Hi All,

I'm moving to Zurich on Tuesday. Oh . Thought I'd say hi make my introduction.

1st question - I want to try and learn Swiss German, I don't know any other foreign languages. Can people recommend any classes or anything or is there a Swiss German social night I can come along too?

Thanks and hopefully will get to meet some of you soon.

Stu

I start at the migros language school on 17/2 i.e. a beginners course in german. Sorry no swiss german courses. There may still be a few places left http://www.klubschule.ch/de/Seiten/default.aspx its chf 500
Tim

My German tutor said it's not worth taking a Swiss German course until you reach at least level B2 in Standard German.

I'm just completing C1 German but don't really feel the need to learn to speak Swiss German. I understand it and Swiss German speakers understand me speaking Standard German.

In order to understand newspapers, official documentation, road signs, and other essentials, you need to have a good grounding in Standard German. Swiss German is, for a foreigner, a "nice to have" but not essential.

If you do eventually want to learn Swiss German, someone informed me that CD's are the best, rather than doing a course. Also listening to the Radio helps.
I think seek first to understand Swiss German, then over time ( plenty of it) the brave and linguists among us attempt to speak it!
A smattering of High German is useful.

Migros seems to be the cheapest for High German courses I think.

One seems to be able to manage here without any German though, as English is spoken.

Hi there and welcome! Rosetta Stone has excellent online interactive courses available - I am following one and it's quite good fun. Good luck anyway.

I downloaded Learn Basic Swiss German from iTunes (UK store) and it's hilarious. But useful too.

ok thanks all. I've automagically installed the Rosetta Stone courses for German so will see how I get on with that. Badly I'm guessing.

Let me recommend TLC (The Language Company) which IMHO is pretty good and they offer intensive German courses which will make you speak pretty fast (at no time). I reached with them, using their study methologies and convers. EN to GE, up till level B1. From personal reasons I do not have desire to carry on, but two years of attending course (caused irriversible brain damage and other side effects) helped me to be able strike a comprehensible conversations here and there in my daily life (tell them in the shop that I freaking need one kind of cheese and not the other). Listening to TV and reading the local papers helps as well (bloody boring as hell). At the end of the day you are still expat (do not get too much hang on the language) One more thing, it might sound harsh but it is inevitable, it will make your English go bad grammar wise (if you get into German tenses and declination). Have fun and enjoy Swissinglish . Your cousin , Helga Stein

or you can join MariaMARIA for an intro
German Conversation/Practice
followed by a drink at Talacker..after that German will seem easier