A German Expat in The Philippines - Ein deutscher Auswanderer auf den Philippinen: Is Swiss German a language of its own or a dialect of German?

You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!

Monday, August 3, 2026

Is Swiss German a language of its own or a dialect of German?

L R S N

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Knows German

Is Swiss German a language of its own or a dialect of German?

Linguists will typically classify it as a dialect of German.

But for practical everyday reasons, I don’t think it’s unreasonable nor indefensible to treat it as a separate language.

It’s incomprehensible to German speakers with no exposure to Alemannic German. A person from Düsseldorf or Berlin will have no bloody clue what’s being said to them.

Not only because it sounds different, Swiss German has several significant distinctions from Standard German, such as a large chunk of the vocabulary, and several subtle and larger grammatical features.

It’s not just “German spoken a little differently.” You can learn Swiss German a bit faster if you already know German, but it only gets you so far.

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