From a PAX:
Yes that is my recent experience. Flew Swissair MAN-FCO via Zurich.
On the way out, briefings were in English and German. In fact on the 2nd leg from Zurich, a 3rd briefing was played in Japanese (off-tape of course). Looking round the cabin, there were indeed upwards of 30 Japanese tourists on board. I think the fact that an airline can figure this from the bookings and add an extra briefing language as appropriate is pretty cool.
On the way back, however, the leg from Zurich-MAN was a sub-contracted aircraft. A Scandinavian aircraft I think (not SAS). The briefing there was to hit the button (with crew demo of course) and was only delivered in English. How that fits in with a Scandinavian plane contracted by a Swiss operator I'm not sure?
Suffice to say as a PAX I think the safety briefing is important. I know many ignore it. On the better flights I have seen CC ask people to put their paper down and actually listen - good on you. Usually I make sure I get eye contact with a CC during the briefing to at least show that someone is listening. Despite the fact that us PAX have all flown a million times and apparently 'know better', I think survivability if it 'hits the fan' might be improved if people were to take it a little more seriously. In a plane with 200 on board, even a 1% improvement would mean 2 more would get through.
