German Language Courses in Switzerland for 17 year old

[Dancingdreamer]

My DS wants to do a German course to prepare him for his IB exams next year. He has refused the Covid vaccine so won’t be able to enter Germany or Austria under current rules. Switzerland, will however allow him entry I believe. Are there any courses that people can recommend?

[reluctantbrit]

A word of warning. The German spoken in Switzerland is very different to German spoken in Germany or Austria, lots words are different and he will have issues understanding.

And I say this as a German myself.

While I normally would say a couple of weeks in Germany would bring a huge amount of knowledge, if he is not. able to travel, he may be better off with a course by the Goethe Institute or a in-depth tutor who is speaking German. as mothertongue.

[Hbh17]

They don't speak German in Switzerland. They speak Schweiz-Deutsch, which is rather different.

[SoManyQuestionsHere]

Having worked in Switzerland for a few years: they very much do speak German in Switzerland. As in standard German (with the usual local colouring that you'll get anywhere) is the official language that people write in. They also all speak it (though local dialect is spoken among locals).

Having not particularly spectacular school German, I have found the Swiss to be extremely accommodating towards me in switching to standard German whenever I was present. If anything, I had a hard time getting better at German while there because they're equally as happy to switch to English.

Having said that: the accent can be a situation! Vocabulary and grammar are basically standard (again: with some localisms, as everywhere else, too: they don't speak perfect high German in Swabia or Thuringia either) but people's pronunciation, in my personal experience, may vary from "could put on German TV as a newsreader" to "bad 70s parody of a Soviet Bond villain".

[Dancingdreamer]

Yes I understand it’s SchweizDeutsche and is different but as other posters have said, I also struggle to understand the Munich and Schwabish accents and regionally specific words! I have considered an online Goethe course but there is something about being immersed in a place where the language is not English and he would see German signs etc around him. It’s frustrating as we have both friends and family in Germany but he can’t visit them!