4 ms·

I always found it interesting that Swiss German speakers don't seem to have much interest in having their 'dialect' be recognized as it's own language. It's am

• jamil7 5y ago
  Speculating here but I think "Swiss German" itself isn't one dialect and is made up of various dialects (as you mention) and I wonder if having it recognized would mean deciding on what a "standard" variant of that would look like - opening up a whole lot of other questions and complications.
• krsdcbl 5y ago
  As another user remarked, it might have to do with the stark variance of dialects even across neighbouring settlements - deciding on a canonical "dialect" is impossible. Yet i also have to add, the contrast is not comparable with Dutch/German. As a native Austrian-German speaker i can understand swiss German quite okay after a little while, it's still German at it's base - with Dutch i can relate and get the gist, but I'll struggle. Some dialects are harder to understand, just like some dialects in Austria are riddled with odd words that are specific to the region, but the grammar is the same and the origin of idiosyncratic words is largely understandable.
  • Hublium 5y ago
    Of course ,as long as all Swiss German speakers continue to learn Standard German in school and use it for writing, their dialect will not drift too far away. Also, a person from Northern Germany might find some dialects in the Netherlands easier to understand than Austro-Bavarian or Swiss German.