If I study German, will I be able to understand Swiss German?

Question

I am taking a German class at my university and I heard Swiss German is the hardest to understand

Answer 1

It's best to think of German and Swiss German as two separate languages.

However, someone who knows German will understand a little of Swiss German, especially once they get used to some of the pronunciation rules - e.g. if I am asked for my "oossweess" I know (in high German) it's my Ausweis they want to see.

But the same can apply to Dutch. I know no Dutch and only a moderate amount of German and I find I can read some of it.

However, you'll be able to read everything in Switzerland as the written language is essentially the same as in all of Germany.

Answer 2

no, the fact that you study german doesnt mean you can understand swiss german, even between swiss people sometimes they dont understand each other because the swiss german have different accents depends of the canton.

so when this happens they speak the  standard german.

maybe you can learn to understand expressions in swiss german or stuff that they said, when you heard it a lot but is difficult to speak, just with a long time living there and a lot practice, maybe you can at least  understand a bit.

my boyfriend is swiss, he explain me that.  he is from the german side of switzerland.

I speak a bit of german.

Answer 3

One word....NO !

Even though Swiss German speaking people know how to speak and write German, in conversation, it is quite different.

Like French Creole and real French.....cannot understand 90% of it.

Answer 4

-du los a maala, wenn i säge das schywizer dütsch schwer isch, dann hesch recht.......

- es isch scho a chlii andersch aber verschtoh chaus es ja

Da biespiel da oba isch schywyzerdütsch

Answer 5

In Germany, when they are doing a news story about Switzerland and the Swiss person is speaking Swiss German, the tv station will frequently have a "voice over" in standard German.  You will be able to understand some Swiss German if the conversation is simple.  If you spend some time in Switzerland, you will probably pick up the language quickly and you will still be ahead of ppl who don't speak any German.

Answer 6

No.  Swiss German is a very strong dialect and has many words that are different from the "standard" German.

At school, we had our German teacher (a Swiss national) read us a passage from our textbook in Swiss German  - and we couldn't understand at all, even with the equivalent Standard German words in front of us.

I speak fluent German and lived in Germany for a couple of years.  I can now just about understand Swiss German if the conversation is simple.

Answer 7

Even most native speakers of what I like to call German German don't understand much Swiss German, unless they've made an effort to learn it (usually only if they're married to a Swiss).

I can usually get the gist of what my daughter is saying on the phone but I can't follow a whole conversation in it. (I've never actually participated in a whole conversation in Swiss German.)

My standard German isn't great either, but I can understand it reasonably well.

Answer 8

it almost sae thing

Answer 9

I´m from the south of germany. I understand 95% of the swiss german, cos our dialekt is similar.

a north german understand nothing!

Answer 10

NO, iam german and i barely can understand them. its like a british guy trying to understand a thick southern accent.