I was on a train in Switzerland and was listening to a conversation near me that sounded like Swedish. I asked one of the people, "where are you from?" He replied: "Switzerland!"
There's only one reason for that. We learn standart german in school for 9 years straight. If it wasn't for this no one in switzerland would speak standart german.
@you're arrested for first-degree clownery luv yes, to be precise they speak high allemanic in most of ("german") switzerland, in some cantons (uri/wallis) they even speak highest allemanic (thats crazy to understand) and in Basel there is even a part where they speak low allemanic (which is spoken in southwest germany among some parts in southwest germany that have en higher allemanic dialect, thats why i am able to talk in my zurich swiss german to a friend of mine who lives in stuttgart and he answers in his dialect.... :)
Watching this video to prepare for a long stay in Switzerland; going quite well the first ~2 minutes so I'm thinking I'd pull it off without any problems - then they switch to Swiss German o.O :S.
I guess what makes people think it sounds like a Scandinavian language or Dutch is: 1) the rather sing-song quality 2) the rolling of Rs (more precisely, tapping) 3) the Os that sound a bit Scandinavian (can't type them with this keyboard, but close to ö) 4) the sound they make in their throat, that sounds like phlegm or something; I hear it when I listen to Dutch music, too, and it throws me off a bit I like the second guest's accent best (0:56): German with a [Swiss] French accent.
So, is this how they speak in Zurich? Wow. This so interesting, I never knew they were so different. To an outside English speaker, Swiss German sounds a lot harder, more emphatic and clear-cut, it sounds almost as though it's influenced by Romance languages way of speaking, French or Italian. But at the same time, sometimes it sounds very Dutch to me. I am surprised how unique it sounds, probably cause I've never heard it before.
we have a few French loan word but the dialect itself is not influenced by it. I found that most dialects are way more similar to each other than standard German to any other dialect. Like I have no problem understanding Bavarian or Hessian and even a bit of Low German whereas someone who only speaks standard German usually understands no dialect at all.
The thing is Swiss German has different grammar and a different flow of the language. Linguistically seen normal German and Swiss German parted ways 500 years ago. There are MANY different dialects and even completely different words! (Particles like „seb“ or „amigs“)
0:00-0:55 High German (Guy in the blue tie has a slight accent, since he's from Switzerland) 0:56-1:28 High German (but from a guy coming from the french speaking part of Switzerland, so he doesn't speak it perfect) 1:29-1:38 native German speaking again (High German) 1:39 onwards: Swiss German I guess Hans Eichel (native German, shown at the beginning) can't follow the whole discussion and hence doesn't say anything
I was just watching the Mainz-Schalke game on a German channel. When they interviewed Mainz' coach, Martin Schmidt, I couldn't figure out why a German had a Swedish accent. I then googled him to find out: he's Swiss German!
lol same here, I'm a student learning German and I could deal with the guys speaking German, but as soon as the Swiss German started I lost all sense. I can still make out some words but it's too difficult.
Dude, it's weird. The way the sentences work, the logic of the words even, is so much more like Dutch than German even though there isn't any connection between the language aside from the fact they have a common ancestor. Whereas German is much closer to Dutch.
I thought I was near-fluent in German but I could understand only a few isolated words that Giezendanner (the bald guy) said. It sounds like a completely distinct language. The rest of the speakers use a recognizably German vocabulary with various regional accents.
@@jeanclaudejunior interesting. I dont like spanish and italian AT ALL, but i find japanese extremely beautiful. Its almost as though taste were subjective
Yeah it has to be latin to not use one of the spoken languages in switzerland (German, French, Italian and Rumantsch) because that would be unfair to the others. We swiss are DEFINITLY a people which is a little bit weird, just like any other people`s around the world.
zimThuet Yes, we use french words. But your pizza example is pretty dumb. You could then say that swiss people use Japanese words too, because we order "sushi" and not "raw fish with rice".
zimThuet Okay, Swiss German uses Japanese and chinese words too then. Got any other examples of Italian words in Swiss German except "Ciao" and dishes?
German people normally don't understand the Swiss german on their first visit in Zurich, which is the city who speaks closest german dialect as Hochdeutsch. Luzern, Bern? No more mention... even Swiss people don't understand each other sometimes between different cantons.
All in all, German has 2 dialect continuum, High and Low German. HOWEVER... High German, that is, is divided into Central German, High Franconian, and Upper German. Each of those 3 branches have their own dialects in and of themselves. Low German, and Low Franconian dialect continuum are grouped together because both did not participate in the High German consonant shift. Low German is further divided into Dutch Low Saxon, West Low German and East Low German. Which also have their own dialects.
