I also understand and want you readers to understand that Swiss German dialects are primarily spoken and do not really have one set way of writing things, since the majority of the time everyone writes in High German. There is not an "official" swiss german dictionary out there to my knowledge, though there are books out there on various dialects. Though a lot of my friends do write to each other on facebook and such in their various dialects with various spellings and abbreviations for things, so I am sorry if the way I write the following is not the same way that someone else writes it.
That being said, there are way too many ways to greet people, in bern or in switzerland in general haha. To give an example a difference between dialects this is a great way to show it.
In Zürich one of the main ways to say hello would be, Grüezi.
But in Bernese Oberland, you would hear more of Grüessech.
This would be considered the same thing as saying guten Tag, meaning good day, in German.
For some alternate greetings there are the following.
SINGLUAR:
guete Morge - good morning
guete Tag - good day
gueten Aabe - good evening
uf Widerluege - goodbye, farewell
guet Nacht - good night
adjeu - goodbye
grüess di - hello (informal, used during the day)
tschou - hello
hallo - hello
sälü - hello
hoi - hello
The way that I understand it, is generally if you were to greet more than one person, you would add mitenand to the end of the greeting. Therefore saying grüessech mitenand, which is guten Tag allerseits in german, meaning like hello everybody, literally translating to something like good day on all sides in english.*
*(If you are on first name terms with someone, it may be more appropriate to use grüssech zäme instead, or tschou zäme. Zäme literally means together. In german this would be zusammen. Again, translating into hello everyone. )
Grüessech BurntOutMatch,
ReplyDeleteJust started reading your blog here - keep up the good work. I'm a native English speaker from Ireland living in Bern and I'm currently learning German. I must say I really enjoy learning Swiss German alongside the High German, and it's a really beautiful dialect. It's also quite cool that the language is both quite slowly spoken and with a slight 'lilt' to it - like Grüessech, which I find goes up and down in tone, but in Zurich they say it so abruptly - was kind of a shock the first time I heard it. A quick question - I've been hearing a certain phrase that sounds like 'zum hohl' or something like that after I'm served coffee etc. and I'm wondering what it is exactly - can you fill me in? I'm normally used to hearing 'en guete' :-p
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback. I know I've been slacking on updating since my Italian studies have been getting in the way, but within the next month I should be adding a few more entries. I completely agree with the whole way it is spoken bit you mentioned. I live in Italy but somehow was mesmerized by the language and took it upon myself to try and learn it. I also go to Bernese Oberland several times a year which helps. In regards to your question, I believe it is a german phrase used to mean "cheers" like prost, but I'm curious as to why someone would toast you when ordering a coffee... I'm gonna look into this and ask some of my swiss friends what they think to clarify.
ReplyDeleteSo I clarified the meaning... If you order only something to drink the waiter will say "zum wohl" but if you order food and a beverage he will say "en guete"... But zum wohl can also mean cheers... Since en guete is more of a bon appetit, it makes sense that there is another phrase for when you only are drinking and not eating. Hope that answers your question!
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking that out for me - it makes sense now. Another little phrase I've picked up on here, and I use myself now too, is for casual greetings - 'Chuch-uch' in Bärndeutsch, which was explained to me as coming from Kuckuck (cuccoo) :-)
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