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Language stays

Would you like to improve your language and social skills? Get to know a foreign culture? Then you will find information here about a possible language stay.

A language study trip will improve much more than just your language skills. Being exposed to new situations in a foreign environment can foster the (further) development of personal skills:

  • Openness
  • Self-confidence
  • Independence
  • Sense of responsibility
  • Thinking creatively and in a joined-up way
  • Intercultural skills

There are various options for spending several weeks or months abroad learning or improving a language. You can attend a language school or an intensive course, or you can do a work placement.

General Information

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) provides general information on the topic of language study abroad as well as a corresponding guidebook (PDF) on its website:

The information portal of the vocational, academic and career counselling service «berufsberatung.ch» offers helpful information on how to find a suitable program for learning a foreign language. The website offers an overview of language stays and courses, as well as possible language diplomas and levels:

Language study abroad providers

«Intermundo» is the umbrella organisation for the promotion of youth exchanges. It offers stays abroad in various forms: Exchange year, work and social assignments, language courses as well as au pair programs:

Below you will find other organisations that offer language stays (list is not exhaustive):

Volunteering/social work, internships abroad

The «International Cultural Youth Exchange» (ICYE) is a non-profit exchange organisation that offers worldwide voluntary and social work placements. The programs promote understanding and solidarity between people from different cultures:

The organisation «AIESEC» also offers various opportunities for volunteering abroad:

«IAESTE» arranges paid internships abroad in technical and scientific fields of study. The salary approximately covers the cost of living. IAESTE Switzerland works with almost all Swiss (technical) colleges and universities with technical and scientific courses of study:

If you would like to volunteer in Switzerland – for example for refugees or in mountain areas – you can visit the website of youngCaritas:

  • Alternatives to studying

  • Interim solutions

  • Career entry (overview)

  • Career path and professional life (overview)

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