I'm a Swiss American college student who has lived in the US my whole life and I only speak English and Hochdeutsch and extremely basic Züritüütsch. After college I would really like to attend UZH for grad school/move to Switzerland for an extended period (5-10 years). While I know it isn't needed to study at the university, I would still like to learn the dialect to a proficient extent so I would be able to integrate into society better. Also would like to learn so I could maybe do my military service when I get there. Any tips on learning before I get there?

My mom, from whom I got my citizenship, spoke dialect as a first language, but my grandparents (the only living one lives 1500 miles away from me in Boston; read: no help there) stopped speaking it with her and my aunt when they came to the US (my mom was about 6) so they could learn English, so both she and her sister have subsequently forgotten it to a fluent extent (they can still handle very simple everyday situations in dialect). So I can't learn anything much from my mom.

Thanks for the help!!

Welcome to the forum. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll see threads already in existence that will answer your questions.

Sorry about that; thanks for pointing those out!