TV News in Switzerland?

Question

Is the news in switzerland presented in Swiss-German or Standard German? With a Swiss accent maybe?

At first I would have though Swiss-German because its the Swiss' first language in the German speaking part of Switzerland, but I heard its presented in Standard German.

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi,

yes, the answer above is correct. Major News shows are broad casted in high German, due to the fact that most of the rural dialects here in Switzerland can be rather different.

Outsiders might refer to these languages as Swiss German, but to be honest there is no real Swiss German, but rather a Zurich German, a Bern Germen, a Basel German etc or as we say here Zueri Duetsch or Bern Duetsch.

Furthermore do you need to know that German is not the only language spoken in Switzerland. So actually in the Italian speaking part (Ticino) will you get Italian news, in Suisse Romande (French speaking part) News in French and there are even News available for Raeteroromanisch, which is spoken in Graubuenden.

Ina

Answer 2

News on Swiss TV in the german part are always presented in High German.

The reason is that the News are also watched by many residents of Switzerland they don't understand Swiss German, High German is much better understood by them.