Talk:Swiss-German phrasebook

What is the sense in developing a swiss-german phrasebook? In switzerland you will be considered to make fun of them if you try to talk this language. Talk the normal German or English which is spoken by nearly everyone.

It's handy for understanding what people are saying. My cousin translates German for a living, and she had problems comphrehending the locals the first time she visited Zurich! (WT-en) Jpatokal 00:02, 13 June 2007 (EDT)

Written German and what is officially spoken in Germany is a foreign language to all Swiss, even the people in the "German"-speaking part of switzerland. Historically, we still speak "Alt Hochdeutsch", whereas in Germany "Neu Hochdeutsch" is spoken except for Southern Germany (Schwäbisch) and Bundesland Bayern (Bayrisch). Swiss kids who have not learnt written German in school don't understand a word of what is spoken on tv. Our mother tongue and thus all emotional information ist in the dialect of the state we grew up in. We dream and curse in that dialect. There has never been a Swiss saying "ich liebe dich". During our education we gradually start understanding the dialects of the other dialects of the 26 states (Kantone). Most Swiss have a hard time understanding traditional dialects from Thurgau, Bern, Appenzell and especially what is spoken in the Wallis. Pedro, born and raised in Switzerland

Thats absolutely correct - even for people living for many years in the Swiss german speaking region, the language / dialect is difficult to learn. All major regions habe their own kind of Swiss german dilact, even the basic hallo/goodbye formas are different and reveal, from which canton you come from. The same thing with the numbers. As there is no standard Swiss german and Swiss german is usually not written (except in some adverts and in WhatsApp communications where you write as you would speak) it is even more challenging to learn it. Here we have a mix of Swiss german expressions, mainly Zurich is quite standard, Bärndütsch more difficult to understand - in fact in some regions dialects are even different from one village or town to the next one... I agree with Pedro, that over the years, we leant to understand the dialects of the other cantons, which is true for the Swiss german speaking ones, most Swiss don't make it for the 26 cantons, as there is a number of French speaking cantons (and we are not all fluent French speakers...), for the Ticino, we should speak Italien and for parts of the canton of Grisons one of the five major dialects of Rumantsch - at this point, most of the Swiss have to surrender... And there are many, many people in Switzerland who do not understand Swiss german, not because they never went to school because of their age (schools exist far longer then hundred years), but because they are immigrants, and never went to school in Switzerland.

regards Martin - Mboesch (talk) 19:56, 22 September 2019 (UTC)

ps.: "Nevertheless, saying a few words in Swiss-German will undoubtedly impress the locals." - might impress, might not. If you use expressions usually used in another canton or region, it just sounds ridiculous. As if I had learned sometheing about German dialects, go to a Bavarian beer garden and greet the people there with "moin, moin"... Many german immigrants decided to stay with "Hochdeutsch", as in the ears of the locals, a foreigner trying to speak swiss german sounds really funny. Usually the Swiss will automatically switch to Hochdeutsch during the conversation. There is a joke about the famous Swiss german comedian Emil Steinberger who had some of his sketches in a Swiss style pronounced Hochdeutsch, and german people who could understand his jokes, were convinced, they would now understand Swiss german - sorry, that is not the case.

Rösti

That should be fried grated potatoes, not fried mashed right?

yes, grated potatoes, either raw or cooked before the are put in the frying pan - long discussions, which has a better taste, regards Martin - Mboesch (talk) 19:56, 22 September 2019 (UTC)