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Where to hear it

The Swiss make a great deal of radio, television and film in dialect, most of it free. Nobody tells a learner which of it is dialect at all — so that is the first thing every entry here says.

Half of Swiss media is not in dialect

The evening bulletin is read in Standard German; the magazine straight after it is in dialect. An hour practised on the Tagesschau is an hour of the German you already have.

The labels come from the format of each programme. Nobody here has listened to all of them and written down what they heard, so these are careful inferences rather than measurements — and they will say so until somebody does that work.

Podcasts

Radio

  • Radio 1Radio 1
    DialectZüritüütschA few voicesSpoken on the spot
  • Radio 24Radio 24
    DialectZüritüütschA few voicesSpoken on the spot

YouTube

Television

  • 10 vor 10SRF
    BothA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • EinsteinSRF
    BothA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • ReporterSRF
    BothA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • KassensturzSRF
    DialectA few voicesSpoken on the spotStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • Mona mittendrinSRF
    DialectA few voicesSpoken on the spotStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • PulsSRF
    DialectA few voicesSpoken on the spotStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • Schweiz aktuellSRF
    DialectA few voicesSpoken on the spotStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • SportpanoramaSRF
    DialectA few voicesSpoken on the spotPlays only in Switzerland
  • ArenaSRF
    DialectMany at onceSpoken on the spotStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • ClubSRF
    DialectMany at onceSpoken on the spotStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland
  • Donnschtig-JassSRF
    DialectMany at onceSpoken on the spotPlays only in Switzerland
  • TagesschauSRF
    Swiss Standard GermanA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesPlays only in Switzerland

Series

  • Der BestatterSRF
    DialectBärndütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Bernese, and the series most people here have seen — the dialect a Swiss person will imitate if you ask them to do an accent.

  • NeumattSRF
    DialectBärndütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Bernese, a farming family. The register of family arguments rather than of broadcasting.

  • SeitentriebeSRF
    DialectA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Everyday Swiss German between couples — the half-sentences and interruptions that broadcast speech irons out.

  • TschuggerSRF
    DialectWallisertitschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Wallis German, which other Swiss people need subtitles for. A joke among Swiss people, and genuinely not where to start.

  • WilderSRF
    DialectA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Crime across several seasons and several dialect areas. Good for hearing that Swiss German is not one thing.

Films

  • Achtung, fertig, Charlie!T&C Film
    DialectA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Army comedy, and the shared reference nearly every Swiss man under fifty has.

  • Bon Schuur TicinoHugofilm
    BothA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    A comedy whose premise is the language question itself — what happens when the country has to pick one.

  • Der Goalie bin igZodiac Pictures
    DialectBärndütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Dense Bernese, from a novel written in it. The title is a grammar lesson: the verb is `bin` and the pronoun comes last.

  • Die göttliche OrdnungZodiac Pictures
    DialectOstschwiizertütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Appenzell in 1971, women campaigning for the federal vote. Eastern Swiss dialect, and a piece of history you will be asked about: Appenzell Innerrhoden did not admit women to its Landsgemeinde until 1990, long after the film ends.

  • Die SchweizermacherRex-Film
    DialectZüritüütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Zurich German from 1978 and still the film about becoming Swiss. The accent has moved since, which is itself worth hearing.

  • HeidiZodiac Pictures
    DialectA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Made for children, so spoken slowly and plainly. Probably the easiest feature on this list, and set in Graubünden rather than spoken in its dialect.

  • Mein Name ist EugenC-Films
    DialectBärndütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Bernese, and largely children speaking — slower and more clearly articulated than adult dialogue.

  • PlatzspitzbabyZodiac Pictures
    DialectZüritüütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Zurich German, the city's heroin years seen by a child. A hard subject and unusually clear speech.

  • Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer SchickseTurnus Film
    DialectZüritüütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Zurich German with Yiddish beside it — a second lesson, about how close two languages can sit and still be two.

  • ZwingliC-Films
    DialectZüritüütschA few voicesRead from a scriptStandard German subtitlesAbout this

    Zurich's own reformation, in Zurich German. One of the few feature films in the variety this deployment actually teaches.

Which dialect you will hear

Swiss film is not one accent. Every entry says which dialect area it comes from, so you can choose between the one spoken around you and the ones you will meet on a train. Bern is heavily represented because that is where most Swiss drama is made — and the Zurich features exist, and are here.