Very good.. I especially like 12) & 13) which are basically "pay people to teach you"..

I'm with Dani on that one.. I don't think people would be expected to become fluent in their local dialect..
At least the SVP isn't targeting specific ethnic groups for once! Funnily enough, almost all of the foreigners I know of eastern European/African/Asian descent here speak perfect Swiss German; the rest speak fluent Hochdeutsch. The majority of foreigners I know here who don't speak the language are english, some of whom have been living here for 6+ years.. Sure, some people find learning languages difficult, are busy with family, work etc., and learning languages isn't part of our culture like it is here.. but I think in many cases it's rather that people just couldn't be bothered. It's a shame, because it doesn't really help one integrate into society, make new friends etc.. Life is much more pleasant when you can understand the language.

I recently bought it and the equally interesting "Kuhschweizer und Sauschwaben" which covers a similar topic. Haven't read either one yet.

You've raised an interesting point here.

Most of the people learning German who are of non-European decent will be learning

a) A language completely unrelated to their mother tongue
b) Learning the language here, after they move here

If it really is mainly the English speakers who bemoan that they can't learn the language because their not adept at learning languages then that speaks volumes.. if everyone else is able to do this, then either there's something in the English gene pool that prevents certain people from learning the language (which I don't believe for a second.. If you can learn your first language, you can learn your second language) or they are just plain lazy (which I'm pretty certain is true in most cases).

Yes.. It is difficult to learn a language, but it's not an art form like the violin or sculpture, it's a basic need, like learning to eat. We learned to communicate as cave men, way way way before we learned to play violins. Communication is an instictual need, if you, as an English speaker, were born in Germany, you would have no problem speaking German, it's just when people get a mental block and say "It's easier for you to communicate with me in English than it is for me to communicate with you in German" that we get this situation.. It's not, it's just as difficult for someone else to speak in a foreign tongue as it is for you to, but some people can be bothered, and others can't.

I'm bored now..