WIKITONGUES: Dessire speaking Swiss German

This video was recorded by Daniel Bogre Udell in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he and Dessire were visiting. Swiss German is spoken by as many as five million people, primarily in the Central European nation of Switzerland, where it remains unrecognized in favor of Standard German. As a result, Swiss German remains without a written standard and is characterized by robust dialectal diversity. A member of the Alemannic group of Germanic languages, Swiss German is most closely related to Swabian, Walser, and the spoken vernaculars of Liechtenstein. Despite the lack of political recognition, there exists a wide body of Swiss German literature, especially from the 19th century.

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[DerPlusquamperfekt]

Alot of German people might dislike Swiss German, but I feel it's very neat, as someone living in Swabia. I wish it would get more support from the swiss government, I really dislike how dialects and accents die out im favour of High German.

[Larrypint]

As a german from Berlin i understand around 90%.

[billbirkett]

It would be the same situation vis a vis Swiss German and High German speakers if Portuguese were considered a dialect of Spanish, and Portuguese speakers could only write using Spanish or use Spanish in administrative situations. I speak Hochdeutsch and I can understand it for the most part because I have had some exposure to it, but Alemannic is highly divergent and it just goes to show the power of politics in defining one's linguistic identity.

[bavariantrawler]

Cool! My great great great grandparents were from Switzerland (around Bern) and arrived in Canada in the ~1850s before settling in Michigan. Unfortunately, speaking German (assuming also that they would have spoken Swiss German) and any language other than English was mostly suppressed and therefore I have no family lore about ancestors speaking German. It's sad. I hope to someday visit Switzerland and find where near Bern my family may have come from.

[boristsankov]

As a non-native speaker of German I could understand only single words here and there

[BabaBugman]

As said, the video should precise the Swiss German dialect. They are quite different.

[adamhovey]

German is my second language, although I understand it better than I speak it, at this point, that being said, Swiss German actually sounds kind of pretty. I know that's not something you hear with German a lot.

[flybeep]

I'm dutch with German proficiency and can pick up on most of what she's speaking about. What I understood is she's speaking about her language and how she's proud of it, how it is a dialect of hoch-deutsch and she got it from her mother. I would say I could understand about 60% to70% but it took concentration. I would be able to quickly pick up on it and speak it enough to hold a conversation after immersion of a few months.

[nicomelgares]

many people would think that swiss german is not that different from standard german, because its called german. most germans cant understand swiss german dialects. some dialects are so different (walliserditsch) that even for some swiss people its not easy to understand. i would definitely say that swiss german is its own language or at least a dialect group that differs from german in many ways. not only grammar but also phonetics and influences from other languages. the people where kind of separated through the alps and the bodensee (lake constance) and some of them were quite isolated in the mountains, so that the language was not very influenced by trade in germany and austria. but of course the alemannic dialects in germany and austria are similar. but only these dialects spoken on the border, not standard german!!! the dialect spoken in liechtenstein is veeery similar. i would say it sounds like a swiss german dialect, but they dont like it if you say that ;D

i love liechtenstein. i attended artschool there for 1 year. i also love vorarlberg (austria). i live in a valley called rheintal, on the border to austria and the people in this valley are very connected to each other although they live in to different countries the border is very open and there is a nature reserve, where people from both countries go swimming and walk on the other site. many people live on one side and work in the other country or marry someone from the "other side". i like that openness and connection.

♥️ alpenrheintal 🇱🇮🇨🇭🇦🇹

[kotmiwmien]

Swiss German is like Scottish English- a secret language nobody can understand

[sb]

interesting. I've studied standard German for about two years in university, and the sounds I hear here are very unfamiliar to me. I notice a significant lack of hard 'eu' sounds and 'au' sounds, although maybe that's just because I'm accustomed with very formal 'taught' german.

[CrazyShores]

I am Italian I have been learning German for 6 months now, and I can understand a lot of it. But beware, Swiss German is a collection of dialects, not a language. And other Swiss German dialects are much more far from high german than this Basel dialect!

[jacksonamaral]

cool. i enjoyed to listen how it sounds.

