Liechtenstein Culture & Language

German is the official language and the Alemannic dialect of the Alpine Rhine is what Liechtensteiners speak; the country reads Swiss and Austrian newspapers, watches Swiss television and pays in Swiss francs, and its culture is that of the valley it shares with the Swiss canton of St Gallen and the Austrian Vorarlberg across the river and the ridge. The house of Liechtenstein, absent for its first century of ownership, is now the country's most present institution: the prince lives in the castle above the capital, opens the national day on 15 August, and holds constitutional powers that the people confirmed by referendum in 2003.

The museums are out of proportion to the size of the place -- the National Museum, founded in 1890 in the castle, and the Kunstmuseum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz -- because the family's collections and the state's wealth are. The economy is industry first and finance second, with four in ten employees in services and a large share of the workforce commuting in from Switzerland, Austria and Germany, which gives the valley a working-day population much larger than its resident one.

The manners are Alpine: quiet, punctual, rule-following. Crime is low, drugs are prosecuted severely even in transit, and priority to the right is observed at every unmarked junction, which is where foreign drivers have their accidents.

German is the official language and the Alemannic dialect of the Rhine valley is what is spoken -- close to Swiss German and to Vorarlberg's, and as opaque to a High German learner as either. Everyone in the tourist trade speaks English and standard German; a Grüezi on the Swiss side becomes a Hoi or Grüess Gott here, and Merci for thank you is heard as often as Danke.