Feb 13 2009
Finally! I found a website that will show you interactively how to produce certain sounds! Just click on the speakers. You need Flash 7 or higher plug-in to view the animation. Follow this link to the University of Iowa website to explore the world of phonetics and articulation.
An example of the [ç] sound can be seen here:
Feb 13 2009
So, you are taking a German class, because you are moving to the German speaking part of Switzerland and you assume they speak German there. Well, you are right, kind of.
A Norwegian lecturer in Zürich writes:
Swiss German has its own pronunciation, many different words, its own grammar, and most Germans have difficulty understanding this funny language. The German-speaking Swiss write standard German, that’s true – there is no Swiss German official language (but still some literature, e-mails etc. using the dialect). The Swiss can also speak standard German very well, but to them it’s a foreign language that they have to learn how to use when they start school.
EDIT: 17th February 2009. This link is broken. Will try and find new one asap. So, check out what is spoken in Switzerland here.
