Flags & Maps -- both far too complicated. And they're contentious issues just waiting to explode in our faces.
Flags -- which ones to use? What to do for languages spoken in many countries? What to do for countries which speak several languages? World Map -- what about mixed areas? What about the load time for the image? It'll have to be pretty big to show the different areas of Switzerland, no?
What is the *basic, driving* idea behind these suggestions? to make it simple for people to find their language on the portal page.
The simplest thing is still to have the name of each language, in words.