For a French Swiss, it's just sound like someone who tries to speak Germans while chewing Peebles at the same time. It's simply a sign of refusal to adapt. Those guys are relics of the medieval times, whom lost the trains of the renaissance.
Swiss German sounds far more...lively! Excluding, of course, the vomit-sounds at some spots. Nevertheless, all languages are beautiful, sympathetic and deserve respect, except the Dutch ;) ;) ;)
Everyone knows Standard German (Hochdeutsch), but it isn't what they speak with each other on a day to day basis. In non-school situations it is pretty much always Swiss German (Alemannic Dialects)
@georgio941 I come from a long line of PA Dutch....it depends on where your PA Dutch ancestors came from.....some from Germany, some from Switzerland also some French.....mine came from both Switzerland and Germany (more swiss than anything). The language itself is simply called Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch. :)
I grew up in the german part of Switzerland, so I know all about this difference. I speak both high german and swiss german almost every day. Normally swiss german.
I'm swedish, but I learned Standarddeutsch in school, so the Swiss dialect sounds kinda...funny. :) As some have aldready pointed out; it sounds like German with a Dutch pronunciation
@TheLizardKing1967 I think it's more like comparing English to Scots - cos there are all sorts of weird dialect words as well! I was just in Zurich, I love the word 'Gruetzie' :)
@zazairanic It's absolut different from bavarian, I never heard of a "helvetian celtic" (????) . Swiss german is germanic/ german and closest to the swabian dialect of South-West- Germany. There's no french influence at all. Though all German-Swissmen (70%) can speak & write high german, they use their own language as a sign of nationality in daily conversation. The first guy speaks high german, the second guy speaks high german with swiss accent and the bald guy speaks swiss-german, only.
@zazairanic The first guy lives in my hometown, Kassel - by chance. He once was our major in the 80s...he might understand our local dialect, but not the swiss guy - people from SW-Germany might have less problems.
Of course, native Germans need subs on TV to watch swiss channels. It's a one-way-language, all Swissmen can speak and understand high german as well - but not vice versa!
One day, after I have mastered both German/Swiss German language, absolutely perfectly/immaculately to the very highest/best degree, it will be so cool. Absolute rock solid guarantee-wrapped; sealed and delivered.
@kmfw72 I am a Dutchman who has been in SA a few times. I experienced that Afrikaans is easy to read as 90% of the vocabulary consist of Dutch words. On many occasions I spoke Dutch to South Africans and they spoke Afrikaans to me, no problem. About Flemish: this is a Dutch accent, indeed softer and less guttural than NL Dutch. However, it is not a separate language as Swiss German appears to me in its relation to High German. No offense to anyone.
The difference between "proper" German and Swiss German sounds as big as between Swedish and Norwegian. Is it difficult for germans to understand the heavy swiss dialect? Yes, it the Swiss German SOUNDS a bit like Dutch and Scandinavian, but the "proper" German is easier for us swedes to understand. Dutch, by the way, is like a mix of German and Scandinavian.
the first one is german and speaks standart german, the second one is swiss french and speaks standart german with french accent, the last two are swiss german and they speak two diffrent swiss-german dialects. the showmasters are both als swiss germans, the first speaks standart german with a swiss-german accent, the second one is talking in his swiss dialect.
magnusgnarus all official documents, all written communication in bussines etc is in German. in school we learn German (Hoch-Deutsch). i see no problems and im from Basel.
This must be similar a similar situation for an American who speaks English trying to understand somebody who speaks English that is from Scotland. The movie Trainspotting is a good example of this.
The German dialects are the traditional local varieties. They're traditionally traced back to the High or Low dialects. Many of them are hardly understandable to someone who knows only standard German. they often differ from standard German in lexicon, phonology and syntax. If a narrow definition of language based on mutual intelligibility is used, many German dialects are considered to be separate languages (Like the Ethnologue). However, such a point of view is unusual in German linguistics.
it really depends on the region the swiss and the german guy come from. south germans are more likely to understand some swiss dialects than north german. but still they wouldn't understand some dialects such as the valaise one due to its very peculiar pronounciation (even we as swiss germans have a hard time understanding them) :)
I speak quite a bit of German, and as some have said already, the Swiss German is very different sounding to the German I know, we have been looking at moving to Zürich, and language wasn't much of a problem for us, but when you get outside the city, it is!! I speak French also, so Geneva may well be a better place for use until we can grasp that German!!!
you say it, because you do not know both Languages.Vielleicht sagst du es, weil du nicht beide Sprachen kennst. Talvez dices aquello, porque no conoces ambos idiomas.
