Marketing material including brochures and corporate websites lies somewhere in the middle. ![]() Examples here include: one-to-one communication such as e-mail correspondence and social media, editorial content, etc. However, if your content seeks t o engage and connect with your Swiss audience, it is advisable for you to use Swiss Standard German. Examples here include technical documentation, catalogues, product description, etc. You can make this decision easy by asking yourself: what is the aim of my content? If the answer is to provide practical information and instructions, then it is acceptable to use Standard German. Generally speaking, the purpose of your content will determine whether it is acceptable to use Standard German or whether it would be advisable to translate your content into Swiss Standard German. ![]() So on that same tram a Swiss lady might say “Ich habe kalt ” (literally "I have cold") - deriving from the French construction " J'ai froid " - while her German friend would confim that “Mir ist kalt ” too, which means literally “ is cold to me. And the Swiss have also adopted grammatical constructions from French. For example, they buy a “Billet” ("ticket") for "das Tram", while the Germans would get a “ Fahrkarte ”. The French influence on Swiss Standard German For example, in Switzerland they use the neutral form for the word Tram: “das Tram”, whereas in Germany the feminine form “die Tram” is used.Ģ. Sometimes the gender of nouns varies between the German used in Switzerland and that used in Germany. As the same keyboards needed to also accommodate the French and Italian languages, keys were allocated to frequently used accented letters such as "é" or "à", and the “ß” was sacrificed as a result. Even though the German “ß” was never officially abolished in Switzerland, the most likely reason for this practice is the introduction of the Swiss uniform keyboard for typewriters in the 1930s. In Germany, a double "s" is expressed as "ß”, while in Switzerland it is standard practice to use " ss" - so for example the word "street" would be spelled “ Straße ” in Germany and “Strasse” in Switzerland. The most noticeable difference is the way that double "s" is written. Differences in spelling and grammar between Swiss Standard German and Standard German So here are 5 reasons why you should consider translating your content into Swiss Standard German for the Swiss market.ġ. Switzerland complies with these rules, apart from several small deviations. This international body developed official rules and standards which serve as a reference for the correct spelling of German. There is an official institution founded in 2004 which is responsible for the standardization of the German language in German-speaking areas, called " Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung “ (Council for German Orthology ). However, in order to interact with non-Swiss German speakers, the Swiss will use Swiss Standard German and they will also use this German variant for written communication. ![]() On a daily basis they actually speak around 20 different regional dialects, that are often referred to by the umbrella term Swiss German. German speakers account for 63.5% of the Swiss population. Switzerland has four national languages, namely German, French, Italian and Romansh. What is the language situation like in Switzerland ?īut first, let's start with the basi c s. Today, we will take a closer look at the differences between the German used in Switzerland and used elsewhere and try and provide some guidelines for when it makes sense to translate your content into Swiss Standard German. If I’m buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen !" In today's global environment, Willy Brandt's famous quote is more relevant than ever!īut some of our more discerning customers then rightly ask: "Yes, true, but when it comes to the Swiss market, which type of German should I use? "If I’m selling to you, I speak your language.
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