Schwitzerdütsch is a funny thing

[wiseheart]

For those not in the know: Schwitzerdütsch is the peculiar dialect of German spoken in Switzerland. It really can hardly be called German anymore. I'm reasonably good at understanding dialects (though not even the Germans themselves understand each other sometimes), and we spoke a kind of German in the family that is closer to the kind spoken in Austria than what you can learn in language courses, but Schwitzerdütsch is a language of its own.

A few days ago, I watched a few interviews Urs Bühler, the amazing tenor from Il Divo, and I laughed myself silly, because of the 7+ minutes interview I only understood a few words, the dialect equivalents of natürlich (naturally), selbtsverständlich (of course) and so on. And even those just barely. He was funny and charming and all that, but I understood more thanks to the Spanish subtitles than from listening to what was spoken. And I only learned Spanish for half a year when I was 17!!!

Clearly, Schwitzerdütsch could be used as a secret code. ;)

Comments

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

[laughing with you]

Reminds me of a mix-up I once had back in college. I was learning German. One day after class, I was talking with my professor and a student more advanced than I. I was strumbling along in my limited German telling the prof about something I'd recently done. He asked, "Fun?" I responded in English, "Yes, it was fun." The more advanced student burst out laughing, then explained that we'd had a miscommunication. The prof had actually asked, "Von?" in German, meaning "From where?" and I, thinking he'd said, in English, "Fun?" replied in English. We all had a good laugh.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Haha, yes, don't remind you the embarrassing case when I've mixed up Nachteil (=disadvantage) with Hinterteil (=someone's backside). Languages are fun! *g*

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Yeah, baby! Macht Spass!

I confess that I think I have one advantage: because I'm American, no one expects me to be able to speak another language, so they are more forgiving of my mistakes than they would be for fellow Europeans. Would you agree?

[artemis10002000]

Horribly off-topic but I know you too were excited about Axanar and have been hoping Paramount will permit it to be made
https://www.change.org/p/cbs-support-axanar/u/16664789?tk=aN87kxLV-EwR4aLADkfYe0Ouk-plexFKtil7eL5hM2Y&utm_source=petition_update&utm_medium=email
I can't actually understand what they say in the video by going by the comments they have been given official blessings for Axanar to happen.

I'm so excited!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

So am I! I didn't understand a word either, but it is fantastic news! Independent films or fan-made ones are much more devoted to the spirit of Star Trek anyway.

[artemis10002000]

That's true. They don't have to chase after whatever is the current trend quite so much, and story instead of heaps of CGI is a relief.

Once I've caught up the Star Wars shows, I really want to go through some Star Trek fan movies and shows. From what I've been able to dig up on YT, there seems to be quite a lot.