@rover620sdi Yeah, this is weared. I am from Switzerland but have been living in South Africa for over 5 years. My afrikaans, well is worse than crappy but yes, what you say is true, but Swiss german and afrikaans sound very similar.
@rover620sdi Dit is goed te weet dat julle mekaar kon verstaan. :) There are significant differences between them, but Swiss German is primarily a vernacular language with a form of High German being used as the written standard. As regards Flemish, there are dialects (on a recent visit to Antwerp I saw the local one used in an advertisement) but the official language of Flanders is just a form of standard Dutch.
we would have to speak very slowly to understand each other. and people from bern or vallais have to adapt a little bit in pronunciation. it always depends on the dialects.
@Irishborne Das kann ich aber nicht verstehen, da wir in Belgien in erster Linie Hochdeutsch reden (mit dem eifeler Dialekt, den man auch in der deutschen Eifel spricht).
@sn3192 Wie in allen süddeutschen Dialekten gibt es auch im Alemannischen kein Präteritum. Stattdessen wird stets das Perfekt verwendet. Zum Ausdruck der Vorvergangenheit dient das doppelte Perfekt, beispielsweise i ha’s gmacht gha ‹ich habe es gemacht gehabt (ich hatte es gemacht)›. Das periphrastische Futur mit dem Hilfsverb werden wird im Alemannischen nicht verwendet. Stattdessen wird einfach Präsens gebraucht, oft mit der Modalpartikel de ‹dann›.
He's from my hometown Kassel and we definetely do not speak like the people in Frankfurt as you described it. This dialect of German was called "Hessisch" (hessian). Our local dialect is closer to the East Germans, kind of "Thüringisch" (thuringian) Though Hans Eichel speaks a clear High German without any accent or dialect. He speaks our local dialect as well, but never on TV.
@rover620sdi Spoken Afrikaans is not that easy for Dutch speakers to understand, and even the written form has many differences. It does sound a bit sing-song, like Swiss German, but not in the same way. Swiss German sounds softer and less guttural than High German in the same way as Flemish is softer and less guttural than Dutch spoken in the Netherlands. (No disrespect to anyone.)
@zazairanic More like Stuttgart and south of, Mannheim has another "language". Nuremberg is part of Bavaria but they speak "frankonian", not bavarian. Each region has its own dialect, more or less mixed with high german. It would fill a book to count all our local dialects, but we all speak high german, too. Indepedent countries like Luxembourg or Switzerland keep their dialect as a sign of patriotism. Luxembourg has even created an own ortography , which looks funny for us native Germans.
@Silverfire321 the first guy is from germany he speaks "germany" german! the secont guy is from switzerland and speaks "germany" german with an accent (of course) the third guy speaks SWISS GERMAN which is totally different from "germany" german!
@warhols25 You are kidding. Afrikaans is old Dutch and easy to understand when you are Dutch or Flemish. It has nothing to do with Swiss German, which is totally incomprehensible for a Dutchman like me, in contrast to High German and Low German as spoken in the North of Germany. Nice languages though (I mean German and Afrikaans).
that does it: "auf der andere seite" vs "uf de ondere siet-te", "beispiel" vs "bihspiel". I don't know why they don't just call it another language. it doesn't sound german, sounds much more nordic and perhaps "nederlandisch".
That Hans Eichel speaks like the people in Frankfurt. he pronounces the "ch" as "sch" - "isch habe", "gleisch" etc. I don't know how you call this dialect of german. he doesn't sound like most of the people that appear on international german tv channels.
