And Nathu's right. If a Swiss 'hates' Germans in the first place, nothing that comes out of their mouths will please him/her.
I like the relaxed rules there are in Swiss German too, I am of the opinion that if you live here in Switzerland it is easier to learn Swiss German then High German. Just don't get too hung up about it.
Chances are you have probably asked for Poulet brustli , or have gone Velofahren or have greeted someone with Gruezi at some point anyway so you are probably using Swiss German words for things just because that is what use here and it is what you are hearing every day.
That sounds perilously close to my approach - great post !!!
edit: Oh.. Lugano it is, should read your profile before posting.
If I can't use High German or English, I'm not interested. Any Swiss-German person who says they understand neither is not worth talking too.
Why are the Swiss germans are so linguistically flexible if they're so proud of their own dialect and heritage? To me that's an inferiority complex...
The Swiss French on the other hand are a pain in the rump about the language and won't tolerate your lack of perfect French. I guess Geneva is a satellite of Paris.
Learning Swiss German helps you to integrate better and for me, that has been of the utmost importance.
But I suppose everybody's different......
And good for the Swiss that they have to learn other languages to communicate - makes for better business deals and you really can't deny that they are good at that.
After all the cross dressing pictures, now you say you have special douches?
it is well know that the Swiss employ their dialects as a way to recognise the origin of the speaker.
So this one is Bernese, that one from Basel, and even more locally they can recognise the accent from Wädenswil from the accent of Rapperswil.
Our distorted Scchwyzertütsches probably annoys, amuse or please some of them
1. As a native German, I am on the lowest rung of the Swiss socio-economic ladder, below the secondos, the illegals and even the Kosovo-Albanians. Guttural vocals won't make them like me any more or less.
2. In line with what Tilia said, I feel that most Swissies don't appreciate it when those from the great Kanton to the North make a more or less serious attempt at picking up said guttural vocals.
3. Hopefully I am not here long enough to work towards integration with the locals. My Swiss friends and colleagues understand me all the time and I understand them most of the time, so we are ok.
Were the Tomcats to remain here longer, I would probably see 1. and 2. and 3. in a different light. The youngins are already bringing some guttural vocals back from the Chindsgi along with their Znüni boxes and their Finklis ...
However I don't know what you are trying to say with this....They have to be flexible because as you said in the previous sentence if they are not then they are not worth talking to. Pull it together man.