65. Luegemol

Language Friday, and today we have Luegemol (take a look!). In this particular case, it's the name of a line of postcards with statements in Swiss dialect.

Seen at a shop on Oberdorfstrasse in Zurich.

38. A ticket by any other name

As it is language Friday: The labelling on a ticket vending machine at a train station.

31. WC at the opera

Okay, I took some liberties with the title in an attempt to make it more sensational. It being Friday, my self-appointed language-themed day, I give you "WC", pronounced vay-say. Indeed, it is a "water closet", i.e. loo, but how or why it is so widespread in German, I don't know.

The area in front of the Zurich opera house, the Sechseläutenplatz, has been under construction since I moved to Switzerland, and only now is the final form becoming apparent. This striking pavilion is one of two located on the plaza, and serves as conduits to the underground parking lot. Which is just as good-looking as you would imagine from this structure.

Some links (content in German):

<https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/ted/de/index/taz/bauen/sechselaeutenplatz.secure.html>
<http://www.hochparterre.ch/nachrichten/architektur/blog/post/detail/fin-de-chantier-der-anfang-ist-gemacht/1346924510/>
<http://www.detail.de/architektur/news/kontakt-nach-oben-parkhaus-von-zach-zuend-architekten-021771.html>

24. Espresso hell

It's Friday so it's language day again! Or rather, false friend day. 

hell (German) = light/lightish-colored (English)

17. False friend - gift

I'm going to try this new "feature" where I'll write a language-related post on Fridays. Let's start with a false friend that is a favorite of mine.

Poison (English) = Gift (German).

It's forbiddden to stop in the range of action

Warnings in four languages. And the ubiquitous — and hence useless — application of the word "Swiss". The usage does not appear to be legally protected (or there is no enforcement), and after a couple of disappointing experiences, I'm now more likely to avoid products with such labels.

20080701

Ten francs, reverse side

I mentioned in yesterday's post that the reverse side of the note has the German and Rumantsch labels. The impressions of the text on the front can also be seen in this photo. Two of the motifs here are the Hall of Justice at Chandigarh in India and a depiction of Corbusier's Modulor scale of measure which is based on the Fibonacci series. Here are a couple of old posts mentioning the Fibonacci series: 20070310 Too pretty to eat and 20070201 Fibonacci sequence at the Zürich Hauptbahnhof).

Do you see the creases that divide the note into quarters? Many Swiss (mostly female, now that I think about it) fold their notes in this fashion and stuff them into their Portmonnaies. Now I've started to do the same... crikey!

This series of banknotes is the eighth in Swiss history and it started in 1995. A new series is in the works. A competition was held in 2005 and the outcome was rather controversial. The first place went to a design that was widely disliked by the masses. The upshot is that the design of the second place winner has been selected as the one with which to go forward. Apparently there will be additional changes to the initial designs but you can get an idea of them here: Swiss National Bank Competition Results.

20090402 Nikon Coolpix 990

Ten francs or yellow

As the first of the month, today is the City Daily Photo theme day and while I didn't sign up for it, I wanted to acknowledge it anyway. Please visit the community webpage to see what the participants have put up. Click here.

Pictured above is the ten Swiss franc note (CHF 10) featuring the architect Le Corbusier (an old post mentioning him is here). This side of the note is labelled in French and Italian. German and Rumantsch appear on the reverse side.

20090401 Nikon Coolpix 990

Bimbo slide

Referring to the original meaning of the word (or the word as it is still used in Italian, I think). I wish we could 'take back' certain words.

Link to the manufacturer's website here.

20080106

One blackbird sitting in a tree

Four-and-twenty blackbirds,
baked in a pie.

From Sing a Song of Sixpence (Wiki here). In English it's twenty-four now, but in German, it's the same: vier-und-zwanzig (four-and-twenty). I still struggle with this right-to-left thing, and heaven knows, the mistakes I make! Saying someone is 63 when I really mean to say 36... Oops!

20090105

Corny free

Still lingering over the topic of language. I don't know whether this is limited to American English, but to me corny means trite or banal (English speakers from other parts, please weigh in). I suppose one could view these particular 'free' cereal bars as being original (website of the product is here).

I had wanted to put together a post about the Dreikönigstag (three kings, as in the Magi) that is celebrated here today, but obviously that didn't work out. Next year, maybe?

20090106

McClean at the Basel Hauptbahnhof

Many blog posts and such exist about the prevalence of English words in matters of Swiss business. An example: McClean is company that operates pay-to-use public toilets in public transportation venues around Switzerland (perhaps even in some neighboring countries, but the website is down as I compose this so I can't check). Except for the one that I used in Bern, I can attest that most of them are maintained at a very high level. FYI, it costs CHF 2 to use the general facilities and CHF 1 for the, um, Pissoir.

By the way, I checked in the online Oxford American Dictionaries and found that the word pissoir, a word adopted into English from the French, doesn't have the vulgar connotation that the root word does.

20081219

Grüezi on the cask

Communities in Switzerland are organized into Gemeindes and there's a Gemeindehaus - town hall - associated with each. The Villigen Gemeinde also includes the residents of the neighboring areas of Stilli and Joseboden.