That's funny. I always found Swiss German sounds like a Dutch person speaking German making no effort speaking in a German accent whatsoever. :) Or a Danish person doing the same thing maybe. (I'm Dutch myself.)
its funny my dad is austrian and spent a part of his childhood in switzerland (due WW2) so he partially learned switzerdütsch. sometimes he talks to me in heavy swiss-german as joke and i -do not understand a single word-. actually id probably understand more dutch than swiss german...
cool...mais pourquoi vous avez mis Pierre Mirabeau et son accent francophone"...si 4a se trouve certains regarderont pas jusqu'à la fin et croiront que c'est ça l'accent suisse-allemand ! :)
Aber auch hier gibt es riesige unterschiede...Die Dialekte aus dem Osten und aus Basel betonen das R eher im Kehlkopf und die anderen Dialekte rollen das R mit der Zunge also vorne im Mund....
its a discussion in swiss tv, so understanding swiss german is kind of a condition (and the people, who watch this show, are swiss...) and I think, if this guy wouldn't understand what the say, he would say it and the whole show would be in standart german...
actually only people from hannover speak real High Geman. In everyday life nearly nobody uses it. It's a formal language which is used in school or at work. I can speak swissgerman, swabian and high german and if I would meet someone who speaks bavarian we would both at least try to use high german. It's really a confusing thing. Sometimes I can understand people from the french speaking part of switzerland better than some dialect speaking germans or swiss.
The germans from southern germany do. but only the ones from the southeast. the people from Northern germany do not understand swiss speaking people at all. but of course there are some exceptions. in the german language there are soooo many dialects. I live in Thurgovia in the northeast of switzerland and i can't understand the people that speak vallais-german in the southeast of switzerland. that's only one example.
The way the Swiss pronounce German remninds me of Swedish/Norwegian a lot. Which I find endearing.
SaturnineXTS thats what i was thinking too
This is funny because I also thought that the prononciation and the "flow" from swedish and swiss german sound alike.
I was on a train in Switzerland and was listening to a conversation near me that sounded like Swedish. I asked one of the people, "where are you from?" He replied: "Switzerland!"
It’s because they derivated from German at the same epoch
Naah
It's a one-way-language. All Swissmen understand High German, they can even speak it if they have to, but not vice versa.
+HesseJamez It depends. Somebody from South-Germany may understands Swissgerman.
There's only one reason for that. We learn standart german in school for 9 years straight. If it wasn't for this no one in switzerland would speak standart german.
That's what I thought - You never speak High German amongst.
@you're arrested for first-degree clownery luv yes, to be precise they speak high allemanic in most of ("german") switzerland, in some cantons (uri/wallis) they even speak highest allemanic (thats crazy to understand) and in Basel there is even a part where they speak low allemanic (which is spoken in southwest germany among some parts in southwest germany that have en higher allemanic dialect, thats why i am able to talk in my zurich swiss german to a friend of mine who lives in stuttgart and he answers in his dialect.... :)
It depends on the person
Watching this video to prepare for a long stay in Switzerland; going quite well the first ~2 minutes so I'm thinking I'd pull it off without any problems - then they switch to Swiss German o.O :S.
this is like watching han solo and chewbacca talking to each other
I guess what makes people think it sounds like a Scandinavian language or Dutch is:
1) the rather sing-song quality
2) the rolling of Rs (more precisely, tapping)
3) the Os that sound a bit Scandinavian (can't type them with this keyboard, but close to ö)
4) the sound they make in their throat, that sounds like phlegm or something; I hear it when I listen to Dutch music, too, and it throws me off a bit
I like the second guest's accent best (0:56): German with a [Swiss] French accent.
So, is this how they speak in Zurich? Wow. This so interesting, I never knew they were so different. To an outside English speaker, Swiss German sounds a lot harder, more emphatic and clear-cut, it sounds almost as though it's influenced by Romance languages way of speaking, French or Italian. But at the same time, sometimes it sounds very Dutch to me. I am surprised how unique it sounds, probably cause I've never heard it before.
we have a few French loan word but the dialect itself is not influenced by it. I found that most dialects are way more similar to each other than standard German to any other dialect. Like I have no problem understanding Bavarian or Hessian and even a bit of Low German whereas someone who only speaks standard German usually understands no dialect at all.
The thing is Swiss German has different grammar and a different flow of the language. Linguistically seen normal German and Swiss German parted ways 500 years ago. There are MANY different dialects and even completely different words! (Particles like „seb“ or „amigs“)
1:39 I am German and I didn't understand shit except the first 4 sentences a little bit.
man I can't understand this swiss dude at all! and I speak German
0:00-0:55 High German (Guy in the blue tie has a slight accent, since he's from Switzerland)
0:56-1:28 High German (but from a guy coming from the french speaking part of Switzerland, so he doesn't speak it perfect)
1:29-1:38 native German speaking again (High German)
1:39 onwards: Swiss German
I guess Hans Eichel (native German, shown at the beginning) can't follow the whole discussion and hence doesn't say anything
I was just watching the Mainz-Schalke game on a German channel. When they interviewed Mainz' coach, Martin Schmidt, I couldn't figure out why a German had a Swedish accent.
