A stone’s throw from the upscale resort of Zermatt, the small village of Täsch in canton Valais has the highest proportion of foreigners in Switzerland. And for some years now, the Portuguese community has outnumbered locals. This has had a strong impact on the village. At first glance, few places are more quintessentially Swiss than Täsch, with its traditional wooden chalets, hiking trails and proximity to the Matterhorn – a mountain so iconic that it long featured on the packaging of Toblerone chocolate bars. The small Valais village, nestled in a valley over 1,400 metres above sea level, is known as the main gateway to the Swiss tourist hotspot of Zermatt. In other words, when travellers arrive in Täsch, they step into picture-postcard Switzerland. Yet this is perhaps one of the places where one is least likely to encounter native speakers of Wallisertitsch, the local Swiss-German dialect. Indeed, the village has the highest proportion of foreign residents in the country. Of the ...
