The best-selling Swiss German guidewith over 50,000 copies in print!
Hoi
your Swiss German survival guideHoiyour new Swiss German survival guide© 2005, 2006, 2009 Bergli Books© 2014 Schwabe AG, Bergli Books, BaselText Nicole Egger and Sergio J. LievanoIllustrations © 2005 and 2014 Sergio J. LievanoWatercolour (page iv) © 2014 Miguel LievanoPublished byBergli Books Tel.: +41 61 278 95 65Imprint of Schwabe AG Fax: +41 61 278 98 12 info@bergli.ch www.bergli.chProduced in Switzerland by Schwabe AG, MuttenzAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from Bergli Books, CH-4001 Basel, Switzerland.ISBN 978-3-905252-67-5eISBN (ePUB) 978-3-03869-010-8eISBN (mobi) 978-3-03869-011-5
Written byNicole Egger & Sergio J. Lievano Illustrated & Designed bySergio J. LievanoHoi
your Swiss German survival guide Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guidevPreface viiPart I: About Swiss German 3Introduction to Swiss German 4Brief history of the dialects 6The use of High German in Switzerland 8High German and Swiss German 9Use of Swiss German 12Why the Swiss don't like to speak High German 15Part II: Survival Kit 17Phonetics 18Consonants 18Vowels 19Greetings & Socializing 20Introduction 20Understanding the language 22Questions 24Small talk 25Invitations 28Love29Thingsto say atspecialmoments33Work 34Communication 38Telephone and mobile phones 38Computer world 40Social networking 42Post O ce 46Media (news) 48FoodandDrinks 50Health& Safety 58Health 58Human body 62Emotions 65Emergency 68Police 69Shopping 72Shopping in general 72Clothes 74Money & Banking 76Table of Contents
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guideviTravelling 78Transportation 78Directions 82Hotel 85Outdoors 87Entertainment 90People 94Family 94Babies 96Age 97Housing 98Home 98Neighbours & Agencies 102Miscellaneous 106Numbers 106Toilets 108Education 109General Non-SpecicTerms110Colours 111Animals 112Time 114Weather & Temperature 118Part III: Decoding the Swiss 121Swiss ‘Slanguage’ 122Swiss Idioms 126Frequent Confusions 130Appendix 135Pronouns and Articles 136Verbs 138The Dictionary141English toSwissGerman 141Swiss German to English 150Index 159About the Authors 162Acknowledgements 164
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guideviiWhen we teamed up for the rst edition of Hoi ten years ago we had no idea what was in store. Now with four language versions, 11 reprintings, and more than 50,000 copies in print, we have come to grasp how hungry people are for a fun way to learn this crazy and wonderful language. We hope this new version will continue to delight both the newcomer and those who have been struggling with the language for many years. Swiss German is not one language, but the name given to the group of Alemannic dialects spoken within Switzerland. These dialects (their vocabulary, intonation and pronunciation) vary considerably from one neighbourhood to another. It is a spoken language, and there are contradictory spelling systems for the few occasions when it is written. Hoi – your Swiss German survival guide is based primarily on the dialect spoken in the Zurich area, which is spoken by more Swiss than the Swiss dialects spoken in Basel, Berne, Lucerne and other areas. Although the dialects vary in pronunciation and vocabulary, the Swiss usually understand dialects other than their own. This book will help you to do that, too.Preface to the new edition
PFANNENSTIELRundfahrtEven though Swiss German is not written or standardized and has so many varieties, speakers of Swiss German from all levels of society are proud to speak it. Sharing a language that has so many variations keeps Swiss hearts and souls united.
About Swiss German3Part
I
About
Swiss German
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guide4Swiss German, the language spoken in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, is di erent from the Standard German or High German spoken in Germany. The varieties of Swiss German dialect in Switzerland cannot be de ned so easily. No particular dialect is considered better than others. Speaking dialect is not considered ‘uneducated’ or ‘substandard’ compared to the written High German but is spoken proudly. A Swiss can identify where another Swiss grew up simply from the dialect spoken. 444444Introduction to Swiss GermanIdentityFor a Swiss German speaker, language is much more than a way of communication; it is an integral part of his/her national, regional and even personal identity.
