(Miss)understanding the Swiss Germans

Following on from the following post: A Dummy's Guide to Swiss German

I received a book that I had ordered through the post this week, Kleiner Sprachatlas der deutschen Schweiz (small, linguistic map of German-speaking Switzerland). This will serve as my research material in preparation for the presentation I have to give about Swiss German soon. It's going to be a challenging to sound as if I know what I'm talking about to a predominantly Swiss audience!

Züritüütsch is the variant spoken in Zurich, and therefore the variant I am learning – or at least attempting to learn.

Unlike High German, Swiss German isn't a single language, rather a group of loosely related Alemannic dialects. The Zurich variant, Züritüütsch, doesn't sound anything like the slower paced Bärnerdüütsch of Bern, which in turn bears no resemblance to the seemingly incomprehensible alpine dialects of canton Wallis, Walliserdiitsch. Even the Swiss find that too much. Because of these huge variations from canton to canton, town to town and valley to valley, Swiss German appears to be very free to outsiders. A language without grammatical rules to worry about – something ideal for backward,rural farmers...

Well, that's not exactly true.

There is of course grammar, it just differs depending on where you happen to find yourself on the East side of the Röstigraben (imaginary French / German speaking boundary through Switzerland). Word order for example tends to be something that isn't uniform. This makes learning Swiss German quite a headache to start with, but it's worth it – the trick is to find one variant relevant to you – and focus on learning that particular dialect. So long as it's not Walliserdiitsch, you should be able to understand enough of what others say, and vice versa.

For example, “When I was a little kid...”:

Als iech es chlii Chind gsii bin...

Als ig bin es chlii Chind gsii...

Als iich bin gsii es chlii Chind...

Als i es chlii Kchind gsii bin...

All four forms are correct in their respective dialects. Good luck selecting the right one for you!!!

Swiss German differs from valley to valley, so it's best to stick to the variants spoken in the larger cities. Photo: Kerns, canton Lucerne.

Whilst leafing through my Sprachatlas, these differences become quite clear. Take the High German word 'Butter' for example (same in English), whilst an Appenzeller would ask you for some 'Schmaalz' for his toast, a Zürcher would say 'Anke' – both of whom would probably have to ignore the polite request from the Walliser in the corner who'd ask for 'Öichu'. And they're not the only examples of such radical differences in Alemannic.

In the meantime, you can always use the following Swiss German phrase, no matter where you find yourself in the Alemannic lands!

,,Wiä bitte? Ich verstoh kei Schwiitzerdüütsch!'”

[I'm sorry, I don't understand Swiss German!]

Innsbruck, Austria

A mate of mine who also studies German is currently on exchange in Innsbruck. I decided to head over there this weekend, to catch up over a few beverages and see the sights of the city. Innsbruck is quite a scenic place, it lies right in the heart of the Tirolean Alps and is surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

Innsbruck is ideally located for skiers and climbers.

After the obligatory – and very welcome – Wiener Schnitzel and 1l Mass beer (a novelty after being used to the expensive 0.33cl Swiss Stängli), we went out to sample the night life with some other students who study there. Innsbruck may be a small city, but it has quite a decent night life – owing to the number of students living there. Or at least that was my impression, of course the fact that it was St. Patrick's Day may have had some role to play there.

The centre of Innsbruck by day.

It was my first proper trip to Austria this year, that is if you exclude the dinner last semester in Feldkirch that I had after having seen everything that's to be seen in the country of Liechtenstein. I really like Austria, indeed it's the very place that sparked my enthusiasm to learn German, over seven years ago...

Perhaps yet another Austrian excursion is in order when I have the time. Now, I've heard a lot about Vienna...

The Spring Semester

It's March already. My second and last exchange semester in Zurich is under way. Time is definitely going by quickly. This semester already seems to be going better than the last semester, probably because I'm settled here now. My courses are pretty much the same as last semester, except literature has been swapped with two other courses: Makroökonomik (macroeconomics) and Geldpolitik (monetary policy). They're certainly more interesting – at least to me – and I find it cool that my professor for Geldpolitik actually works at the Swiss National Bank.

View from the ETH Polyterrasse.

Again, it seems like it's going to be a busy semester. Lots of early starts, even a 6pm finish on Mondays and no free week-days (many students here have Fridays free for example). Feels too much like work – well, almost. This semester I must also give a presentation, in German of course, about Swiss German variations, as an Englishman, to an audience of mainly Swiss students. That's going to be - shall we say - interesting. Hmm, what have I got myself into?

The Bächlerstrasse student apartment complex.

The new semester brings with it a fresh helping of nervous / eager exchange students. Some of which have moved into the student apartments here in Bächlerstrasse. And with the new exchange students and the Spring semester comes partying! Plenty of it.

That's right, 9GAG.com is also popular in Switzerland: A popular meme is pinned by one of the inspected Spring clean signs instructing us to, well, clean.

The Spring semester also brings the obligatory inspected Spring clean. Acceptable, given that it's mentioned in the contract, it's just a shame that it also coincides just after a number of flat parties going on here. Making cleaning an even bigger task – that's before any possible / expected (delete as appropriate) hangovers are considered.