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Swiss traditionalists like wearing light blue, edelweiss-striped men's shirts.
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Pal, you call people in Switzerland who speak German "Swiss people who speak German."
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The term German Switzerland (also German Switzerland) is one the cantonal borders border area of Switzerland with a predominantly German or Swiss German ( schweizerdt. Schwyzerdütsch, Schwyzertütsch and similar) speaking population ("Swiss German").
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Swiss people living roughly West of the 2 lines drawn between Basle and Fribourg and between Fribourg and Zermatt speak French.
Swiss people roughly South of the 2 lines drawn between Nufenen Pass and Spluegen Pass and between Spluegen Pass and Bernina Pass speak Italian. Swiss people in many mountain valles of Canton Grischun/Graubuenden speak Romantsch. All others speak almemanic dialects of the German language which German people usually don't understand. These dialects are called Schwitzerduetsch/Swiss German. |
On trains crossing between French and Germanic parts of Switzerland I now watch the wood piles by houses to see which part I am in if not clear on the actual border.
But I notice on the Germanic side wood piles are cut right to the same size - the ends of the piles being perfectly straight but you know when you enter the French-speaking part when the ends of the wood piles become haphazardly with logs haphazardly cut - I like the Francophones approach to wood cutting much more than the more meticulously cut Germanic piles - and yes this reinforces stereotypes about each culture. |
It might be difficult to find enough wood piles on a train ride from Basel via Neuchâtel to Murten:
First 30 min Swiss German speaking area, next 20 min French speaking, then: 10 min tunnel, 5 min Swiss German, 10 min bilingual, 5 min Swiss German, 20 min French, 5 min Swiss German, 5 min French, 5 min Swiss German, 5 min bilingual. |
Wow! Yes that would be hard on such a short trip!
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