This is an interesting thread. When I first moved here I was fascinated by the varying dialects scattered through the german part of CH.

Think of it this way.....

Yes, there are many different dialects of Swiss German and yes, many of them sound so different from the others...and I know that there are some dialects, especially spoken in mountain regions, that are very difficult to understand for some Swiss...but I think it is safe to assume that the majority of the Swiss can understand (more or less) the varying dialects...not completely as there are different words for things but still making it quite easy to converse with anyone no matter which area they are from.

It is just like in the UK. How many different dialects/accents are present there!? So many, and some are easier or harder to undserstand than others...much like the situation here, but at the end of the day it is English. And in Switzerland, at the end of the day it is Swiss German.

So...I do think that Swiss German is an "official" unofficial language, but High German serves as this countries source for a written and grammatical language. Because Swiss German is loosely based on German fundamentals...i think it is ok to keep things the way they are.