Its a great site, I had a look at it yesterday (I'm sure this link has already been given in an existing thread somewhere?).
I'd recommend having a look at it, as it has both a basic overview of- and a guide to Swiss German which goes into a little more detail.
I'm a dummy, i need this right now! Thanks for the post
I've made a Multi-sticky in this Sub-Forum and put a link to this Thread in there. We get questions on the subject often enough; now we know how to find it quickly. I've also put the Swiss German English translations thread there, in the fond hope that someone might find it instead of starting yet another new Thread with a few words of Swiss German to be translated.
Thanks for posting.
It's a fantastic site and I agree with all of the pronunciations, even though I learned the Bernese dialect, which sounds much different (slower, garbled) than the Zurich version. I only half-disagree with one of the entries.
The author states that a small glass of beer is a Stange, but that's a standard beer (3 dl.). A small beer is called a Herr Goetli (2dl.).
Hi all,
I bought a set of Swiss German language CDs from the Pimsleur series. Its a great way to learn the pleasantries and enough to get you around daily life. Since Swiss German is only a spoken language, this method focuses on listening to native speakers, repeating the phrases outloud, and periodically revisiting what you have learnt throughout the course.
Cheers
Ashlee
As a native Swiss German speaker, I've never heard that term, although I lived in Zurich (the linguistic basis of that Swiss German site) for about a decade and did a lot of military service in numerous Bernese areas. The Army isn't exactly the place where you never get in touch with terms involving beer, but I never heard that term in those areas either. So I think it's rather local and / or rather new.
Moreover, I believe the term you mean seems to be Herrgöttli (= Little Lord), not Herr Goetli (= Mr. Goetli , a name that doesn't even figure a single time in the entire Swiss phone directories).
EDIT: Just looked it up (yep, I've got the Internets!). Herrgöttli seems to be popular enough to even have made init to Wikipedia (beware: German!).
Herrgöttli is a common term used to describe a small beer in the city of Bern and in the canton. Schtange is used too.
Considering my working experience consists entirely in and around Kantons Bern and Solothurn, I suppose that's where the mix up comes from. Darn local dialects!
I can see how folks from different regions can't always understand each other. Reminds me of when I lived in the German speaking side of Wallis and really struggled with the strong dialect.
Grüezi
In order to seriously undertake the learning of Swiss German I am going to Klubschule Migros for 2 hours per week, for a 5 month course. Only been there 3 weeks so far, but I CAN tell you that upon enrolment all students receive a very user-friendly and comprehensive Züridüütsch/Schwiitzerdüütsch textbook - EXCLUSIVELY available to students of KSM. It is an absolutely excellent learning tool and reference.
I highly recommend this avenue for learning CH-D because MKS is a very reliable source.
http://www.ielanguages.com/German1.html
I too would like to thank you for the link to "Swiss German for Dummies". Unfortunately when I click the sound portion, to hear the pronunciations, it was too garbled to understand However the information itself is very helpful to this newbie
There is also the link above that I found useful for learning basic words and listening to how Swiss German should be pronounced
You mean it was too garbled for YOU to understand. One up to Longbyt!
Great link thanks.
I still blush when I remember saying " Grüezi mitenand" to our neighbour although he was walking alone.
Nice website! Thanks for sharing.
You are excatly right: a 'Stange' is 3dl whereas a Herrgöttli is only 2dl. When you order a large beer, i.e. 'ein grosses Bier' you usually get 5dl. If you order these you'll get draught beer.
Well actually it's rarely used anymore. The 'Herrgöttli' used to be the last one 'for the road'. When a 'Stange' (3dl) were too much, but another 2dl were ok to drive home afterwards. But nowadays there's usually just the Stange and the large beer available. A few years ago in someplaces they suddenly shrunk the 'stange' to 2.5 dl (with the price staying the same of course).
So much for that.
Yes I bought this too and it has been great, people don't expect you to know and they seem pleasantly surprised for my clumsy efforts even though they answer in English, possibly hoping that I will not continue to butcher their language with a blunt cheese knife. I have asked pimsleur to do a follow up, but they replied that they need more favourbale comments and demand. The process is good. I keep playing it in the car and my CH friends ammend my weird accent, they very gracious. Worth the purchase!
Very astute catch there, yes possibly it was just me (or my Mac) that could not hear the Swiss German on that site. Still I find this site http://www.ielanguages.com most helpful for pronunciations. Tschau
Before anyone gets too confused, this link above appears to be for a High German website, not Swiss German.
Any other suggestions of courses to take on Swiss German? How do you find that the language school courses cater for non-native speakers with a reasonable level of High German already?
Interesting post! Thank you
I'll try to learn a new word every day!
Cheers,
LEO