Jada
Swiss German I heard a girl speak in Swiss German and it sounds so fun to learn. However, I literally can't find ANY resources online or in stores, so I can't study it. Can someone tell how and where I can find resources and study? And can someone tell me where to get standard German resources that are really good?
Oct 6, 2016 11:26 PM
Comments · 2

Hi Jada

I'was born with swiss german, and live in Lucerne (central Switzerland). I can teach you without problem. 
What I want: To speak good business Englisch (USA). I have a small basis english, but finally I like to talk a good America English for doing business. May you like to be my tandem partner?

Bruno 

December 10, 2016
The problem about Swiss German is:

1. There is not one Swiss German, but each village has a different dialect. Most of these dialects are mutually intelligible, but only after some practice.

2. There are no fixed spelling rules, so everyone writes differently. And although most Swiss people speak a Swiss German dialect, they usually write in standard German.

3. Swiss German has no official status in Switzerland. The offiial language of the German speaking areas is Standard German with only a few "helvetisms". But the actual dialects are hardly intelligible for people who only speak standard German. This is quite a pain for the French and Italian speaking Swiss people who only learn standard German in school.


This said, I know one book with audio CDs which is used in "Swiss German for foreigners" classroom courses. You can find it at http://www.alc.ch/index.php?c0=navigation&navigation=36

This book has no ISBN and it seems to be available only from the publisher. It is originally aimet at non-German-speaking Swiss people (hence the web site in French). The book with the explanations is also available in English (though not shown on the web site). The audio recordings are based on the dialect from the Zurich area.


October 7, 2016