Swiss German lives!

Today in the 21st century we are able to connect and talk with almost anyone on the face of the planet. As a result, it may seem obvious or straightforward that we are all beginning to use the same choice of words, pronunciation or slang as everyone else. I mean back in the 1930s, it would have taken 3 days to travel from Los Angeles to New York, meanwhile today you can hit anybody up on Skype in 20 seconds. The idea that people continue to stay loyal to their idiolects and view them as a central part of their identity almost seems outlandish, however, local dialects continue to prevail. A great example of this is the Swiss-German dialect of Switzerland.

I for one am a native German speaker, however, my dialect is a very vanilla, white rice, the standard version of the language. In Summers I do however spend about a month in the country of Switzerland. The Swiss-German dialect, while very different and barely understandable for someone from Germany, is technically still German. But, I always assumed that it was only older people who still stuck to the native Swiss dialect. This year, however, I spent a couple of weeks in a summer camp at Lake Geneva, and my previous assumption couldn’t have been further from the truth.

During my stay, I met quite a few Swiss-German people. I quickly realized that most of them were bilingual, they spoke both standard German and Swiss-German. At first, this was a pretty big shock to me because I had always thought “young people spend so much time online they probably barely speak Swiss-German”. I realized Even teens from big cities close to the German border spoke Swiss-German. I could luckily understand the dialect quite well, and one thing that still sticks with me today is what one of my Swiss friends said to another kid, “You can speak Swiss with him( referring to me), he’s not some dumb German.”. While I was a bit perplexed by the statement I also felt a bit flattered because I had almost become more accepted. For me, this was also a clear sign that in Switzerland local dialects are still used with pride.

Almost all movies in Switzerland are German dubs of American films, most music comes from America or Germany, and the German part of the internet is mostly in Standard-German. It is understandable why you’d think Swiss German is dying, however even young people tend to stick to their local dialects and view them as an integral part of their identity.

I now know even young teens continue to take pride in their dialects, as it is what makes them unique. It enforces their sense of belonging in their country and differentiates them from those pesky tourists from the outside. It’s like a giant sign saying “I’m a local, not an outsider.”. So even though we live in the age of global citizens and intercultural communication, we should still remember where we come from and who we are.