{"id":2718,"date":"2022-03-03T12:39:37","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T12:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/?p=2718"},"modified":"2022-03-03T12:39:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T12:39:38","slug":"swiss-german-is-not-standard-german","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/2022\/03\/03\/swiss-german-is-not-standard-german\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiss German is not Standard German"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>If you speak some Ger\u00adman and think you\u2019ll be able to under\u00adstand the locals when you vis\u00adit Switzer\u00adland \u2013 think&nbsp;again!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite hav\u00ading a pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion small\u00ader than that of New York, Switzer\u00adland is a coun\u00adtry with four offi\u00adcial lan\u00adguages: French, Ital\u00adian, Romansh, and Ger\u00adman. Iron\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, how\u00adev\u00ader, the lan\u00adguage used in every\u00adday life by most Swiss is none of these. That\u2019s because offi\u00adcial\u00adly, Ger\u00adman is the dom\u00adi\u00adnant lan\u00adguage, spo\u00adken in 21 of Switzerland\u2019s 26 can\u00adtons \u2013 but in real\u00adi\u00adty, the peo\u00adple of these can\u00adtons use a form of the lan\u00adguage which is Ger\u00adman in name only. It sounds so dif\u00adfer\u00adent from Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman that Ger\u00adman vis\u00adi\u00adtors to Switzer\u00adland can find it almost impos\u00adsi\u00adble to under\u00adstand. To com\u00adpli\u00adcate mat\u00adters even fur\u00adther, there are big dif\u00adfer\u00adences between the local ver\u00adsions of \u201cSwiss Ger\u00adman\u201d, and peo\u00adple from the can\u00adton of Valais, for exam\u00adple, are some\u00adtimes almost unin\u00adtel\u00adli\u00adgi\u00adble even to their com\u00adpa\u00adtri\u00adots from Zurich.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Use of Swiss Ger\u00adman and Stan\u00addard German<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At school, in the Ger\u00adman-speak\u00ading part of Switzer\u00adland, chil\u00addren only learn and speak Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman. They learn Swiss Ger\u00adman from their par\u00adents and friends. This is because Swiss Ger\u00adman is con\u00adsid\u00adered a spo\u00adken rather than a writ\u00adten lan\u00adguage. The Swiss con\u00adverse in Swiss Ger\u00adman but switch to Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman for more for\u00admal pur\u00adpos\u00ades, such as school or debates in Par\u00adlia\u00adment. This is because Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman is con\u00adsid\u00adered more pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal, and peo\u00adple from dif\u00adfer\u00adent can\u00adtons all under\u00adstand the lan\u00adguage \u2013 and because, unlike Swiss Ger\u00adman, it exists in writ\u00adten form. For\u00adeign vis\u00adi\u00adtors watch\u00ading the tele\u00advi\u00adsion news may be sur\u00adprised when, after the day events have been report\u00aded in Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman, the lan\u00adguage abrupt\u00adly changes to Swiss Ger\u00adman for the sports and weath\u00ader bulletins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many Swiss peo\u00adple con\u00adsid\u00ader Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman a for\u00adeign lan\u00adguage because they do not use it as often as Swiss Ger\u00adman. At a polit\u00adi\u00adcal lev\u00adel, how\u00adev\u00ader, it is seen as vital that Swiss peo\u00adple can use Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman when nec\u00ades\u00adsary \u2013 for exam\u00adple to com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcate with peo\u00adple from oth\u00ader can\u00adtons or the rest of the Ger\u00adman-speak\u00ading world, as well as in writ\u00ading. The use of Swiss Ger\u00adman is often con\u00adsid\u00adered exclu\u00adsive or over\u00adbear\u00ading by French and Ital\u00adian speak\u00aders, who can fol\u00adlow Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman but not dialect. The use of Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman \u2013 the offi\u00adcial form of the lan\u00adguage \u2013 is there\u00adfore manda\u00adto\u00adry at schools and uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adties through\u00adout the Ger\u00adman-speak\u00ading part of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The main dif\u00adfer\u00adences between Swiss Ger\u00adman and Stan\u00addard German<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are three main dif\u00adfer\u00adences between these lan\u00adguages. These are the pro\u00adnun\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion, the gram\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal cas\u00ades, and the tens\u00ades. The Swiss speak more slow\u00adly, stretch\u00ading out the vow\u00adel sounds, and tend to speak in a high\u00ader tone than the Ger\u00admans. How\u00adev\u00ader, there are a lot of words in Swiss Ger\u00adman that are pro\u00adnounced dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u00adly alto\u00adgeth\u00ader. For exam\u00adple, the let\u00adter \u201ck\u201d in Ger\u00adman is pro\u00adnounced \u201cch\u201d in Swiss Ger\u00adman. Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman has four dif\u00adfer\u00adent cas\u00ades com\u00adpared to Swiss Ger\u00adman, which only has three. And while Stan\u00addard Ger\u00adman has six tens\u00ades, Swiss Ger\u00adman uses only two. No won\u00adder Bir\u00adgit M\u00fcller, a Ger\u00adman who moved to Switzer\u00adland when her hus\u00adband got a new job in Zurich, says that when she first arrived, \u201cI didn\u2019t under\u00adstand a sin\u00adgle word!\u201d This is the prob\u00adlem for many Ger\u00adman citizens.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like to hear the dif\u00adfer\u00adences for your\u00adself, click to lis\u00adten to exam\u00adples of words and sen\u00adtences in both lan\u00adguages includ\u00ading their Eng\u00adlish translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/English-_-Standard-German-_-Swiss-German.m4a\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are also dif\u00adfer\u00adences in the vocab\u00adu\u00adlary itself. Because Switzer\u00adland has more nation\u00adal lan\u00adguages and is such a small coun\u00adtry, the lan\u00adguages have a lot of influ\u00adence on each oth\u00ader. Over the years the influ\u00adence has become much stronger. Many words come from French, in par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar: the Swiss say \u201cMer\u00adci\u201d instead of \u201cDanke\u201d, and they walk on the \u201cTrot\u00adtoir\u201d (side\u00adwalk), not the \u201cGehsteig\u201d. Inter\u00adest\u00ading\u00adly, the same is not true the oth\u00ader way around: the French spo\u00adken in Switzer\u00adland, says Andrea Jud, a French teacher at a Zurich high school (the Real\u00adgym\u00adna\u00adsi\u00adum R\u00e4mib\u00fchl), does dif\u00adfer from the French spo\u00adken in France \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t include many Ger\u00adman words. The rea\u00adson, she explains, is a his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal one: Napoleon occu\u00adpied much of Switzer\u00adland in the nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtu\u00adry, with the result that French became the lan\u00adguage of pow\u00ader, rub\u00adbing off on the local ver\u00adsion of Ger\u00adman. That influ\u00adence has sur\u00advived to this&nbsp;day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kari\u00adna Frick, a pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal lin\u00adguist at the uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Zurich, says: \u201cSome peo\u00adple see Swiss Ger\u00adman as a com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of Swiss dialects rather than a lan\u00adguage. But that is in many ways incor\u00adrect. Swiss Ger\u00adman has its own pro\u00adnun\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion, its own gram\u00admar and its own vocabulary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also says that using dialect is an affir\u00adma\u00adtion of \u201cSwiss\u00adness\u201d, an audi\u00adble dif\u00adfer\u00adence between Switzer\u00adland and its much big\u00adger neigh\u00adbour to the North: \u201cThe Ger\u00adman-speak\u00ading Swiss are proud of their lan\u00adguage. They have Swiss Ger\u00adman in their hearts. It is a big part of their nation\u00adal identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as not being able to fol\u00adlow what the locals are say\u00ading, Ger\u00admans who move to Switzer\u00adland or vis\u00adit the coun\u00adtry face anoth\u00ader prob\u00adlem. Even if they do even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly learn to under\u00adstand it, try\u00ading to speak it them\u00adselves can be a lin\u00adguis\u00adtic mine\u00adfield. The Swiss often feel that Ger\u00admans look down on their ver\u00adsion of the lan\u00adguage. When Mer\u00adle Grobbel, a Ger\u00adman who has lived in Switzer\u00adland for many years after mov\u00ading there for a career oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty, tried speak\u00ading the lan\u00adguage her\u00adself, she says: \u201cWith my Ger\u00adman accent it sound\u00aded as if I was mock\u00ading the&nbsp;Swiss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you speak some Ger\u00adman and think you\u2019ll be able to under\u00adstand the locals when you vis\u00adit Switzer\u00adland \u2013 think&nbsp;again! Despite hav\u00ading a pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion small\u00ader than that of New York, Switzer\u00adland is a coun\u00adtry with four offi\u00adcial lan\u00adguages: French, Ital\u00adian, Romansh, and Ger\u00adman. Iron\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, how\u00adev\u00ader, the lan\u00adguage used in every\u00adday life by most Swiss&nbsp;is\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":2797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2841,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions\/2841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}