Hello there

I tried to search, but i didnt get any good leading thread.

My question is:

I know there is such thing as Swiss german vs High german, is there such thing as Swiss Italian vs High Italian and Swiss French vs High French?

Is it true that people who originated from Germany will have trouble understanding Swiss german?
Is this also the case for people from Italy, and people from France?


How bad are these differences?


Thank you very much for your replies.

......................................

Thank you ElieDeLeuze for your quick reply.

Coming from the region of Hannover in Germany where we speak Hochdeutsch all the time, mostly I have no clue whatsoever what people are talking about in Swiss German. If I know the context, I can sort of follow the gist of the conversation. If people talk to me out of the blue, I still have to ask them to speak Hochdeutsch for me.

I belive in "Swiss-French" some of the numbers are different from the "French-French", too...

I'm originally from Cologne in Germany, and when I first came here I could not understand a word of what people were saying around me. It took a while to get used to, but I can understand most people now - but sometimes I still have problems with the way people from the Bern area speak

It's true that no one understands Swiss German unless you are from Switzerland. Swiss German or 'Schwizerdeutsch' is a spoken dialect only and not a written language.

However, the Swiss do understand High German or Hochdeutsch, and they will respond accordingly, especially if they understand that you are a foreigner.

Strangely enough, the French and the Italian spoken in Switzerland are the same as the French and Italian from France and Italy, with only a few minor differences in vocabulary.

I should not feel so bad then when I don't understand something
then.

Thank you for the replies guys.

What about the other way around? What happen if swiss-german speaking person go to Germany and speak swiss-german?

Would they be understood by the Germans?



What about the german language schools in Switzerland? Do they teach high german or swiss german? I assume they would teach high german, but the environment would coax you into speaking swiss-german, am I right?


One last question: How does the rest of the world see swiss-german vs high-german? Do they see swiss-german as more informal than high-german?

Thanks alot

People from southern Germany, especially from Baden Würtenberg, normally understand Swiss German as it is relatively similar to their own dialect.

As far as Italian is concerned the Ticinesi speak their own dialect which is as different from "high" Italian as is Swiss German from high German.

Correct....

Have a look at this thread for more information about Swiss Italian:

Italian Language in Italy

Calvin,

there are many dialects that are spoken in Ticino, and especially if you are near the tyrol boarder, the dialect becomes a lilting mixture of northern italian and german.

It is normal to have dialects in different areas, however, when you go out on the streets, shops, schools, etc. it is Italian like in Italy that is spoken.

This is very different from the Swiss German dialect, that is profusely used by everyone in general. Even in the schools, the teachers speak to their students in Swiss German while reading High German Text. This is the reason why the Swiss Germans do not know 'German' that well. There are many students who, trying to enter the Kantonschule, need to take extra lessons in the German language so that they can pass the entrance exams.

In general, Swiss Germans feel inferior to those who use high German; they have a chip on their shoulder about it.

You typed:
Then you typed:
Well... which is it?

BTW, the Swiss do have a written language... It is spelled how it sounds.
I enjoy trying to decipher the Swiss-German text, a real challenge!

Let me input here: This is your impression. If you want to state this as a
fact, then show us a source or two.

Well, you could also say that they are many different types of Swiss Germans, e.g. Züridütsch, Baslerdütsch, Berndütsch etc. That's really a question of how you want you categorize the dialects / languages.

It's true that the Ticinesi use their dialect to a lesser extent than the Swiss Germans though it's still widely spoken, especially in the valleys.


Actually high German is spoken in the schools. As to the entrance exams and the extra lessons I'm sure there are also English students struggling with the English spelling or grammar. They might need some extra help as well if they have to pass an exam.

There are certainly some Swiss who nurse - at least in linguistic matters - a inferiority complex to the Germans. But if you spend some time in Germany you realize very quickly that not everybody speaks like Helmut Schmidt there.

I certainly meant no offense with this statement and I apologize if I have done so. My statement was meant as an honest impression based on my experiences:

I have lived for over 15 years in the German part of CH,
my children have been raised there and are completely bilingual in English and High German (they actually speak 4 languages each; 5 if you count Swiss-German),
having Swiss-German speaking friends who, as polyglots and world travelers themselves, have expressed this sense of inferiority they feel is present in their culture when it comes to Swiss-German vs German language,
having German friends whom have experienced a 'negative' reaction by Swiss-German speakers when speaking their native High German,
and as a linguist and someone who has a passion for languages and for my adopted country of Switzerland.

Another plus is that I find Swiss French speakers talk so much more slowly than the French do.

I don't really think the rest of the world cares an awful lot to be honest.

Differences in French/Swiss French

French/Swiss French
70 - soixante-dix / septante
71 - soixante-onze / septante-et-un
80 - quatre-vingt / huitante
81 - quatre-vingt-et-un. / huitante-et-un
82 - quatre-vingt deux / huitanet deux.
90 - quatre-vingt-dix / nonante

and so on.

BUT the Swiss French perfectly understand the French French.

AIUI, the Swiss French learn Berlin German at school, which pisses them off, because the High German the German speakers learn, is Swiss High German. Not the same.

Thanks, that reads a lot better than the statement made before.