How many national languages does Switzerland have?

Why does Switzerland have three languages? Are there other longstanding countries like it?

• Switzerland has been around in some form or another, and I gather that Geneva and Lugano have been part of Switzerland since the 16th century. I presume that Swiss German is closer to Hochdeutsch than either is to any 14th century version of German (when the first Swiss Confederacy was established). Why did Switzerland not develop its own hybrid language like Maltese or English? Did the different parts of the confederacy not have much to do with each other in terms of trade or migration—i.e., were they more connected economically and culturally to speakers of the same language in other countries? Are there other countries in the world that are similar? Belgium and Canada also have multiple official languages, but I understand their establishment as countries are much more recent.

• Answer:

  Four. Not three. Rhaeto Romanic. A language that is very close to vulgar Latin is the fourth. http://official-swiss-national-languages.all-about-switzerland.info/rumantsch-language.html Switzerland is an old federation. The different tribes making up this federation retained their cultures and languages. The whole country, being an assembly of valleys, probably helped in keeping the idiosyncrasies intact, much like Papua Guinea, which has the highest density of different languages on earth, due to its mountainous terrain. In the old days people would not travel much in the mountains. Another not so obvious example would be Germany. The difference being that there is just one official language, which nearly everyone writes and hardly anyone speaks. Germany is a country of dialect speakers. Bavarian and Platt (Far North) are so far apart that their respective speakers would hardly understand the "Good Morning" of the other. The concept of "High German" as a uniting language is rather new, and rides on the back of Prussian hegemony. Spain has its Basque, New Zealand has Te Reo (Maori) as alternative official languages. Please remember that a language is only a dialect with an army and a fleet. That a language is "official" really does not mean much.