About Swiss German5It is said that each Swiss valley has its own dialect. This is not an exaggeration. Mountains and other geographical barriers have enabled some dialects to develop and keep unique expressions. Some dialects, such as the ones spoken in the Swiss Midlands, have intermingled. The interaction of speakers of di erent dialects has made the peculiarities of some dialects less prevalent. The increasing mobility of the Swiss accelerates this process and leads to a ‘Dialäktgmisch‘– a mixture of di erent dialects. Dialäktgmisch
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guide6Although Switzerland is considered a multilingual country, it did not start like that. Back in 1291 when Switzerland was created, the people founding it all spoke a dialect of Alemannic, a branch of Upper German covering what is now the south of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Alemannic tribes settled in Switzerland after the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. These tribes settled predominantly along the Rhine and in the central and north-eastern regions. Alemannic evolved from this time into three major groups: ‘Low’, ‘High’ and ‘Highest’ Alemannic. These are not qualitative terms in any way. These are the geographical terms describing where the dialect is spoken. The ‘Low’, located in the Basel area; the ‘High’, in the vast majority of regions in Switzerland, and the ‘Highest’ Alemannic, found in the remote area of the Wallis. At the beginning of the 20th century, linguists thought Swiss German would disappear by the end of the century and that the standard High German of Germany would prevail in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Alemannic Brief history of the dialects
About Swiss German7However, the radical political events during this time and the growth of nationalism helped the Swiss retain their dialect as a form of national identity. During the 1930s the Swiss felt the need to distinguish themselves from the Germans, and speaking in Swiss dialect was a way of expressing Swiss patriotism. Swiss German has reached a new level of acceptance, and continues to gain recognition and popularity, especially among the young, who like hearing it in Swiss popular music and who even compose written forms of it in their e-mail and SMS messages.There have been many e orts to agree upon a consolidation of the main dialects into a standard Swiss German that could be written. Some rules exist, but the Swiss enjoy their diversity too much to agree on a uni ed Swiss German. Nevertheless, the use and popularity of Swiss German is steadily increasing in Switzerland. Although it is not well documented, it has been said on many occasions that throughout history, Swiss German dialects were sometimes used as a ‘secret coding system’ by people and institutions dealing directly or indirectly in political a airs.
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guide8Switzerland has what is de ned as a ‘ Diglossia’: a situation in a society where two languages are used which are closely related and functionally complementary. In the Swiss case, Swiss German is the spoken language, and High German, as the Swiss term ‘Schriftdeutsch’ de nes it, is the o cial written language. High German is widely used in the written and spoken media, at schools, and also in the o cial, social, political or religious events where French-speaking Swiss, Italian-speaking Swiss and other non Swiss-German speakers might be present. Swiss German, on the other hand, is spoken in everyday, informal situations while shopping or socializing with friends and family, in local and regional radio and TV programs, in kindergartens, local government and non-government institutions.Having Diglossia sometimes makes it di cult to know which language is most appropriate to speak – High German or the dialect. Since High German is their second language, Swiss German speakers are often reluctant to speak High German which does not always make it easy for them to communicate. The use of High German in Switzerland
About Swiss German9Swiss German has ‘throaty’ or guttural ‘ch’ and ‘k’ sounds. The intonation of Swiss German gives emphasis to the rst syllable and pitch is more melodious than High German. Swiss German speakers like to make every possible noun diminutive by placing the ending ‘–li’ on it; for example, Gipfeli (croissant), Brötli (bread roll), Schäzzli (sweetheart), Chäzzli (little cat), etc.Swiss German is also very receptive to the in uences of foreign languages, in particular to English and French. Due to its geographical and cultural proximity to France, Swiss German has acquired a lot of French vocabulary, as opposed to how foreign words are ‘Germanized’ in Germany or Austria. The following table shows some examples of French in uences on Swiss German:9Swiss German High German English(parenthesis shows pronounciation)Merci (Märsi) Danke thank yous Velo (Welo) das Fahrrad bicycledä Coi eur (Gua ör) der Frisör hairdressers Poulet (Pule) das Hähnchen chickens Cheminée (Schmine) der Kamin replaces Spital (Schpital) das Krankenhaus hospitaldä Kondukteur (Kondiktör) der Scha ner train conductors Lavabo (Lawabo) das Waschbecken sinkdä Dessert (Dessär) der Nachtisch dessertd’ Saison (Säson) die Jahreszeit seasonHigh German and Swiss German
