Ever Heard of Helvetisms?
f you are famliar with Helvetisms, scroll down the page to test your knowledge.
Nestled in the heart of Europe lies a beautiful country called Switzerland. It is widely known as the land of cheese, chocolate, banks, fine watches and spectacular natural scenery.
A land of many tongues
It is also a land of many tongues, with four national languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh) and a different version of "Schwiizerdütsch" (→ Swiss-German dialects) spoken in each German-speaking canton.
And then there's Swiss standard German...
To further complicate matters, even standard German spoken in Switzerland differs from what is spoken in Germany: Swiss standard German is speckled with words and phrases known as Helvetisms that distinguish it from "regular" standard German.
A participant (Robert) in a recent workshop on communicating across cultures came up with a good example to illustrate this. Originally from Belgium, Robert studied in Germany and speaks German fluently - at least that is what he had believed before moving to Switzerland six months ago. He's a huge fan of the Swiss way of life, but is experiencing some unexpected communication barriers.
This is what happened to him:
'The other day, I hopped on a train bound for Bern and got chatting to an elderly Swiss gentleman seated across from me. We had a very enjoyable conversation, quite philosophical in fact. As we alighted from the train, the gentlemen turned to me and said: "Denken Sie dran: Man kann nicht den Fünfer und das Weggli haben." I nodded, but had no clue what I had just nodded in agreement to.'
You can't keep your five centimes and have your bread roll
As Robert now knows, the gentlemen on the train had cited the quintessentially Swiss proverb for 'You can't have your cake and eat it'. A 'Weggli' is a soft bread roll that, once upon a time, cost five Rappen (referred to as a 'Fünfer'). All very logical when put in context...
Despite the occasional communication hiccup, Robert sees Switzerland as a great country to learn or expand one's knowledge of German. I tend to agree, as there is probably no better place to fine-tune your ear for different accents and dialects. You'll need to be ready for a challenge, but one well worth taking on, as you are likely to end up understanding any form of German, irrespective of how and where it is spoken.
Do you know your Helvetisms?
If you are or speak German, take a look at the above list of Helvetisms and see if you know what the individual words mean. Note that the list includes several "false friends", i.e. terms that look identical to standard German words but differ considerably in meaning. :-)
If your mother tongue is Swiss German, take no more than five seconds for each Helvetism and see if you can come up with the standard German equivalent.
Above all, have fun and let me know how you fare.
Wishing you a happy Friday and a fabulous weekend!
