Switzerland lies at the intersection of three great European linguistic cultures, German, French and Italian. The individual language regions have easy access to the culture of the countries on their respective borders.

At the same time they also have access to the culture of the other parts of Switzerland. Radio and television programs of all the language regions can be received across the whole of Switzerland. However, this doesn't mean that people tune in to programmes in other languages. And in the bookshops of even the major cities, the selection of works in another national language is limited. In 1998, more than three times as many books were published in English in Switzerland than in Italian.

Although nearly half the books published that year were written by Swiss or by writers living in Switzerland, authors complain that very few have a readership outside their own language region.

The divide between the French and German speaking areas is known as the Röstigraben, or "rösti ditch", after the potato dish which is regarded as the typical Swiss German meal.