I then googled him to find out: he's Swiss German!
I lived in Engelberg for a year, and grew to love the sound of Swiss German, with its mixture of French, Italian and high-country German.
lol same here, I'm a student learning German and I could deal with the guys speaking German, but as soon as the Swiss German started I lost all sense. I can still make out some words but it's too difficult.
Ironic - I find the Swiss-French guy easiest to understand :)
He seemed to be speaking something more like high German than Swiss German.
He spoke High German with French accent.
Definitely. He reminded me of my Venezuelan/Spanish friend that speaks German. There is a “Romance” quality to their pronunciation.
Jesus, German Swiss sounds like the Swedish chef from the muppets!
Swiss German sounds a lot more like Dutch than German lol
Well, Dutch is a German language xD
@@quaniklp2622 *Germanic
Dude, it's weird. The way the sentences work, the logic of the words even, is so much more like Dutch than German even though there isn't any connection between the language aside from the fact they have a common ancestor. Whereas German is much closer to Dutch.
It's like Dutch but you take away all the English sounds from dutch and more german "ch" sounds
I thought I was near-fluent in German but I could understand only a few isolated words that Giezendanner (the bald guy) said. It sounds like a completely distinct language. The rest of the speakers use a recognizably German vocabulary with various regional accents.
1:40 Dying 😂😂😂
The guy at 1:40 sounds like he's being rewound when he talks.
It's a discussion panel from Schweizer Fernsehen (Swiss Television), so most people participating are Swiss ;)
beautiful language, Switzerland, land of my ancestors (Emmental region from around 1850's). Can't wait to visit someday.
Well Spanish and Italian are more beautiful than Swiss German
@@jeanclaudejunior interesting. I dont like spanish and italian AT ALL, but i find japanese extremely beautiful.
Its almost as though taste were subjective
Now you know why Swiss cars have CH on the number plate....CHwitzli ! !
ChuChiChaschtli? :P
No it's the latin term for Switzerland: "Confederatio Helvetica", short simply CH.
Did you get it ??
swiss Man 17 Interesting. I didn't know that!
Yeah it has to be latin to not use one of the spoken languages in switzerland (German, French, Italian and Rumantsch) because that would be unfair to the others. We swiss are DEFINITLY a people which is a little bit weird, just like any other people`s around the world.
I heard that Swiss now has 5 official languages. It was not said what the fifth was, so I think it must be Englisch ?
Swiss-German sounds like Afrikaans in South Africa !
Obwohl ich Deutsch für mehr als 10 Jahre lerne, kann ich kaum kein Wort von Schweisser Deutsch verstehen :(
Swiss German sounds like it has some french and italian influences.
Apart from some french words we use (like "merci" or "billet"), I wouldn't say they are similar.
zimThuet
Yes, we use french words. But your pizza example is pretty dumb. You could then say that swiss people use Japanese words too, because we order "sushi" and not "raw fish with rice".
zimThuet
Okay, Swiss German uses Japanese and chinese words too then. Got any other examples of Italian words in Swiss German except "Ciao" and dishes?
DasAntiNaziBroetchen tschingg for example,it's not very common tho.
"Tschingg" is not an italian word. It's a swiss word. But it's derived from "cinque".
Those swiss guys at the beginning speak high german with swiss accent - Real swiss German (from 1.40 on) needs subs.
Gosh, German is such a cool language.
German people normally don't understand the Swiss german on their first visit in Zurich, which is the city who speaks closest german dialect as Hochdeutsch. Luzern, Bern? No more mention... even Swiss people don't understand each other sometimes between different cantons.
All in all, German has 2 dialect continuum, High and Low German.
HOWEVER...
High German, that is, is divided into Central German, High Franconian, and Upper German.
Each of those 3 branches have their own dialects in and of themselves.
Low German, and Low Franconian dialect continuum are grouped together because both did not participate in the High German consonant shift. Low German is further divided into Dutch Low Saxon, West Low German and East Low German. Which also have their own dialects.
@tsartodd No wonder most people confuse Switzerland with Sweden.
Hö? Ich brauche Untertitel... ICh meine das nicht böse---ich verstehe nur nix
Aus der Nähe von Hannover /Braunschweig, Niedersachsen. Eigentlich genau da, wo man Standardhochdeutsch spricht ;o)
Hahaha, geht mir aus Sachsen-Anhalt nicht anders! :D
geht mir als schweizer gleich wenn ein norddeutscher spricht xD
Ein Badenser oder Südschwabe kommt da noch einigermassen mit, aber für Norddeutsche wird's schwierig.
