My son of 15 is going to Winterthur from mid august to mid september. The purpose is to learn German, and he¨ll be attending classes, but only for 2 hrs. a day. So he¨ll have a lot of free time, and I¨m hoping that somebody can give me some ideas about how to fill out the remaining time, preferably in german speaking company. He plays the piano, he¨s a good swimmer, but he doesn¨t really like other sports, he likes photografy and computers, Maybe someone knows of some computerclasses. Thank you so much..
Tina Thomsen
oh gosh, learning german in switzerland does not really make a lot of sense, when you intend to use that Kind of german in any other germanspeaking Country !!!
They have a terrible dialect that they use in everyday life and also on TV & Radio and they also make terrible mistakes and use german words in wrong ways etc.
In my first 2 weeks in Switzerland I did not understand a word, although german was my mothertongue
Haha, I have to agree with Globetrott. Although if he is going to Switzerland to learn German for 2 hours a day, I am guessing that he either already has a base in German or you're expecting more of a cultural experience than for him to be able to master German.
You say he likes music? Well, from 13-24 August, the Winterthur Musikfestwochen is going on in the Old Town area with a wide variety of music playing each day. I have no idea ticket prices or if you/he would be comfortable with him going, but I am guessing you can find out more online.
I hope they'll teach standard German, or your son will be very frustrated when he tries to speak Swiss German in Austria or Germany and finds that nobody understands a word.
~~oh gosh, learning german in switzerland does not really make a lot of sense, when you intend to use that Kind of german in any other germanspeaking Country !!! ->It is possible to learn standard German in Switzerland. However, its a different story on the streets see my answers below.
~~They have a terrible dialect ->Standard German is a foreign language for Swiss german speaking people! We use standard German only for written purposes. That's the reason why most Swiss german speaking people don't speak standard German at a proficency level.
~~In my first 2 weeks in Switzerland I did not understand a word, although german was my mothertongue ->Swiss German has a different rules and gramatics and we use different words and German words in a different manner. Treat it as a different language, even if it not registered as such.
Moreover, please improve your cultural understanding! Switzerland is not a part of Germany and the German culture.
@ DJ-HEHE
I see you totally agree with me that it is NO good idea to learn German in Switzerland, except when you plan to use that knowledge ONLY in Switzerland !
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you say: ""Standard German is a foreign language for Swiss german speaking people! We use standard German only for written purposes. That's the reason why most Swiss german speaking people don't speak standard German at a proficency level. ""
This is exactely what I said !!!
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you say: Swiss German has different rules and gramatics and we use different words and German words in a different manner. Treat it as a different language, even if it not registered as such.
I say : exactely, and that is another reason not to learn german in Switzerland !
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you say: Moreover, please improve your cultural understanding! Switzerland is not a part of Germany and the German culture.
I say: another reason NOT to learn german there !
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