Are you interested in learning Swiss German because you’re planning or you have just moved to Switzerland? If so, you have landed in the right post.
It has been quite difficult for me to find podcasts in Swiss German that are not too complicated to listen to and that are interesting and help me learn. There are a lot of resources in High German, but unfortunately not so many in Swiss German. After much search, I believe the podcasts I recommend you below are the best ones to learn Swiss German.
I’ll update the list as I find more, but I’m happy to recommend you the following ones.
As a starting point while listening to the podcasts -and what I also believe is fundamental while starting to learn Swiss German-, you should have a base knowledge of High German. With podcasts, you know what the topic is about but have no visual references to contextualize, or subtitles either. So definitely some level of High German is required to connect those words into Swiss German.
Swiss German Online
Swiss German Online is a podcast I really like. Kathrin speaks Swiss German slowly enough for me, as a native Spanish speaker, to translate the content first into Hochdeutsch and then into Spanish or English in my head. I really enjoy listening to it. She talks about different topics such as Easter, Christmas, winter sports, etc.
Episodes are quite short, around 5 minutes long, although a few tend to be around 15 minutes long. Topics that are more complicated are stated in the episode name, so you can avoid them and get back to them when you feel you’re ready. The hosts also speaks a quite ‘neutral’ accent in my opinion, so I’d recommend it even if you’re a beginner learner.
Regional-journal by SRF
If you need a daily podcast, try Regionaljournal Zürich Schaffhausen. It’s a podcast by SRF that talks about politics, economics and society in Zurich and Schaffhausen, thus it’s spoken mostly in züritüütsch. It’s released twice a day, with the morning version being less than 10 minutes and the evening one around 25 minutes long. I recommend it for more intermediate learners, not really beginners. I like that it talks about local topics, because that also helps with integration.
SRF has more podcasts about different topics and the daily news, that you can check out on their website, although bear in mind that a lot of them are in High German. If you live in other German-speaking areas of Switzerland, try Regionaljournal Ostschweiz, or the versions for Zentralschweiz, Basel & Baselland, Aargau Solothurn, Graübunden and Bern Freiburg Valais for local topics of Regional-journal.
Beziehungskosmos
Beziehungskosmos is a podcast about relationships (with others and with one-self) and psychology-related topics. It’s hosted by Felizitas, a psychologist, and Sabine, a journalist. My Swiss friend recommend it to me, which is why I was hesitant to listen to it at the beginning, because I thought it would be way too complex. However, I found their Züritüütsch accent to be quite understandable and nice, and of course I find the topics interesting.
Episodes are around 1hr long, so they’re ideal if you go for a walk or are spending time at home. I would recommend it for intermediate learners that are happy to learn about these topics while expanding their knowledge in Swiss German too.
In the past, Migros Klubschule used to have two podcasts in Swiss German but unfortunately they don’t record them anymore. I’ll keep updating this list with more findings. Let me know in the comments if there’s a podcast you love to listen to learn Swiss German!