For a French Swiss, it's just sound like someone who tries to speak Germans while chewing Peebles at the same time. It's simply a sign of refusal to adapt. Those guys are relics of the medieval times, whom lost the trains of the renaissance.
en huere peiass bisch
@zazairanic
Even native Germans have trouble to understand Swiss german, so don't worry.
Swiss German sounds far more...lively! Excluding, of course, the vomit-sounds at some spots. Nevertheless, all languages are beautiful, sympathetic and deserve respect, except the Dutch ;) ;) ;)
Interesting variety of ways of speaking German
Everyone knows Standard German (Hochdeutsch), but it isn't what they speak with each other on a day to day basis. In non-school situations it is pretty much always Swiss German (Alemannic Dialects)
Das isch voll witzig, will de düütschi cheib neme mitchunnt^^ haha
Wie sullet mir üüre Sproch uch läärnet, wann's nöd mol an iegeini schwizrr Rachtsschriebig händ?
HesseJamez mir bruche kä rächtschribig mir schwiizer verschtön uns jo gegesitig
@georgio941 I come from a long line of PA Dutch....it depends on where your PA Dutch ancestors came from.....some from Germany, some from Switzerland also some French.....mine came from both Switzerland and Germany (more swiss than anything). The language itself is simply called Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch. :)
I see, almost every village has an own language there.
There were three different languages: High German, German with swiss accent + Swiss-German.
I grew up in the german part of Switzerland, so I know all about this difference. I speak both high german and swiss german almost every day. Normally swiss german.
Swiss German sounds more musical and rhythmic (for lack of a better term) than Hochdeutsch (which is more monotone to my Anglophone ears).
I'm sure there are some documentaries where they show some examples for all 26 to 30 dialects ;)
@Silverfire321
The guy at the beginning is the former german (!) minister of finances, Hans Eichel.
I'm swedish, but I learned Standarddeutsch in school, so the Swiss dialect sounds kinda...funny. :) As some have aldready pointed out; it sounds like German with a Dutch pronunciation
@TheLizardKing1967 I think it's more like comparing English to Scots - cos there are all sorts of weird dialect words as well! I was just in Zurich, I love the word 'Gruetzie' :)
@zazairanic
It's absolut different from bavarian, I never heard of a "helvetian celtic" (????) . Swiss german is germanic/ german and closest to the swabian dialect of South-West- Germany. There's no french influence at all.
Though all German-Swissmen (70%) can speak & write high german, they use their own language as a sign of nationality in daily conversation. The first guy speaks high german, the second guy speaks high german with swiss accent and the bald guy speaks swiss-german, only.
of course.. -.- we also learn in school french, german (and if we want; italian, russia, chinese, spanish, swedish...)
@Rockglam10 ok, thanks for taking the time to reply! :)
Swiss German sounds almost Scandinavian.
@baltostella Yes! It sounds a lot like Swedish-German hybrid.
@zazairanic
The first guy lives in my hometown, Kassel - by chance. He once was our major in the 80s...he might understand our local dialect, but not the swiss guy - people from SW-Germany might have less problems.
bald dude is speaking gibberish
no. he speaks normal swiss german
agreed
you should have a look at the german version of the wikipedia article about german dialects. there are some colorful maps there.
All Swissmen (if not from french speaking parts) can speak& understand High German, they just don't like to.
Brings back happy memories of Kandersteg, auf wiederluegen!
Of course, native Germans need subs on TV to watch swiss channels. It's a one-way-language, all Swissmen can speak and understand high german as well - but not vice versa!
Normally a Swiss can understand (High)german easily but Germans have their problems because it's an "old" alemannic dialect.
It's more like comparing Italian to Spanish.
@ZelazowskiAuvergne The same thing here. Also it reminds me of how the people of Gotlands sounds like when they speak swedish.
Thank you for that explanation, it was really helpful, at least to me. Danke!
One day, after I have mastered both German/Swiss German language, absolutely perfectly/immaculately to the very highest/best degree, it will be so cool. Absolute rock solid guarantee-wrapped; sealed and delivered.
