is there a language called swiss ?! or do they speak dutch in switzerland ?! so anyway, can some1 teach me swiss/dutch basics ?!
2006-08-21 01:04:22 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
No, there is no language called swiss. They speak four languages: German, French, Italian, and Rumansch ( a language developed from when the Romans were there )
Depending on the area of the country ( cantons ) they speak one of these. When you travel by train, the conductor changes language when the train enters a different canton.
It is a marvel of cooperation. The Swiss have been fiercely independent for the last 400 years ( remember William Tell )
2006-08-21 03:16:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Swiss German is sometimes called Swiss. I suppose Romansch, being a language unique to Switzerland, could also be called Swiss. I don't know about Italian, but most French-speaking Swiss speak pretty standard French, with only a few local variations (like nonante instead of quartre-vingt-dix for 90).
I can't help you with Romansch but here's some Schwiiitzertuutsch:
Greuzi is the standard greeting, Greuzi samma (zusammen=together) if you're greeting a group.
In the morning you just say Morga! or Guate Morga!
and in the evening you say Guate Abig!
Ha gern ein Schtange, bitte to order a draft beer.
Merci vielmals is thank you very much (in Standard German it's Danke schoen)
2006-08-22 09:56:09 · answer #2 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you might have gotten the idea that dutch is spoken in Switzerland because both the Swiss and the Hollanders make chocolate...swiss chocolate and dutch chocolate. Dutch is the language most spoken is Holland. It's a lot like German.
As to Switzerland here are some language facts:
Language distribution
German
German is by far the most widely spoken language in Switzerland: 17 of the 26 cantons are monolingual in German.
French
French is spoken in the western part of the country, the "Suisse Romande." Four cantons are French-speaking: Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel and Vaud. Three cantons are bilingual: in Bern, Fribourg and Valais both French and German are spoken.
Italian
Italian is spoken in Ticino and 4 southern valleys of Canton Graubünden.
Rhaeto-Rumantsch (Rumantsch)
Rumantsch is spoken only in the trilingual canton of Graubünden. The other two languages spoken there are German and Italian. Rumantsch, like Italian and French, is a language with Latin roots. It is spoken by just 0.5% of the total Swiss population.
The many foreigners resident in Switzerland have brought with them their own languages, which taken as a whole now outnumber both Rumantsch and Italian. The 2000 census showed that speakers of Serbian/Croatian were the largest foreign language group, with 1.4% of the population.
English was the main language for 1%.
Although English is not the main language it is still widely spoken and understood because Switzerland is a tourist country and knowing the languages of the tourists that visit is important to their economy.
If you want to learn some German I'd recommend going to this web site:
http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/
Good Luck.
2006-08-21 09:10:07 · answer #3 · answered by howardhurlbut 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
In Switzerland you get to choose from four official languages: French, Italian, Romansch, and Swiss German (which is not the same language as Standard German). "Swiss" is NOT Dutch, although they are both West Germanic languages. Swiss German is a High German language as is Standard German, while Dutch is a Low German language.
2006-08-21 09:07:15 · answer #4 · answered by Taivo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's no such thing as a Swiss language. They actually have 4 different languages in Switzerland. German, French, Italian and Romansh (which I believe is a Gypsy language).
2006-08-21 18:00:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Man, there sure are some clueless people in this forum.
Most Swiss people speak French, German, and Italian, since all these countries border Switzerland.
So good luck learning "Swiss!"
2006-08-21 08:43:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
"Grüezi" means hello and "Tschau" good bye in Züritütsch (Zürich dialect). Swiss German isn't normally written, which makes it hard to to learn for outsiders. To make your Hochdeutsch sound Swiss, change all 'k' sounds to 'ch' and almost all 's' sounds to 'sch'and the diminutive '-chen' to '-li'. Vocabulary also differs a lot.
2006-08-21 10:37:37 · answer #7 · answered by mala k 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, in Switzerland they speak either German (Swiss dialect) or French.
2006-08-21 08:09:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sorry, my "Swiss" has some rather large holes in it!
2006-08-21 08:10:24 · answer #9 · answered by Out $1000 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