I would be quite bad in my Job if I had to look up the definition of an Atom in Wikipedia


Do you consider linguistic as an exact science? I dont, at least not in the way chemistry is.
So why should I google "Facts" about my mother language when every expat in this Forum has to deal with how swissies feel about (not) speaking in swiss german. It doesn't matter what some linguist in London or wherever says, it's about the perception of the language in switzerland.




E: Typos (At least those I recognised)

...but it'll look as if you speak Bärndütsch, or so I was told..

Swiss German is a dialect. Linguistics, at its core, has to be pretty damn exact or else variations couldn't be identified and recorded.

The most beautiful of all the phlegm clearing dialects.

Aaaand we have summoned the expert As I tried to say, i dont't want to restart the discussion since I clearly lack the knowledge...


but I am convinced that it would help every new expat (even from Germany) if they would think about swiss german as a self contained language.
This how a vast majority of the local people feel about this fact.

Rude.

Yet you said linguistics wasn't an exact subject. Ah me...oh my...

Rude? Damn I really need to improve my written english. No I just believe to remember that u posted a long convincing explanation some weeks ago and since then u are a expert to me. Did it sound sarcastic?

Well move then....
DUH,
Simple.

We could say apples you would probably say oranges. I don't know why more people haven't been as blunt to you.
Not everyone likes the same thing... and that's okay!

I'll give an example:
Loved England in beginning... within about two months after. HATED. MY. LIFE. Within 6 I hated who I was and everything about it. It wasn't for me. To say the VERY least.
I was out of there nearly running with my bags to my next country.

The other countries I've been to so far I've really enjoyed. And crap, now I go back to England /UK sometimes to catch up with a few friends or to see around London and whatever. But I'd never live there again as it didn't make me happy.

Surely, once you leave you'll stop moaning and realizing it all wasn't such a negative experience.... Do what makes you happy in life. Leave.

A little. I inferred a certain tone I guess. I don't remember posting, but it's been a busy few months. Have a good rest of your evening.


Rufus.

ISO 639-3 mentions the main criteria when distinguishing dialect from language. Even if you may think Swiss German is a dialect from a linguistics POV, the ethnicity aspect probably overrides that assumptions as a Swiss ethnolinguistic identity clearly exists and strongly hints to a language of its own right.

From the link above:

"The ISO 639-3 standard applies the following basic criteria for defining a language in relation to varieties which may be considered dialects:
- Two related varieties are normally considered varieties of the same language if speakers of each variety have inherent understanding of the other variety at a functional level (that is, can understand based on knowledge of their own variety without needing to learn the other variety).
- [...]
- Where there is enough intelligibility between varieties to enable communication, the existence of well-established distinct ethnolinguistic identities can be a strong indicator that they should nevertheless be considered to be different languages.

These criteria make it clear that the identification of “a language” is not based on linguistic criteria alone.

[..]"

ETA
Come to think of it, not even the first part (understanding on a functional level) applies universally. Someone from north of the Taunus and without exposure to alemanic dialects will simply not understand Swiss German, probably same aplies to the Swabian and Bajuvarian "dialects" as well. The same probably applies vice versa, otherwise Standard German wouldn't require teaching at school.

Well, you are a bit of a snowflake, Rufus.

I actually quite liked living up north. Fewer self-righteous people. London is a seperate planet on its own.

I disagree. You will always be a foreigner. But once you do learn the language you figure out that everyone around is a foreigner or at least somebody who moved from one of the other local cultures here. So....there. The language learning part is fun.