Grüezi (for some of my new readers who might not know) is the greeting commonly used in Swiss-German. There are variations on this, depending on the individual dialects of different regions. And German-speaking people from Valais/Wallis typically use Salü (from the French Salut) instead. The phrase Grüezi mitenand is used to greet a group of people.

The sign on the barrel is the Signet for the Villigen Gemeinde. It depicts three 5-pointed stars, three hills and a bear's foot. I couldn't tell you why.

As I was writing this post, I realized that I wrote an almost identical one in 2007:
20070406 Grüezi!

20090101

Grüezi

Grüezi = hello. The greeting used in a large part of German-speaking Switzerland. Wiktionary entry in German. Largely unpronouncable for most of us not born into the language.

Bit of trivia: Here's a 17 second interview clip of Tina Turner, a Zürich resident, making an attempt.

20080629

Excursion: Le Locle in Neuchâtel

Le Locle in the Jura mountain range in Canton Neuchâtel (Neuenburg in German). The original center of the Swiss watchmaking industry. It is somewhat unreal to me, the way the new part of town rises up sharply from the surrounding fields. Some more pictures over the next few days. Click on the photo for a 2240 x 1680 image.

20080806

Rappen - centime - centesimo - rap

One-twentieth of the Swiss franc. The 4 different Swiss language groups have four different terms for the subunit of the franc. Rappen (Swiss German) - centimes (French) - centesimo (Italian) - rap (Romansch).

Click on the languages label below to see other posts related to languages in Switzerland.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Rappen is derived from Rappe (raven). First documented appearance in an English text: 1838 Murray's Hand-bk. Travellers Switzerland.

20080802 Nikon Coolpix 950

Good homes sought for kittens

As far as I understand, there isn't an equivalent word for kitten in German. Das Kätzchen exists, but that is literally 'small cat' and could also be used for an adult cat that's small in size. Anyway, in German-speaking Switzerland, the word Büsi is used to denote cat, rather than the high-German Katz. What we have here is an ad from the local paper which states that there are young cats from a farm to give away to good homes at the end of June. Note: I've removed the phone number for privacy reasons.

20080523 Nikon Coolpix 950

Excursion: Scuol in Graubünden

Allegra! as they say in Graubünden. Kanton Graubünden is home to some of the best known Swiss ski resorts. St Moritz, Davos and Klosters are all located in this beautiful place, as well as the home of Heidi in the eponymous tale. The canton website (there's a "choose language" with English as an option) does a nice job of talking about all the sites and interesting things to do there so it's worth a look if you're interested. There's just so much to say, but I'll just mention that the local language is Romansh, which is unique to Graubünden. I chose this photo I took in a town called Scuol because it shows lettering on the wall. This type of ornamentation, designs and lettering carved out of the stucco-like facing, is typical of the canton. Based on the online Romansh dictionary available here, I think that the inscription says something like (literally) "we fall over without the will of God" (Google map showing Scuol).

20060810 Canon Powershot S410

Grüezi!

The Gemeindehaus and this barrel are actually visible in yesterday's post (directly to the left of the Villigen sign). People in villages, towns and cities in Switzerland are organized in municipalities, known as Gemeinden in German, communes in French. The Gemeindehaus is where people register as residents, pay their taxes, cast their votes in the many elections and referenda, among other things. Our recycling/trash drop-off for metal, glass and things like cooking oil is located next to the building. PET bottles, light bulbs, batteries, etc have designated bins at the supermarkets and paper is picked up curbside - kerbside for British English speakers - four times a year. Regular trash and "green" (that which can be composted) material are picked up once a week and once a fortnight, respectively. Every Gemeinde has different policies, different local tax rates, etc etc. (Map)

Grüezi (hello) is the greeting that you'll hear in most Swiss-German communities. Grüezi mitenand is used to address groups, the mitenand coming from miteinander: jointly. In German speaking parts of Valais (Wallis), you're more likely to hear Salut zusammen, an interesting mix of French and German.

Addendum: The sign on the barrel is the Signet or logo for the Villigen Gemeinden, very similar to the Wappen or flags. It depicts three 5-pointed stars, three hills and a bear's foot. No, I don't know why.

20070415

Do not cross the railway lines

Some readers asked about the languages spoken in Switzerland, hence this post. The simple answer, without getting into a discussion about Swiss-German, is that there are three official languages: Deutsch, Français and Italiano. The lower panel of the photo shows a detail of a locomotive with the name of the Swiss railway system in these languages (Villigen is in the German-speaking part of Switzerland).

SBB Schweizerische Bundesbahn
CFF Chemins de Fer Fédéraux Suisses
FFS Ferrovie Federali Svizzere

English is widely used in many areas, as evidenced by the sign in the train station in Brugg (top panel), the closest real town to Villigen. There are actually four national languages, the fourth being Rhaeto-Rumantsch which is spoken by some 50000 people and is not included on the sign. For more information, try these language related pages (in English) at swissworld.org and swissinfo.

Es gab ein paar Fragen bezüglich der Landessprachen in der Schweiz. Es gibt drei offiziele Sprachen (Deutsch, Français and Italiano) und ein vierte nationale Sprache Rhaeto-Rumantsch.

20070125