Everybody in Switzerland is fluent in Standard German and the local dialect isn't something that you can really learn from a book. There are resources on the internet as far as I'm aware but you...
Everybody in Switzerland is fluent in Standard German and the local dialect isn't something that you can really learn from a book. There are resources on the internet as far as I'm aware but you need the daily interaction to learn it meaningfully. Additionally, there are many foreigners in Basel that will speak the language as an L2 and are fluent in English (as are the Swiss themselves) so you'll have time to really delve into it once you move.
I recommend you forget about the dialect and just go for Standard German, you'll have a much easier time with it since it's standardized. In a way Basel German is quite easy to learn from there since it's really close to Standard German anyway, closer than other dialects at least.
Sorry for the hurried reply but I'm on my phone, I'll try to remember to expand a bit when I'm home. I'm a native dialect speaker btw.
^This. I am a native English speaker and reached L2 German (I didn't officially test, but while I definitely would have had a challenge at L3, I had a practice L2 test from a local Uni and it...
^This. I am a native English speaker and reached L2 German (I didn't officially test, but while I definitely would have had a challenge at L3, I had a practice L2 test from a local Uni and it seemed quite easy), and I got by just fine in Switzerland and briefly in Basel. Granted, I wasn't using any technical terms, just the typical tourist jargon, but no one tried using English on me which always made me feel successful in speaking German.
I learned German in the US and moved there (Hesse). It was like learning Queen's English and moving to Texas: I knew the proper pronunciations and grammar, but whilst I had a wonderful teacher who taught us a lot of slang and whatnot, the accent and regional terminology is just something you'll have to pick up over time. I later moved to Bayern and that was another language shock, where everything I got comfortable with in Hesse went out the door.
So ultimately, just learn German and have fun learning the nuances once you're in a German-speaking region.
this! making friends in switzerland is hard. I mean, really hard. but once you get one, you will be adopted into their circle of friends and it gets easier. definitly join a club, or better two or...
this!
making friends in switzerland is hard. I mean, really hard.
but once you get one, you will be adopted into their circle of friends and it gets easier.
definitly join a club, or better two or three. meeting people for a long time over and over again seems to be the only way to get acepted and the befriended.
nobody I ever met that is not born in switzerland speaks swiss german
Everybody in Switzerland is fluent in Standard German and the local dialect isn't something that you can really learn from a book. There are resources on the internet as far as I'm aware but you need the daily interaction to learn it meaningfully. Additionally, there are many foreigners in Basel that will speak the language as an L2 and are fluent in English (as are the Swiss themselves) so you'll have time to really delve into it once you move.
I recommend you forget about the dialect and just go for Standard German, you'll have a much easier time with it since it's standardized. In a way Basel German is quite easy to learn from there since it's really close to Standard German anyway, closer than other dialects at least.
Sorry for the hurried reply but I'm on my phone, I'll try to remember to expand a bit when I'm home. I'm a native dialect speaker btw.
^This. I am a native English speaker and reached L2 German (I didn't officially test, but while I definitely would have had a challenge at L3, I had a practice L2 test from a local Uni and it seemed quite easy), and I got by just fine in Switzerland and briefly in Basel. Granted, I wasn't using any technical terms, just the typical tourist jargon, but no one tried using English on me which always made me feel successful in speaking German.
I learned German in the US and moved there (Hesse). It was like learning Queen's English and moving to Texas: I knew the proper pronunciations and grammar, but whilst I had a wonderful teacher who taught us a lot of slang and whatnot, the accent and regional terminology is just something you'll have to pick up over time. I later moved to Bayern and that was another language shock, where everything I got comfortable with in Hesse went out the door.
So ultimately, just learn German and have fun learning the nuances once you're in a German-speaking region.
this!
making friends in switzerland is hard. I mean, really hard.
but once you get one, you will be adopted into their circle of friends and it gets easier.
definitly join a club, or better two or three. meeting people for a long time over and over again seems to be the only way to get acepted and the befriended.
nobody I ever met that is not born in switzerland speaks swiss german
NP. And no worries. Tildes is a collaborative effort. :)
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Can I hijack this briefly to find out how Swiss German is different from German German? Is it like British English versus American English or…?