Hoi zaeme!
I plan to move to the german side of switzerland at the end of the summer and want to learn as much german language as i can before to come.
I am attending a beginner-level 40 hours individual german course in italy to learn the basis of the language. This course should pave the way
for a 1-month intermediate-level intensive course that i will do at the end of the summer.
I was wandering if it is better to spend this month to learn the language in Germany or in Switzerland and i am comparing the two options. I think that learning german in germany is the best way to learn a good german ( outside the classroom i would be sorrounded by german-speaking people, not schwitzerduetch-speaking people, i think it is better for learning faster). On the other hand i could start looking and applying for a job if i study the language in Switzerland, thus reducing my unemployed period.

What do you think about it?

Giovanni

At a beginners or almost-beginners' level, it does not make any difference. Your taste, your money, your time, your hollidays... so follow your hart.

I would say Germany is a better place to learn proper German. Later,
you can learn Swiss German.

Learn proper German like what I did!!!

I would personally recommend Germany

• for learning Hochdeutsch, it can't get any "hocher"
• language course fees, living and accommodation are cheaper, so your dollar goes a long way
• Germany has a lot (more?) to offer in terms of culture & history
• and you can then compare between germany and switzerland, and not jus believe what the german textbooks tell you, eg german is spoken in "DE, CH und Ö"

just my 2 cents

Is there a city or region in Germany where they talk a very good german respect to the other?
I mean, a place where the dialect is not so far from german and i learn a good german...
For example, I have seen that courses in Berlin are pretty cheap, is it a good place for studying?
However, I would prefer a place near switzerland since i can reach it with the car and i can travel to switzerland for job-meeting (I hope).

Berlin is OK. The working class has a local version but when beginning with the language, you do not have to fear that.

Generally speaking, northern Germany has a more standard pronounciation, clear High German. But once again, as a beginner, just start anywhere you feel is good for you. Going out in Berlin will make use your German right away, and there is every thing one can enjoy.

My understanding is that the Hanover accent is regarded as the most "correct", and my German colleagues tell me that the Saxon (Sachsen) accent is the least pleasant on the ear. That said, I would doubt very much whether it would make any difference for a beginner's course. Regardless of local accent and dialect, I would expect a course advertising itself as Hochdeutsch would take care to teach you the "proper" form regardless of where it is.

Sorry to follow up my own post, but, there are some cases where it is definitely worth finding out how Swiss German differs from Hochdeutsch. The one that I have found most important is the numbers. The first time I bought rubbish bags at the supermarket, for example, I didn't really know what the lady at the checkout was saying when she asked if I wanted "feuf-a-drees'g", it was only later that I discovered this was Swiss German for "fünf und dreizig", that is, asking whether I wanted 35 L bags, rather than the smaller 17 L ones they also have.

I also would like to talk about the option of studying german in switzerland, are there intensive curses (i guess i will move to zuerich or luzern) where i can study at least 40 hr for week?

One can perfectly learn High German in Switzerland. So do the Swiss. It can even be less confusing, as Swiss High German words are integrated right from the beginning. In a course in Switzerland, you'll learn das Tram right away. In Germany, you learn die S-Bahn (in Hamburg even die Hochbahn) and have to adapt when coming to Switzerland. It is no problem at all when you speak German very well (German people adapt very quickly) but it may be more disturbing as a beginner. I don't know, just guessing... I may be wrong.

I would recommend Freiburg, Deutschland. It is 30-min DB from Basel.

Swiss German - Bon allemand
========== - ==========
die S-Bahn - die S-Bahn
das Car / der Gesellschaftswagen - der Reisebus
das Postauto - der Postbus
der Trolleybus - der O-Bus
das Tram - die Tram / die Strassenbahn
die Badi - das Schwimmbad
der Perron - der Bahnsteig
das Poulet - das Haehnchen

Try learning in a different way.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/bonus/pd...-dont-work.pdf

This is the school in Berlin that is referenced in the article.
http://www.hartnackschule-berlin.de/english/index.php

I would recommend learning German there as it's a lot cheaper and a more interesting city. You'll have plenty of time to adjust your German in Switzerland after you learn it.

My personal experience: I chose to go to Munich for a month (having already spent 6 months in CH) for an intensive course, simply because of the price. I could study for 4 weeks, with accommodation for a touch less than what i would have paid in Switzerland for just the course.

I have just finished a two week German course at the Goethe Institute in Berlin. I choose to do this because I hadn't yet seen Berlin (still feel like I haven't, there is so much of it, but that is another discussion) and I thought that it might be a good way to start progressing in German again. Overall, I can only recommend both the school and the city.

What is important is that you spend time exposed to German, and being exposed to the same high German that you see in class on the street, in shops, and so on certainly helps a bit.

But you can certainly find Hochdeutsch television and movies and newspapers in any German speaking city, and if you are in the right sort of class you should also find some classmates willing to try to continue practicing German over beers in the evening. How much you take advantage of these opportunities will have a much bigger effect on your German education than your choice of city.

P.S. Berlin is much cheaper than Zürich.