The Language Dilemna

I started a German class last week, and Todd has also been receiving German one morning a week at work. I very much enjoy studying languages, and for me, speaking the local language is one of the most enjoyable aspects of visiting another place.

But here in Switzerland, it is a bit more tricky than putting in the hours to learn the language. We live in a German speaking part of Switzerland (Switzerland has four official languages: German, French, Italian and Romanch) but the Swiss speak their own very distict dialect of German, generally called Swiss German. It gets even more complicated since each German region has their own dialect, thus Bern-German or Basel-German. We know a German woman who has lived here for 3 years. She can now understand Swiss German, but cannot speak it.

So, Todd and I are both studying high German. There are courses here teaching Swiss German but you must know a moderate amount of "high" German before you are eligible to take them.

Finally, most people here speak fair to good English. Of course I've run into people who don't but there is usually a coworker they can call who does. I've never had difficulty getting anything done due to lack of language. So, the question I ask myself is does it pay to learn high German? Would a Swiss person rather converse with me in English which they speak well or in my broken high German which many Swiss really don't like speaking anyway.

The bottom line is that I'm here, I have the time, and I like languages, so I will study German. Will it ever serve me here? Probably not.