Why is Romansh - spoken by 0.5 per cent of the Swiss population - considered a language, whereas Swiss German, spoken by almost 64 per cent, is classed as a dialect?

Romansh, a Latin-based language spoken by a tiny minority of the Swiss population, is one of Switzerland's four national languages.

The standard version of Romansh, Rumantsch Grischun (RG), has raised passions ever since its introduction more than 20 years ago.

The old Latin-based language Romansh, which has survived for hundreds of years deep within Graubünden's isolated valleys, is becoming increasingly marginal.

Education is recognised as one of the most important ways of preserving the minority language Romansh, which is one of canton Graubünden's three official languages.