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guide10The four High German cases of nominative, accusative, dative and genitive are reduced in Swiss German to only two: the ‘common case’, which covers the German accusative and the nominative; and the ‘dative case’, which does likewise for the dative and the genitive. (See the Pronouns and Articles Section in the Appendix) There are also certain misconceptions about Swiss German, due mainly to the fact that it is a spoken rather than a written language. Some people claim an absence of tenses, a lack of gender and of articles. Swiss German does, most certainly, have its own particular tenses (see the Verbs Section in the Appendix), it usually has the same genders as in High German, and it uses articles, even though these, as in most spoken languages, are abbreviated at a conversational level (see table on previous page). The main di erences between Swiss German and High German are related to vocabulary and pronunciation (intonation). Swiss dialects keep their unique, special terms and usually keep the original pronunciation of foreign words that are always creeping into the language.aufakkusativeDativeNominativeGenitive
About Swiss German11Translation: Hey! Someone stole your bike!German sentence construction
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guide12The Swiss German language group is the largest in Switzerland. According to Swiss statistics *, 64,9% of the Swiss population speak this language in their daily lives, followed by French with 22,5%, Italian with 8,3%, and Romansch (a language with four dialects that was o cially recognized only in the 1930s) with 0.5% or 35,000 people.The diversity of languages and their uneven distribution generate political and social discussions. The ‘Röschtigraben’ (fried–potato trench) is the name given to the ideological and linguistic border between the Swiss German and the French speaking area. It is not that there is any real con ict on this imaginary border. The relationship between neighbours is cordial and there is no hate or bitterness (other than the occasional reciprocal jokes). The Röschtigraben term – a kind of potato tortilla that originated in the German speaking part of Switzerland – denotes a di erent mind set between the two language groups, which is usually highlighted in the political arena. The Swiss spare no e ort to smooth out di erences whenever possible, and equalize distribution of power and in uence. The federalist form of government helps people living in Switzerland to maintain and respect regional and local distinctions.French22,6%German64,9%Italian8,3%Romansch0,5%*Source: Swiss Federal Statistical O ce - Structural Survey (SS) 2012. Use of Swiss German
About Swiss German13The table on this page shows the multilingual environment where Swiss German is thriving. The large number of non-Swiss, who account for nearly one fth of the Swiss population, plays an important role in the development of Swiss German. New Swiss generations come not only from Swiss families, but from a mixture of di erent nationalities and cultural backgrounds. These children of immigrants are called ‘ Secondos’. They may have little or no identity with their parents’ original country and yet not be considered Swiss either. t.Other languages are*:English 4,6 %Portuguese 3,4 %Albanian 2,6 %Serbian and Croatian 2,5 %Spanish 2,2 %Turkish 1,2 %Arabic 0,5 %Other languages 4,6 %O
Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guide14Global in uencesYoung Swiss are of course also in uenced by foreign music, foreign fashion, travel and the media, and are always adding new expressions to Swiss German. Like in other countries, Swiss youngsters create their own language identities, separating themselves from older generations.The ‘Secondos’ ...a term that implies the second generation – act as a bridge of communication between their older relatives and Swiss people and add many new avours to Swiss German.Howcome, if I’m the first one in my class, people keep calling me “Secondo” ?
About Swiss German15Why the Swiss don't like to speak High GermanMany foreigners who learn to speak High German complain that Swiss people only reluctantly reply in High German. Apparently Swiss people generally don't like to speak High German. Why is that so?For the Swiss, High German is a foreign language. The Swiss prefer to speak their Swiss dialect even though High German is the o cial German language in Switzerland. High German is the language of school and the language of rules and regulations, but it is rarely associated with pleasure and leisure. On top of this, High German is even for school teachers a foreign language, meaning that they, too, speak a 'helvetic' kind of High German. A lot of Swiss people lack con dence in speaking High German and feel awkward using it.Although the size and economic power of Germany may sometimes seem threatening to them, a lot of Swiss people are reluctant to speak High German because they feel language-wise in an inferior position rather than because of any animosity towards Germany. For Swiss people it is particularly unpleasant to speak High German in the company of other Swiss. First they think of this as 'putting on airs' and second they fear making a fool of themselves in front of other Swiss.
