Difference between German and Swiss German?

Question

Well! I just wanted to know more about Swiss German. How is it different from German of Germany. Which one is more tough to learn?

Answer 1

Swiss German is one or (arguably) more dialects of German, spoken in Switzerland. There are different dialects of German in Germany as well (Swabish, Bavarian) but I'm going to assume you're refering to standard German (Hochdeutsch) as the "German of Germany".

I live just outside Zurich, so I, let's say, come closer to understanding "Zuriduutsch" than other versions of Swiss German. The differences, as with basically all differences between languages and dialects, are in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. (You could also include spelling, even though in theory Swiss German is never written. In fact, children's stories and songs are often published in Swiss German, and some restaurant menus and notices about children's activities in my local paper are. Lots of vowels in a row, usually with umlauts.)

I can't really describe the differences in pronunciation, except to say SG is more "vowelly" and has a different rhythm. I have sometimes thought I heard people speaking English, but when I got close enough to make out the words, I realized it was SG.

As for vocabulary, some is just different, eg., carrots are "Ruebli" instead of "Karrotten". Some words are borrowed from French ("Poulet" instead of "Hahnchen" for chicken) or Italian (none come to mind, sorry). And whereas the diminutive ending in HD is "chen", in SG it's "li", so a girl "Madchen" is "Maedli". And they like adding "li" to lots of words!

The grammar is actually simpler in SG; you can get away without one or two cases (I forget if it's Dativ and/or Genitiv).

Which is tougher to learn depends on your situation: if you're a kindergarten-aged child just outside Zurich when you start (as my kids were), SG is remarkably easy to learn. If you learn best through books, and certainly if you don't live in the German part of Switzerland, HD is your language. If you learn best by jumping in and having conversations, and live in the German part of Switzerland, give SG a go.

Answer 2

Swiss German

Answer 3

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RE:
Difference between German and Swiss German?
Well! I just wanted to know more about Swiss German. How is it different from German of Germany. Which one is more tough to learn?

Answer 4

Well, just so you know, if you learn Swiss German, you can only use that in Switzerland. If you learn German German then I think you'll still be able to understand Swiss German. I've lived in Switzerland for about a year and a half. For me both are blah blah blah because I don't understand anything they are saying. Hope this helps. Best of luck.

Answer 5

Well, the formal language in the German part of Switzerland is the SAME German as the German formally spoken in Germany or Austria.
Swiss German is a dialect used colloquially. It sounds very funny, kind of cute to me. I'm a German native speaker from Austria. When I go to Switzerland, I'm glad to arrive in the French part, because in the German part, I just don't understand what people are saying! :) They understand me perfectly, though, and when they want to be understood, they just switch to using formal German.

So it would seem like a sensible approach to learn "normal" German, and then if you still want to, Swiss German based on that. Because it is based on German... The structure remains the same, but a lot of words are changed, as is the pronunciation.

Answer 6

I remember reading about it.
Swiss German has some kind of a funny accent and tone.
And Swiss French is a slower version of French.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

In Switzerland.. you eg have Geneva.. and there they speak French.. and in eg Zurich they speak German. If you learn normal German .. that's how you can speak in Zurich! Each language ends up with it's only dialects in different parts of their country and different colloquialisms. The swiss in the German part of Switzerland will understand you speaking German! As far as i know they are not two separate languages..being a german speaker myself.. just different colloquialisms.

guten morgen x

Answer 9

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Answer 10

To learn Swiss German as a German learner, you should first learn German.
The grammar of Swiss German is slightly different, it is mostly easier (especially the construction of sentences)

BUT if you only need to speak it in your daily life, it is easier to learn Swiss German in a natural surrounding, because German IS a tough language.

To learn Swiss German, it is important to understand that the vowels (i,a,e,o,u,ü,ö,ä, ie, ei, au, äu...) can differ from village to village (really) - so you have to understand, that vowels don't matter!!
You have to focus on the consonants.

here are the most important verbs:
haben
Ich han / I ha
du hesch / hesch __ (kein du) Hesch zit? Hast du Zeit?
er, sie, es hät
mir händ (heid)
ihr händ händ ihr zit?
sie händ

sein
Ich bi
du bisch
er isch
mir sind
..

luege (schauen, sehen), lose (hören), laufe
Ich lueg
du luegsch
er luegt
mir lueget

exampe for vowels:
CH D
ii >> ei Zit > Zeit, Zitig > Zeitung