After some 12 years in Switzerland, the Swiss German dialects are still the biggest problem and barrier to full integration into community life. The trend towards more dialect in TV and in the churches presents an even bigger barrier to proper social integration which is made even worse when you live in one dilaect area and work in another. Even for the Swiss, moving to another community with another dialect presents a problem.. our Swiss neighbours took over a year to learn the (admittedly agricultural) dialect of our village. If like me, you learn by studying grammar and written text, there is no hope.. either marry a Swiss or sink yourself in a long audio-visual course.. if one exisits!

I think the French and the Brits were right to supress local dialects in schools and impose a standard language. Even the German dialects have a common thread and are decipherable to anyone who can speak High German... I always chuckle when I see sub-titles on Swiss programmes shown on German TV !