zürich (swiss german: "züri", french: "zurich", italian: "zurigo", romansh: "turitg") is a canton of switzerland. about 1.2 million people live there. the canton is in the northeast of switzerland. the city of zürich is its capital. the official language is german, but people speak the local swiss german dialect called "züritüütsch". english writers often write the name of the canton of zürich as canton of zurich.