Me too
Thirty years ago nobody spoke HochDeutsch in the German part but now every shop, restaurant and garage speak it
Me too
Thirty years ago nobody spoke HochDeutsch in the German part but now every shop, restaurant and garage speak it
That usually depends on if you are classed as an “ex-pat” foreigner or an “immigrant” foreigner…or German.
In my corner of Switzerland, I’ve found that is no longer the case.
One must speak German. Speaking standard German is tolerated, but you should expect your conversation partner to keep to Dialekt. If you ask someone to switch to English, you are likely to be told no - and to be told off.
Youngsters seem the most adamant about keeping to Dialekt when speaking to a foreigner. Yes, they probably are all profficient in English, but most do not want to use it, or hear it used, here.
That has not been my experience at all during my forays into the German speaking part.
I will speak to them in high German but they invariably respond in Swiss German which leaves me completely lost. At that point at usually apologise in high German explains that I live in the French speaking part and ask them politely if they speak French or English. They generally then switch to English, they definitely prefer speaking English to French especially the younger ones.
My wife comes from a village 15km from where we live but she is not accepted as a local, different Dialekt of course
Have you not noticed that there are a lot of Germans here?
I don’t agree. 15 years ago you didn’t need a language certificate to renew permit B and now you do. That’s because lots of people who came 15 years ago didn’t bother to learn the language.
In my corner of Switzerland you can meet a sales person in the shop or a waiter in restaurant who doesn’t speak any of the official languages of Switzerland, only English.
I always ask if they want me to switch to Hochdeutsch or if dialect is ok. They often say that they can understand dialect, they just can’t speak it. The fact that i speak a different dialect than the one spoken where i live doesn’t help. I can understand the local dialect, i just can’t speak it. ![]()
Anyway, if i carry on speaking dialect, i can usually tell if they don’t understand particular words, in which case i repeat them in Hochdeutsch.
Germans and Amis.
Probably because most of those jobs are done by foreigners & not ‘real Swiss’
I found this when working in Geneva with a client from Zurich, they would feel at a disadvantage speaking French / German as a second language so would rather both be at a disadvantage speaking English. Amusingly they often had a translator who did not understand Swiss German so I would run a second translation to everyones amusement as my translation to English was better even through my spoken French & German were about B1 at best.
My experience of 10 years in Basel has been most people want to speak to me in English. All of the neighbours we are in contact with speak it and OHs job is in English so all of his colleagues speak it. I think this is why I’ve struggled even after having 3 years of classes. I’ve only ever had one person tell me he had difficulty with my accent being Scottish, he’s a German.
Aside of the basics in shops etc., the only time I ever speak reasonably better German is when I’m at my hairdressers, he’s Italian and also struggles a bit with German. He says dialekt in Basel goes straight over his head and when clients speak to him in it he doesn’t know what they want.
I can however read German quite well, but when I try to speak it I get confused by word order!
I used to love it when the jokels spoke to me in Baaslerdüütsch after hearing me speak english, it confused the heck out of them when I answered in Schwäbisch.
You should have tried Wallisertiitsch!
Way more Germans!