21 July 2007

You are now entering the Twilight Zone

Misleading, that is what Switzerland is. And gorgeous Crossing the border from Germany into Helvetia (what the Swiss call their country), the landscape changes only a little. The houses look the same, the billboards still in German. Everything seemed so normal, until the first Swiss opened his mouth.
Having so many German contacts, I have already heard the woe stories of Germans who mistakenly went to Switzerland thinking they could get by speaking High German (Hochdeutsch). But it is quite an experience in itself. To be sure German dialects differ from the German I learned in school, but no course can prepare you for Swiss German. Most of the time I give up listening in on conversations because I understand NOTHING!
Interestingly enough, my first night here, Raphi and his friends spoke to me in High German and said that was harder for them than speaking English. While their course materials are written in standard German, their spoken language is somewhere off the charts. I was trying to come up with an American, or even American-British comparison. Feckless. While people from New Jersey murmur and use outdated slang, and Texans take more time to speak a sentence than I do to eat, we at least understand one another. The same cannot be said for the Swiss and Germans.
Yesterday, I went on a solo excursion to Luzern. Stunning views and high-end fashion stores are ubiquitous. With a charming, but expensive, downtown, Luzern is situated next to the mountains and spanning a channel which goes into a gigantic mountain lake. Rain precipitated an early departure, but over all, the city is definitely a must-see. Tomorrow I will arrive in Paris. Unbelievable.
Happy reading to all the Harry Potter fans out there, and Gruezi to the rest of you!

5 comments:

  1. Just to let you know I have exactly 1 month left at Caribou. I'm so excited!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Guten Morgen!
    Das ist Lindee.
    Wie geht es lhnen?
    Mir gehtes gut.
    Solange Du auf dem Boden liegen kannst, ohne Dich festzuhalten, bist Du noch nicht betrunken. (the last sentence was the only long sentence in German that I could find on the internet.) I will have to try the coke and beer..hmmm. Ok so I will stick to English! Einen schonen tag noch!
    Keep up the great blog!
    Auf Wiedersehen
    : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. harry potter was amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tell me about it! We went to southern Switzerland (Italian land) and the dialect was so bizzare. A wonderful, culture-filled experience in and of itself. I hope you learned a thing or two, because I sure did!
    -Vanessa

    ReplyDelete
  5. You write very well.

    ReplyDelete