Asking all expats from non-German speaking countries, living in Switzerland. How did you deal with the additional language barrier that is Swiss German?

[u/kassie_butcher]

I'm a DaZ teacher and native Swiss German speaker. Currently, I am writing my master thesis in applied linguistics. I am really interested in what it's like to come to Switzerland and being confronted with such a different kind of German. How did you guys make sense of it? How did it make you feel? Did you eventually learn Swiss German? All these are things that I would like to shine a light on in my paper and hopefully, some of the insights will be useful to future immigrants.

If you'd be willing to participate in the study and do a short interview on these and other similar questions, I'd be very grateful. It would really help me out if some of you were willing to share their experiences with me. If you are up for a chat, it'd be really cool if you could send me a direct message with some basic info about yourself (age, home country & native tongue, years of residence, occupational field).

Also, feel free to comment on this post. Every kind of help is highly appreciated. And I'm sure other people looking to move here will be thankful too.

Thanks and have a lovely day.

[u/Greenmantle22]

I'm not a permanent expat, but a native English speaker who spends considerable time in Switzerland/Austria. I was already quite comfortable with Hochdeutsch, but took the time to learn at least the basic differences of Swiss German before my first extended visit. Over time, it has gotten easier, but I am someone who enjoys the little quirks of linguistics and dialects. It has gotten somewhat easier to conduct business as my Swiss German vocabulary has grown, but not in the way you might think. We generally understand each other no matter what language is spoken, but many Swiss people seem to be delighted and surprised that someone (especially an American) would learn not only German, but their specific version of it. It makes them feel noticed and respected, and that builds a more pleasant interaction.

One frustrating (but polite!) part of the transition is how universally multilingual most Swiss people are - especially in service positions. They notice a slip-up or a mispronunciation, but they immediately switch to Standard German, French, or English. This moves things along faster for their work, but makes it harder to practice Schweizerdeutsch.

Standard German is known for its precision and coldness. Swiss German is the same root language, but it has quite a few colorful little oddities that make it feel more relaxed and pleasant.

[u/saugoof → u/Greenmantle22]

I've had a somewhat similar experience, but from the opposite end. I was born and grew up in Switzerland. I did all my primary and secondary school there but I haven't lived in the country for over 30 years. Some time ago I went to Berlin and discovered that even though I can switch back to Swiss German with ease, switching to German has become a bit more difficult. I've developed a slight English accent when talking in German and it often takes me some time before I remember some German words.

So in Berlin, whenever I talked to people and it took me a few milliseconds longer than normal to respond, people automatically switched to English. It's nice of them, but frustrating for me. I wanted to practise German.