🇨🇭 Learning the languages of Switzerland

The canton maintains a searchable database of German courses by location and category, backed by a free advisory service available in sixteen languages that helps match you to a subsidised course. Subsidy levels are set by your commune rather than the canton, so the same course can cost different amounts depending on where you are registered. The advice is free and worth taking before you book anything. Zurich city and Winterthur run their own sub-databases within the same system.

A cantonal school for adult continuing education in Zurich, offering German writing and communication courses within its Grundkompetenzen programme alongside vocational training. Being public, it is priced well below the commercial chains, and cantonal subsidies for basic-skills courses can reduce it further. The German offering is narrower than a dedicated language school's, so check the current catalogue against your level. Enrol by email or phone.

Geneva's cantonal integration office runs a course finder covering French and alphabétisation classes at deliberately low rates, filterable by level, schedule, location, type of learner and whether childcare is provided — the last of which matters enormously and is rarely listed elsewhere. It aggregates community, association and public providers in one place. Free to use; course fees vary but are subsidised. The office was formerly known as the BIE and is now the OAIS.

Run jointly by the University of Zurich and ETH, the centre teaches German as a foreign language alongside other languages, at an academic pace suited to people who will study or work in a German-speaking professional environment. Priority and reduced rates go to enrolled students and staff, with only some courses open to external participants — check availability before planning around it. Paid; see the course catalogue for external-participant slots.

The University of Geneva's dedicated school for teaching French language and civilisation to non-native speakers, open to people outside the university as well as to students. Intensive courses covering A0 through B2 run through the university's continuing-education arm, alongside semester courses at the school itself. Academically serious and a good bridge if you intend to study in French. Paid, at university continuing-education rates. The older Maison des Langues branding no longer applies.

A non-profit adult training centre with a long history of teaching French to Geneva's migrant and working population, with levels from A1 to B1 and some courses tailored to specific groups such as young people or workers. Prices are deliberately low and there is no admissions barrier. Start by going to reception for an orientation test — they take walk-ins — or phone ahead. Rates are not published online, so ask when you test.