It occured to me that English-speakers who come to the German-speaking part of Switzerland would ease their transition by not only using some key standard German phrases (to let the natives know you're at least trying to learn their language), but also some Swiss-German as well. Aside from "Gruezi" and "Merci veilmal" I know nothing.

I realize this isn't going to affect me, but it might be useful for others. I also realize that since dialect varies from canton to canton, the same phrase may be said much differently in one part of Switzerland than another even though technically they speak the same language. Does anybody here have any suggestions?

Sprechen sie Englisch?

my favorite part of this thread is all the pedantic wrangling in English amongst native German or SG speakers that is absolutely syntactically maddening.



here a couple of phrases that I have found useful, sorry but my gringo computer does not have an umlaut option other than programmed keystrokes in Word so these are Fun With Phonics spellings:

nomal bitte langsam
once again, more slowly please

im fass han niid
i don't understand (i don't get it)

fraaga oppi andera
i don't know (ask me something else)

ich bin am laarna
i am learning

ich mochte uf deutsch probiera
i would like to try in german

Just don't say "ja" when someone in a shop asks you "sind Sie bedient" and you are still waiting to be served. We learned the hard way. We were waiting to be served for ages in Interdiscount. A staff member greeted us, asked "sind Sie bedient, we said "ja" and then they walked away again

you can say "ja" to "sind sie bedient" if you are pissed. The question at the supermarket was most likely "werden sie bedient?".

Apparently not in Switzerland:

http://leben-schweiz.de/schweizerdeu...chwyzerdutsch/

"Und wenn man bedient ist, heißt das nicht, ich habe die Nase voll, sondern dass man bereits bedient wurde."

Are you sure?

it's what I was told, although given the Swiss sense of humor it is entirely possible that I was only told the phrase so as to identify myself as an idiot.



EDIT: ok, I double-checked. the precise definition is apparently "I do not grasp it / I do not have a grip on it." depending on the context it could also apparently mean "I am out of control", which probably works for me in most instances, as well.

I would suggest "Telefonieren" instate 'Ruefed",rufen is hard on the vocal cord "He Sie/Du" is usfull to

He is telling it not writing it to some one

Here's a great phrase for the girls:

Ist das eine Pistole in deiner Hose oder freust du dich nur, mich zu sehen?

Could it be that the original phrase is more like "Ich fass es noed"? That means something like "I can't believe it" and is used to express displeasure.

You also have to pronounce the "ch" when saying "Gute Nacht". Otherwise it's "Gute Nackt" or "Good naked". I hear this all the time

I've not heard that one, but I will definitely use it around the house.



If "fass" is akin to the German "griff", then it certainly makes sense to me ("I do not grasp it" would be very close to "I don't believe it")? "im fass ha(n)" would then be akin to "im griff habe" (I do not have it in the grasp)?

this is part of what makes all of this so fun (at least to me), and also so incredibly challenging.

I'm afraid you can't say it that way. In the phrase im Fass ha, the word Fass would be a noun, but then it means barrel. The only noun form of the verb fassen is Fassung (or Fassig in SG) I think. This can be a lamp socket e. g., or when you "lose it" also your poise, self control etc. But you can't say i dae Fassig ha the same way you would say im Griff ha, the latter being a common phrase for having something under control. Then again, I might be wrong.

I will take your word for it, and stand corrected.

Well spotted.

Skiing is easy. Ich has voll im Fass. Ich has voll im Griff. Interesting that Fass == Griff is only used in this case.

It is not mentioned in the Deutsches Wörterbuch, perhaps the Brother Grimm never went that south.

These are all great, but can I ask a wee favour from contributors?

For us newbs, it's easy to find how a word is spelt beats no relation to how it sounds. Witness the letters w and v, as obvious examples. Would it be possible to post the phonic version as well? Eg:

Luzern
Loots-ern

(I probably still got it wrong...)

Cheers guys!

There is of course a whole Thread full of information and tips on the subject of learning Swiss German.
It is to be found in the Sticky at the top of this Sub-Forum.

that thread has some great sources of information. unfortunately, however, many of the available sources are rather basic (Pimsleur, and I am still waiting for somebody to ask me "vo duura gaats d'bahnhofstrasse?" or "wird si gern oppis asse?") and the rest tend to be linguistic research. I don't mean this to be dismissive at all, btw, I consume all of those sources like crazy and find each of them helpful in their own way.

on top of that, nearly all of the SG-related threads on the EF seem to devolve into a semantic debate about whether or not SG is a "written language", and even whether or not it is a "language" at all, etc., which is not terribly helpful to those of us whose native language is English and who therefore have no axe to grind either way. we (it seems like there are a fair number of us, anyway) simply want to learn our local language, so that we can buy groceries and petrol, and maybe even enjoy a beer or two at the neighborhood pub.

hopefully it is not objectionable if we try to keep this thread going, otherwise I will simply bury myself in my cave in the house and practice alone.

It's fine for folk to put their questions, answers, ideas etc. on here. I just wanted to add the other stuff for those who want to try other options.

Writing things 'phonetically' to help the pronunciation is, in itself, quite difficult as it depends a bit on the mother tongue of the person writing it.
It is also extremely difficult to do.

Luzern for example can sound a bit like Loo ts ah (as in cry of pain) n
Anyone coming from Basel pronounces Basel - Baaasel. Aargauers look blank and say, o, you mean Basel?

Have fun. And don't forget, it was not an alien but a Swiss who, in Zürich, asked for a Gûgge (paper bag) for her shopping and was given a chicken. (Giggel)