Survival Kit17Part II
Survival Kit
18Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guideSince Swiss German is mainly an oral language, this book will keep spelling rules as simple as possible. Therefore we do not use typical German spelling conventions such as ck, tz, ieh, ah, oh, etc. The only ones we kept are the v, that has the same pronunciation as f, and dt which is pronounced as t. Instead of ck, we used kk, for tz we used zz if the preceding vowel is short. b as in Bluesch as in Loch Ness or Bach, always voiceless at the back of the throatd as in Doordt ‘t’ as in Letf as in Fingerg as in Godgg short strong g (gk) as in French Jacquesh as in Hip-Hopj as in Yesk throat rasping Khl as in Lionm as in Men as in Nightng as in English Singnk ngk as in Thinko as in Olympicsp as in Pizza (never aspirated)qu as in Quantityr as in Burrito (usually rolled like in Spanish)s as in Sad (voiceless)t as in French Tu (rather soft, never aspirated)v ‘f’ as in Finger w ‘v’ as in Valentinex ‘gs’ as in Mexicoz ‘ts’ as in LotsDouble consonants are preceded by a short vowel.ConsonanPhoneticsConsonRead the Swiss German words out loud as you go through this book. A Swiss Geman speaker also has to do this since the dialect is usually not written.guide Consonants
Survival Kit19a as in Africaä as in Bearai as in Eyeau as in Howe as in Elephantei as in Heyi as in Easyo as in Oracleö as in French Deuxu as in Cool / Moonü as in French Tuy as in French Tu (except for English words)Double vowels double the length of the sound.Vowel PhoneticsPhoneticsTo help you understand Swiss pronunciation of foreign words, a phonetic pronunciation is given in parenthesis. VowelsSwiss phonetics are one of the most complex subjects to discuss. As mentioned in the rst part of the book, there are no standard rules and the sounds of letters and words vary from one area to the other. This book gives an approximation of the standard way Swiss German is pronounced in the Zurich region. For more about the dialect spoken in the Basel area, please see our Sali zämme - your Baseldütsch survival guide.
20Hoi - your new Swiss German survival guide Formal and InformalSwiss German di erentiates between the formal and the informal way of approaching a person. The formal way uses the pronoun ‘Sii’ and the person is usually addressed by his / her last name (‘Good morning, Mr. Meier), the informal way is used with the pronoun ‘du’ and the person can be addressed by his/her rst name (‘Hi Chris...’).Good morning, Mr. / Mrs. Guätä Morgä Herr / Frau... Guätä TagGood afternoon. Guätä Namittag.Good evening. Guätä n’Aabig.Hello. Grüezi.Hello. (to several people) Grüezi mitenand.How are you? Wiä gat’s Inä?Fine, and you? Guät, und Inä?Pleased to meet you. Froit mich, Sii kännä z’lärnä.‘Bye. Uf widerluägä. Uf widersee. Adieu (Adjö) Formal (Sii)To be used in business, with strangers, with seniors, or whenever you meet a grown-up that hasn’t introduced him / herself with his / her rst name. Usually the older, more senior, person o ers the ‘du’ form (Sii chönd du zu mir sägä) or ‘wämmer Duzis machä?’Saying Hello (Formal)Greetings & Socializing Introduction
Survival Kit21Hi. Hoi. / Sali. / Salü.Hi. (to several people) Hoi zäme.How are you? Wiä gat’s? Wiä häsch äs?Fine, and you? Guät, und dir?Quite OK. Scho rächt.I am not so well. Mir gat’s nöd so guät. ‘Bye. Ciao. (tschau) / Tschüss.See you. Mer gseet sich!Pleased to meet you. Froit mich, di kännä z’lärnä.See you later. Bis schpöter.Have a nice day / evening. No än schönä Tag / Aabig. In this book the abbreviation (inf) is used for informal and (fr) is used for formal. For nouns: (m) is masculine, (f) is feminine, (n) is neutral and (pl) is plural.Informal: (du / ier)Usually used with children, friends, family, and among students and colleagues.Greetings & Socializing