@kmfw72 I am a Dutchman who has been in SA a few times. I experienced that Afrikaans is easy to read as 90% of the vocabulary consist of Dutch words. On many occasions I spoke Dutch to South Africans and they spoke Afrikaans to me, no problem. About Flemish: this is a Dutch accent, indeed softer and less guttural than NL Dutch. However, it is not a separate language as Swiss German appears to me in its relation to High German. No offense to anyone.
The difference between "proper" German and Swiss German sounds as big as between Swedish and Norwegian. Is it difficult for germans to understand the heavy swiss dialect?
Yes, it the Swiss German SOUNDS a bit like Dutch and Scandinavian, but the "proper" German is easier for us swedes to understand. Dutch, by the way, is like a mix of German and Scandinavian.
the first one is german and speaks standart german, the second one is swiss french and speaks standart german with french accent, the last two are swiss german and they speak two diffrent swiss-german dialects. the showmasters are both als swiss germans, the first speaks standart german with a swiss-german accent, the second one is talking in his swiss dialect.
magnusgnarus
all official documents, all written communication in bussines etc is in German. in school we learn German (Hoch-Deutsch). i see no problems and im from Basel.
yeah i dont speak german but i am learning it, i can see how its different.
This must be similar a similar situation for an American who speaks English trying to understand somebody who speaks English that is from Scotland. The movie Trainspotting is a good example of this.
The German dialects are the traditional local varieties. They're traditionally traced back to the High or Low dialects. Many of them are hardly understandable to someone who knows only standard German. they often differ from standard German in lexicon, phonology and syntax. If a narrow definition of language based on mutual intelligibility is used, many German dialects are considered to be separate languages (Like the Ethnologue). However, such a point of view is unusual in German linguistics.
it really depends on the region the swiss and the german guy come from. south germans are more likely to understand some swiss dialects than north german. but still they wouldn't understand some dialects such as the valaise one due to its very peculiar pronounciation (even we as swiss germans have a hard time understanding them) :)
I speak quite a bit of German, and as some have said already, the Swiss German is very different sounding to the German I know, we have been looking at moving to Zürich, and language wasn't much of a problem for us, but when you get outside the city, it is!!
I speak French also, so Geneva may well be a better place for use until we can grasp that German!!!
I hear a mix of Norwegian, Danish and Dutch.
you say it, because you do not know both Languages.Vielleicht sagst du es, weil du nicht beide Sprachen kennst. Talvez dices aquello, porque no conoces ambos idiomas.
+imachynn The way the words are pronounced sound Dutch, and the way he ties them into sentences sound Scandinavian.
I'm a native dutch speaker, I can conform that. Especially 1:57 is very simular to the pronunciation of my Dutch dialect.
@thecritiquevirtuoso
Quite impressive: you manage to make five mistakes in nine words in two languages.... Very useful too, your contribution.
@rover620sdi Yeah, this is weared. I am from Switzerland but have been living in South Africa for over 5 years. My afrikaans, well is worse than crappy but yes, what you say is true, but Swiss german and afrikaans sound very similar.
There's Dutch and there's Belgian or Flemish Dutch, which is softer than Dutch, and Swiss German.
@rover620sdi Dit is goed te weet dat julle mekaar kon verstaan. :) There are significant differences between them, but Swiss German is primarily a vernacular language with a form of High German being used as the written standard. As regards Flemish, there are dialects (on a recent visit to Antwerp I saw the local one used in an advertisement) but the official language of Flanders is just a form of standard Dutch.
Not really - we need subs watching Swiss TV.
Germans in the southwest might have less problems with. Their local dialect is closer.
we would have to speak very slowly to understand each other. and people from bern or vallais have to adapt a little bit in pronunciation. it always depends on the dialects.
Ulrich Giezendanner speaks evidently Swiss-German, his accent, however, reminds a mix of Dutch (or maybe Afrikaans) and Swedish.
@Irishborne Das kann ich aber nicht verstehen, da wir in Belgien in erster Linie Hochdeutsch reden (mit dem eifeler Dialekt, den man auch in der deutschen Eifel spricht).
@sn3192
Wie in allen süddeutschen Dialekten gibt es auch im Alemannischen kein Präteritum. Stattdessen wird stets das Perfekt verwendet. Zum Ausdruck der Vorvergangenheit dient das doppelte Perfekt, beispielsweise i ha’s gmacht gha ‹ich habe es gemacht gehabt (ich hatte es gemacht)›.
Das periphrastische Futur mit dem Hilfsverb werden wird im Alemannischen nicht verwendet. Stattdessen wird einfach Präsens gebraucht, oft mit der Modalpartikel de ‹dann›.
