Language barriers ...

02/06/2009 19:47 Filed in: Appenzeller
I had visitors from Germany last week.
An old friend 'C' and her daughter.
They stayed all week and I took them out sightseeing a couple of times.
Being German, C's German is pretty good — she even gets all her prepositions and tenses right, which I don't.

The Swiss around this area also speak German — at least, they think they do.
I've got used to the local Appenzeller and can make out 95% of what they are saying. In St.Gallen, I even understand 100%!
But please don't ask me to try to talk Swiss German — I couldn't, not in any of its many varieties.

We stood in St.Gallen watching a painter from a distance. She turned, saw us watching and said something like
"chaasch goluaga cho, wannst wötsch"
At the sound of those hair-balls being hacked up, C looked at me with a question mark planted in the middle of her face.
I translated:
"Du kannst näher kommen und schauen, wenn du möchtest." (You may come and take a closer look, if you wish).
Did you notice the similarities?

German and Swiss German started to evolve in different directions during the middle ages. To be honest with you I can't shake off the feeling that Swiss German remained standing, while German-German developed to todays standards.
By comparison Swiss German is grammatically much simpler than High German and has a much smaller vocabulary.

The Swiss think that the Germans are arrogant. The truth is, though, the further north a German comes from, the more precisely he or she will speak. This, combined with the fact that they have a more diversified vocabulary, easily gives the impression of arrogance. In actual fact he or she is not 'speaking down at you' its just the way they learned to speak the language.

On Wednesday we drove into Appenzell itself. You've heard of Appenzeller Cheese. Of course you have, you've probably even bought some, after all, it is exported all over the world.
C decided to buy some real Appenzeller cheese from a real Appenzeller dairy. Each of the different cheeses were labeled to state their degree of ripeness. Classic, Surchoix and Rääs amongst others.
Pointing at the cheese labeled Surchoix, C asked "Was ist das genau?"
"What is that exactly?"
She was rewarded with a string of guttural, hacking and nasal sounds.
Looking at me wide-eyed she asked "What language was that?"
"It was Appenzellerdüütsch," I replied "but don't ask me what he said, I haven't a clue!"

As I said, I can understand my local neighbours when they speak their version of Appenzeller German (Appenzell Outer Rhode), but five miles down the road is the Border to Appenzell Inner Rhode, the smallest of the Swiss Cantons.
When you cross the border, there should be a sign to say "Warning, you are leaving the German Sector!"
Crickey! I understand more Welsh ...
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