So, after a month of “living” in German-speaking Switzerland, I’m finally moving back to Lugano on Friday to start school. This stay here has been both challenging and rewarding for me…mostly challenging. 
I have some previous experience with immersion language learning from my year as a high school exchange student, but this time around, learning the local language is proving more difficult. In Norway, everyone could speak English, so in a way you were eased into the bath. Here, it’s more like cannonballing your way in. To survive, I rely consistently on a mixture of French and “Swissified” Norwegian and hope for the best.
Yeah, it sounds weird, but my Norwegian is sometimes more useful than my French here. For example, yesterday I was looking for ginger. “Haben Sie yngefar?” I asked. She knew almost right off the bat what I was looking for: ingwer.
In my time here, I have learned some bits and phrases. So to commemorate, I’ve decided to compile a list of everything “Swiss” I’ve learned. (Unfortunately, “everything” is not that much.) And who knows? Maybe somebody out there might find this useful.
It should be noted that Swiss German is not one single language, but rather a collection of dialects—some of which can be quite different and even incomprehensible with each other. I’m staying in Thurgau, and I guess the dialect here isn’t so different from the one they speak in Zürich. (Though, I’ve noticed people here seem to use the gutteral/French r as opposed to the rolling r that I associate with Zürch’s Swiss German.)
GREETINGS
Grüezi Hello
Guete tag Hello
*I don’t use this one, but I’ve been advised that it’s better to say “Guete tag” in the southern, more mountainous parts of German-speaking Switzerland, as “Grüezi” is associated with the Swiss living in the valleys.
Hoi Hello, informal
Morgen [Good] Morning
Gueten aabig Good evening
Schönen aabig Have a nice evening
Adé Goodbye (Funny story with this one: I always thought the people were saying “hadet,” which is “goodbye” in Norwegian.)
NUMBERS
Eis One
Zwei Two
Drü Three
Viir Four
*I use Standard German for five to seven since the difference is too slight for my ears.
Acht Eight
Nüün Nine
Zäh Ten
Elf Eleven
Zwölf Twelve
Zwänzk Twenty
QUESTIONS
Wie goht’s? How is it?
Wo bisch du? Where are you? Informal
Isch d Herr Jones da? Is Mr. Jones here? (Da is pronounced like då in Swedish.)
Isch di Frau Jones da? Is Ms./Mrs. Jones here?
Wie biitä? Could you please repeat?
*The ie in wie is a dipthong. And as you can see, the Swiss have a different pronunciation of “bitte,” with the stress on the first syllable.
EVERYTHING ELSE
Excüsi Excuse me
Leider niit Unfortunately not
Merci (vilmal) Thank you (very much)
Danke (vilmal) Thank you (very much)
*Merci is not pronounced like in French: The stress is on the first syllable so it sounds much more like the English “mercy.”
**Sometimes the k sound, like in “danke,” is explosive and is pronounced like k+ch. (Ch as in achtung.)
Mir We
Mini My
Gsi Seen
Gseit Said
Aalüüte To call
Güggeli Chicken
Rössli Horse
Chuchi Kitchen/Cuisine
Chuchichäschtli Kitchen cupboard (Not a very useful word…but fun to say.)
Ich han dich ganz fescht lieb. I love you.
*The ch in ich and dich is the same as in achtung. The ie in lieb becomes a dipthong, like in the word “Kiev.”
Ich weisch es nüüt. I don’t know.
*Niit and nüüt correspond to “nicht” in German. Since there’s no standard way to write dialect, as in Norwegian, I’m just writing down what I think I hear—sometimes the same word sounds different depending on how it’s used.
E chli A little
Ich han e chlises hüngerli. I’m a little hungry.
Well, that’s a pretty okay list, I think. I’m still learning new words each day. I’ve written down the ones that I consider the most radically “Swiss,” but there are a lot of words that Swiss German and Standard German have in common that the Swiss just pronounce slightly differently: würkli (wirklich), flugzüg (flugzeug), zrugg (zurück), etc. So I haven’t included those into my list because it would be extensive.
So yeah, there you go. I’m going to go eat now. Ich han e chlises hüngerli!