He's from my hometown Kassel and we definetely do not speak like the people in Frankfurt as you described it. This dialect of German was called "Hessisch" (hessian). Our local dialect is closer to the East Germans, kind of "Thüringisch" (thuringian) Though Hans Eichel speaks a clear High German without any accent or dialect. He speaks our local dialect as well, but never on TV.
@rover620sdi Spoken Afrikaans is not that easy for Dutch speakers to understand, and even the written form has many differences. It does sound a bit sing-song, like Swiss German, but not in the same way. Swiss German sounds softer and less guttural than High German in the same way as Flemish is softer and less guttural than Dutch spoken in the Netherlands. (No disrespect to anyone.)
I love that even the comments here show the differences in Swiss German with one person writing Schwiizerdütsch and another Schwiizerdütsch.
@zazairanic
More like Stuttgart and south of, Mannheim has another "language". Nuremberg is part of Bavaria but they speak "frankonian", not bavarian. Each region has its own dialect, more or less mixed with high german. It would fill a book to count all our local dialects, but we all speak high german, too.
Indepedent countries like Luxembourg or Switzerland keep their dialect as a sign of patriotism. Luxembourg has even created an own ortography , which looks funny for us native Germans.
Thank you :)
@Silverfire321 the first guy is from germany he speaks "germany" german! the secont guy is from switzerland and speaks "germany" german with an accent (of course) the third guy speaks SWISS GERMAN which is totally different from "germany" german!
@warhols25
You are kidding. Afrikaans is old Dutch and easy to understand when you are Dutch or Flemish. It has nothing to do with Swiss German, which is totally incomprehensible for a Dutchman like me, in contrast to High German and Low German as spoken in the North of Germany. Nice languages though (I mean German and Afrikaans).
that does it: "auf der andere seite" vs "uf de ondere siet-te", "beispiel" vs "bihspiel". I don't know why they don't just call it another language. it doesn't sound german, sounds much more nordic and perhaps "nederlandisch".
That Hans Eichel speaks like the people in Frankfurt. he pronounces the "ch" as "sch" - "isch habe", "gleisch" etc. I don't know how you call this dialect of german.
he doesn't sound like most of the people that appear on international german tv channels.
That's funny. I always found Swiss German sounds like a Dutch person speaking German making no effort speaking in a German accent whatsoever. :) Or a Danish person doing the same thing maybe. (I'm Dutch myself.)
its funny my dad is austrian and spent a part of his childhood in switzerland (due WW2) so he partially learned switzerdütsch. sometimes he talks to me in heavy swiss-german as joke and i -do not understand a single word-. actually id probably understand more dutch than swiss german...
Does someone know it which dialect they teach in the german speaking/ bilingual cantons university in Switzerland? Do they teach in Hochdeutsch?
cool...mais pourquoi vous avez mis Pierre Mirabeau et son accent francophone"...si 4a se trouve certains regarderont pas jusqu'à la fin et croiront que c'est ça l'accent suisse-allemand !
:)
@FrancisJoa
Hochdeutsch in Belgien mit Eifeler Dialekt? - Entspricht das etwa dem Letzebuergesch?
5. fred ist der meistbesuchte kanal auf youtube. der hat am meisten abonnenten freunde usw
Aber auch hier gibt es riesige unterschiede...Die Dialekte aus dem Osten und aus Basel betonen das R eher im Kehlkopf und die anderen Dialekte rollen das R mit der Zunge also vorne im Mund....
you are absolutely right ..... NOT!!!!!!!!
its a discussion in swiss tv, so understanding swiss german is kind of a condition (and the people, who watch this show, are swiss...) and I think, if this guy wouldn't understand what the say, he would say it and the whole show would be in standart german...
actually only people from hannover speak real High Geman. In everyday life nearly nobody uses it. It's a formal language which is used in school or at work. I can speak swissgerman, swabian and high german and if I would meet someone who speaks bavarian we would both at least try to use high german.
It's really a confusing thing. Sometimes I can understand people from the french speaking part of switzerland better than some dialect speaking germans or swiss.
The germans from southern germany do. but only the ones from the southeast. the people from Northern germany do not understand swiss speaking people at all. but of course there are some exceptions. in the german language there are soooo many dialects. I live in Thurgovia in the northeast of switzerland and i can't understand the people that speak vallais-german in the southeast of switzerland. that's only one example.