Learning German in Switzerland

I'm considering Master in Econ/Finance in Switzerland (eastern part, St.Gallen). My side goal is to learn German, but I've heard Swiss German is basically a whole different language.. is it not possible to learn high german while residing in Switzerland? If I study all the way to PhD i'll be there for at least 5 years..

Unless I choose to aim for a different school in Germany for graduate studies..,,, am I out of luck in trying to learn German? blah.

Thanks in advance.

Well, you'll learn a form of German. But high German it's not. Least not the stuff you will learn. The vocabulary and ennunciation is considerably different from regular German. Probably be able to read and write it normal enough, and probably understand German speakers, but they will have a tough time understanding you. I'd compare it somewhat to learning true Quebecois as compared to learning "high" French.

While it's true that Swiss German as spoken in the street is very different from what's spoken in Germany, I think that what is taught is always high German, both for kids in school and adults taking language courses. Or at least, I took a German course while living in French-speaking Switzerland before moving to Munich, and the German I was taught was the same as in the course I later took in Germany itself. Swiss German is only a spoken dialect, as far as I know.

Yes that's true. The German you would be taught is the proper high german. However the language spoken by the people will be a little different. Swtizerland has it's own dialect just like austria and every region in germany. So I wouldn't be too concerned. people will understand you :-)

Yes, people will understand you if you speak standard (high) german. If they switch to standard german you will understand them fine too. However if they speak their dialect (schwiezerduutsch) you will not understand them at all. It's much further removed from standard German than any english dialect I know of is removed from standard english.

The dialects spoken in most of Austria and Bavaria are much closer to standard German, though they too can be hard to understand if you're not used to them. An exception is Voralberg in western Austria (on the swiss border). They speak a dialect very similar to swiss german. I gather some of the german dialects in south west germany (alemansch I think) are also similar, but I have never really heard them.

I understand that the University of St. Gallen has a very high percentage of students from Germany, especially in business administration. Therefore, I would assume that the language spoken among students is very frequently "real" German, not Swiss German.

Of course you'll learn German and high German at that. It's the same here in Bavaria. The academics all speak normal German to each other too. Have a friend who did his doctorate at St. Gallen who comes from Kiel. He can barely speak a word of Swiss German. You don't really need to.

In St. Gallen you'll certainly hear Swiss German at the local bakery but not at the University (not even in primary schools, for that matter). The MBA programme in particular has a high proportion of both foreign students and "Suisses romands" (French-speaking Swiss) so lectures wouldn't be given in Swiss German anyway. If you find that you are not hearing enough German it will probably be because of the ever-increasing use of English by the student body and faculty alike.