking part of Switzerland
- Francophonie
- French language
- Franco-Provençal language
- Arpitania
