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Month: July 2013

Movies in Switzerland

Yesterday we went to the movies. We attempted to go see something a few weeks ago but could not find the film in original language. It is actually still a problem to find the movies you want to see not dubbed in German. I very much believe that dubbing the movies destroys the original. It is obvious that everything is recorded in a studio, the speech does not match the lip movements and just hearing someone like Sean Connery or Morgan Freeman speaking German is simply wrong. Here they are used to it though and many prefer the German versions, obviously. Many think it is a nuisance to read subtitles.

However, Despicable Me 2, runs close by in original language. Luckily! I was almost expecting having to wait until I get back to Sweden to watch movies in the cinema. We have been waiting for this film for a long time and it did not let us down. Very funny. Go see it! 🙂

Another thing about going to the movies here is the break… Yes, they do make a break in the middle of the movie. When you are really into it and it is exciting and you just want to see how it continues the screen goes black and the lights are turned on. Come on! I guess the reason is that they sell beer at the theater so people need a toilet break and time to get another one. Annoying if you are not used to it. Next time I have to buy a beer to make it worth while.

Learning Swiss German

For those who did not know, Swiss German is very different from German. I did not understand anything the first time I came here. The good thing (for us foreigners) is that Swiss German is only a spoken language which means they all know German as well. In school they learn German because that is the written language also used in the German part of Switzerland. So if you don’t understand what they are on about you simply ask them to speak German and you are fine. During the years I have known Andy I have picked up some Swiss German and by now I usually understand the topic of the conversation but not the details. Thankfully many words are similar to German so when you learn how the Swiss pronounce things you can figure out what it means. They say it takes about three months for a German to fully understand Swiss German but believe me if German is your third language it is a bit harder.

Now when I am living here, it is time to learn more though… Since it is only spoken it becomes more difficult for me. Usually I learn languages through texts, I find it easier to remember words and expressions if I can see them written. Now I have to ask Andy to write down things for me which leads to the next problem. When they write Swiss German, like they do in emails and on Facebook etc, they write like it is spoken. There are no rules! This sounds lovely for someone who ever had to learn German but now you have to be aware that the words can be written in many different ways depending on who is writing them. The problem here is that every village has their own dialect (including different words!) and it becomes very difficult to learn to understand all of them completely.

I will mainly be learning the Lucerne version and hopefully I will then be able to understand most of what I hear. Also first I will be concentrating on understanding what they say, speaking will have to come later. I don’t want to confuse my German due to the fact that I will have to use my German for working. I need to keep focus on speaking and writing that properly and not mixing it up with the local dialect (which already has been proven difficult). The grammar is of course also completely different so let’s leave that for later…

 

Differences

Moving to a new country means learning a new language and culture. You might think Switzerland should not be too different from Sweden, even a lot of people think they are one and the same country… Both are in Europe and have a high standard of living. Seen from the outside they are similar but when you spend some time here you notice the differences. Some things are easy to see, like that the shops are not open on Sundays except for the ones in the train station. Luckily we live just around the corner from the central station so I can at least find groceries any time if I need something. But I can forget my favorite Sunday shopping tours in the city after a lazy brunch. Switzerland is also a lot more conservative than Sweden which you notice clearly on the family politics. Here it is still common for the woman to stay at home after having children which is rarely heard of in Sweden. Even though it is difficult to get used to other ways it is hard to say what is better and worse. Both countries have their ups and downs.

I notice new things all the time here and as soon as I find a job I expect to find more differences. Looking forward to that.

In the mean time I am trying to pick up some more Swiss German… for anyone who did not know: it is not like German at all!