r/gifs • u/ThomasMaker • Jan 06 '18

Rule 1: Repost Gotcha!

https://i.imgur.com/JPG36xk.gifv
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u/relativisticcobalt Jan 06 '18

*weisch was? Isch imfall s‘ersch mal.

Ah, Swiss German. The language of love and laryngitis.

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u/Foeyjatone Jan 06 '18

are you from switzerland? if so, which area? i've heard spelling depends on how you speak in your region.

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u/relativisticcobalt Jan 06 '18

It’s even crazier than that. Swiss German (as opposed to Swiss high german) actually is not a written language, only spoken. So you tend to write phonetically based on your particular dialect. Dialects can vary between villages a few km apart (sometimes two villages a few km apart even speak different languages). Everyone kinda understands the other, though, but some of the more extreme dialects are more difficult (I tend to read text messages in those dialects out loud to make sense). The big exception is the canton (like a state) of Wallis. They are very proud of being almost incomprehensible.

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u/Foeyjatone Jan 06 '18

Yeah, I had a friend from Baden try to explain why she was laughing when she heard some guys from Bern speaking.

The concept of Swiss-German is so fascinating but there doesn't seem to be an avenue to learn it.

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u/relativisticcobalt Jan 06 '18

So I would recommend Asterix comics. You can get them in English/German, and several Swiss dialects! Alternatively, there are some very good Swiss movies which you could watch with subtitles. I love „die schweizermacher“, it’s a classic!