[fiedelmina]

it's completely ridiculous to say Swiss German is "not recognized politically". Of course it is. Switzerland is a very democratic country, our political culture is centered around federalism and direct democracy. Obviously we are aware that in the "German" speaking part of the country, the populations speaks Swiss German. It also a deeply rooted tradition and a common agreement - also as to not exclude the parts of the country where people speak French and Italian!!! - that the "standard" language used for writing and speaking in public is standard German. That is not a rule imposed on an oppressed population or some such bullshit. When I say there is an agreement, it's in fact an ongoing debate in which everybody can participate. Specially when the school system is being discussed in public, there is an ongoing discourse about how much the children should in fact be encouraged to use dialect even in a public or school setting, or where standard German should be made a standard and be held up. There is also a debate about media like radio and tv who have shifted towards an increased use of dialect over the last two decades. The fact that there is a debate means we treat this question in our traditional democratic ways. Dialect is HUGELY recognized, for example writers will earn recognition and get grants if they choose to use dialect in their work.
You should be aware that to Swiss German speakers, Swiss German is their mothertongue, and they will use it all the time, and everybody uses it. We also use it for informal writing such as texting. In fact, many people find it tiring to speak standard German. Many tourists, people from French/Italian speaking Switzerland, German speakers who are here for business or immigrated, often get very disappointed and annoyed because people aren't considerate enough to speak standard German to them, so they have a hard time understanding and they feel excluded. That's a problem but it certainly goes to show that Swiss German is anything but "not recognized"!!!
You should also be aware of the fact that we are very proud of our different regional dialects. Note how Desiree stresses right in the beginning of the video that her dialect is Basel-Land (countryside) and even self-consciously points out that she might have a strong influence of Basel-City in her language. We Swiss can spend hours in endless small-talk and often even heated argument about our dialect. Many people feel that and effort needs to made fo preserve the many different regional dialects in a time where people move around the country much more than our ancestors used to do. The emergence of a kind of "generic central Swiss German" dialect is a fact but not a welcome one, but often criticized. We would never want a "standardized" Swiss German, which is one of the main reasons that when a standardized language is needed, we use Standard German, but otherwise sticking to our local and regional dialects.

[TheCantoneseInvestor]

there seems to be some phonological influence from Hochdeutsch, e.g. lack of Alveolar trill (rolled r just like the Spanish one)

[TheGrmany]

It's closely related with Venezuelan "coloniero" alemannic (coloniero german).

[ilirfazliu]

Is this how they speak in their daily life throughout Switzerland where German is spoken or is it a bit exaggerated version of Swiss German?

[Fenditokesdialect]

In my Sheffield variety of West Yorkshire dialect:

Mi naame's Désirée Dietlin, O belang Basel Land, i Aesch, i Switzerlann, an' mi matther tongue's Swiss Jahrman as ya can 'eear, Baseldeutsch, some says it's orreada mooar Basel doialict ner Basel Land doialict an' O'm i Montevideo enah an' O've bin speikin a vast o Spenish 'eeare an' O wer a bit moidered when O'd to speik Swiss Jahrman ageean. O think, for me, lenguage's ollis bin reight pooartant to be yeble t'unnerstann fowk an' O nooaticed dis ageean 'eeare- O've bin 'eeare for seis muns- it's sa pooartant to be yeble t'unnerstann fowk, to towk tul ilkuther an' t'oppen up tul uther fowk bi speikin deir lenguage wi em an' shawin interest i em. It's varra noice to be yeble t''eear different lenguages 'eeare an' at 'eea's sich a laay. For me, lenguage is ooan o t'mooast pooartant things- a pooartant asset O gaained an' at's shapped mi a grooace an' at'll ollis shap mi, O think an' O'm faain it's loike dat bud O'm yit varra prahd o Swiss Jahrman, O reckon Swiss Jahrman's a varra yewneeaque doialict, monna says it's a distinct lenguage, it's nooan an official lenguage, it's nobbud a doialict o Stannard Jarhman bud varra different nooantless. It's noice 'ah it ewnoites uz Swiss a loile, O think, sin uthersome ivverabodda mut see uz as Jarhmans or Austrians eeam gif we'n uz awn quahrks eeam amang uther Swiss Jahrman doialicts, 'eea's monna different-uns, an' O reckon ooan feeals at 'ooam when 'eearin Swiss Jahrman ageean. Ah, dat's eizatla whaten O wanted to towk abaht, greeatins tul ivverabodda watchin dis, yah, soll on!

[TheEdgarMueller]

Nice. The Basle dialect is definitely not so difficult to understand for Germans.

[vkyoout]

Swiss German is to German is what Afrikaans is to Dutch. It’s actually not mutually intelligeble with German so it needs to be recognized as an independant language. I’m Dutch but I visit Swiss often and I think It’s a shame that Swiss seem to regard Germans and their culture so high. So high that they seem to forget their own culture and do everything to accomodate for the Germans.. quite sad.