> Von: C. J. Lisa[SMTP:cjlisa@worldnet.att.net] > Gesendet: Freitag, 4. Februar 2000 16:38 > An: SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com > Betreff: [SWITZ] Swiss-English /English-Swiss software or dictionary > > Hi all.... > > Does any one know of a source for a Swiss-English dictionary or software. > German does not provide a complete translation and I would like to learn > Swiss. I know a little to get by but not enough to be coherent. > > Thanks for your help. > Dear Claire, this question comes up occasionally - and I'm not sure whether there ever was a full answer. I don't know of a serious SwissGerman-English dictionary (I have seen one as souvenir - but that's more of a joke and will be of no use for genealogy) : it's not the words themselfes which make todays Swiss-German difficult to understand - it's the pronounciation (dialect). When reading a newspaper, I'll still be able to tell you after a few minutes whether it is Swiss or German - but this will largely be due to the syntax used; there are only very few words used (in "normal" texts) in Switzerland, which you wouldn't find in a good German dictionary. The problem are the terms (like professions, political positions, and the like) found in the older documents we genealogists often try to read - most Swiss today (unless interested in history or genealogy) will not be able to tell you their meaning either, let alone translate them into any other language. This is the same for Germany : for such terms the best "general" dictionary will not help you - you need a "genealogical dictionary"; there is a good one I know of - by Ernest Thode - check http://www2.genealogy.net/gene/misc/dictgen.html for more detail plus other related references. The problem with genealogical (or historical) dictionaries is that there was no "Germany" during most of the time of interest to genealogists (let alone an area including Switzerland) - consequently quite different words were used for the same thing - or the same word might have had quite different meanings in different regions! So if you *really* want to understand, the only way is to search for a book describing these old expressions (in German, don't think you'll find one in English) for your region of research - and then translate this description (using a good general dictionary) to English. Ernest Thode may want to add something to this comment (?). If anyone out there really wants to get into this, and compile relevant information of this type for Switzerland - you'd be more than welcome to join our SwissGen Team ;-). Best regards - Wolf