Rhaeto-Romance, commonly called Romansch, is a group of closely-related dialects spoken in the Swiss canton of Grisons, where it holds an official status. It is one of the four official languages of Switzerland where it was recognized in 1938 alongside French, German, Italian and Spanish. It is not to be confused with Romani or Romanian languages.
Rhaeto-Romance is a descendant of Vulgar Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, and was brought to Switzerland by Roman merchants and soldiers. It’s part of the Romance language group.
Although there are only 35 000 Rhaeto-Romance speakers, it is used in schools in Grisons, and is the main language of instruction during the first 3–6 of the 9 years of compulsory education.
