Swiss teen reading a book translated in Swyzerdeutsch
© AFP/File Fabrice Coffrini

BERN, Switzerland (AFP) - Historically standard German, or Hochdeutsch, has been the official written language for 64 percent of the Swiss population, followed by French (19 percent), Italian (eight percent) and a Latin dialect known as Romansch (one percent).

Some 20-odd dialects known collectively as Schwyzerdeutsch on the other hand are the everyday spoken language across Swiss German cities and rural communities.

"It's true we Swiss Germans are becoming more isolated," Marianne Junger, a 30-year-old English language instructor from Bern. "I would not marry outside my language group for example and most of us are reluctant to take jobs in other Swiss towns."

The break with standard German came after World War I when Swiss Germans wanted to separate themselves from what was going on in Germany, according to Roy Oppenheim, a former director at the Swiss national broadcaster SRG/SSR.

"This trend was only strengthened after the Second World War and later during the 1970s it became fashionable for radio and television programs to broadcast in local dialect."

A woman checking books at a bookshop in Bern
© AFP/File Fabrice Coffrini

Standard German remains the written language for the federal government, banking, school instruction, newspapers and literature.

But now fewer Swiss Germans speak proper German and are increasingly turning to dialect even in written form. For young Swiss Germans dialect has become the language of text messaging, e-mail and even poetry and rap music.

"Unlike high German, dialects have simple grammar," said Junger, "Bernerdeutsch only has the present and simple past tenses, no future, no imperfect."

The newest adventures of French cartoon character Asterix have been published in the Berne dialect with a glossary to help other German speakers.

And to mark this year's 60th anniversary of "The Little Prince", a translation has appeared in Bernerdeutsch under the title "Dr Chyl Prinz".

"Young people are limiting themselves in their contact with the outside world, whether French and Italian- speaking Swiss or our neighbors in Germany and Austria," said Pablo Barblan, director of the Forum Helveticum, which encourages communication among Switzerland's diverse language communities.

Earlier this year the forum conducted a study into this trend, with Barblan concerned that English will by default become the lingua franca among Switzerland's diverse language groups.

"I often hear young Swiss say 'why should I learn this difficult language (standard German) when mine serves very well?'," he said.

"Recently an MP from Ticino, Switzerland's Italian-speaking region, addressed an MP from a Swiss-German canton in standard German, as has long been our tradition," Barblan said.

A Swiss teen reading a Tintin comic book in Swyzerdeutsch
© AFP Fabrice Coffrini

"The Swiss-German MP responded in a dialect unintelligible to the Italian since his command of standard German was insufficient. They were forced to continue in English."

Switzerland's French and Italian speakers, who learned standard German in school find it is no longer useful when speaking to their countrymen in German-speaking cantons.

For immigrants the confusion is even greater. Do they learn the dialect of the region where they have settled or standard German, which has a wider application?

"Today Swiss Germans don't know much about other parts of their own country. If they travel it is to faraway places," said Oppenheimer. "No one understands them in their own country, outside their canton. This is a dangerous provincialism."

But the Forum Helveticum report may be pushing the pendulum back toward standard German with educators insisting it once again be the language of classroom instruction beginning this year.

Another indication of a reversal is the defeat of several recent voter initiatives to introduce English as the one foreign language taught at primary school level in some Swiss German cantons.

"Speaking good Hochdeutsch should not be a problem for young Swiss Germans," said Geneva-born Philippe Schneeberger in French-speaking Switzerland, who speaks six languages. "After all, learning languages ought to be encoded in our genes by now."

For Andre Naef, a former editor at the Tribune de Geneve, it is a question of identity. "To be Swiss means you are multilingual in at least two of Switzerland's four languages and English isn't one of them." At age 68, Naef, is taking advanced courses to improve his standard German.

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