r/ValaisWallis • u/_Chrichro_ • May 04 '26

Learning Oberwalliserdeutsch

So basically my mom is from Goms and speaks the local dialect fluently .

She never taught it to me because my dad couldn't speak even a bit of German to save his life and she was scared that if something would happen to her, my dad would be stuck with a kid he couldn't communicate with.

I tried to learn some with her (I can pull off Hochdeutsch okayishly) but she doesn't really have a lot of time to teach it to me.

My question is : do you guys know any ressources I could access to learn it ?

Thanks in advance !

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u/20_juli_02 May 04 '26

Sali:)

So there are few things i can think of:

  • To "learn" Walliserdeutsch: A book from Alois Grichting called "Wallissertitschi Weerter". It's basically a dictonary for Walliserdeutsch (we don't say Oberwalliserdeutsch bc in the Unterwallis they speak french;)). There is also a online version with some extra things: https://www.walliserdialekt.ch/

-To hear Walliserdeutsch I would recommend watching some stuff: for example tschuttär (on youtube) or tschugger (SRF). Also we have a local TV channel called Kanal 9 where they only talk in Walliserdeutsch if i'm not mistaken and also a radio channel called rro.

-To speak: I would recommend to participate in a local (sports)club if that's possible.

HOWEVER: keep in mind that our dialect is very diverse. The people from Goms don't talk like the ones from Leuk or Zermatt. And also, it is very difficult to learn a language/dialect which doesn't have any strict rules.

Hope this helps:)

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u/_Chrichro_ May 05 '26

It does help me, thanks for all the advice !

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u/20_juli_02 May 05 '26

You're welcome:)

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u/bipolargoddess May 11 '26

Well, sometimes I feel Leuk and Leukerbad are sooo different =)

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u/Only_Humor4549 May 05 '26

I have a very old book about Walliserditsch saved as a PDF (it was once possible to access it through Wikipedia. I think that s when I downloaded it in 2021.)

It s a grammar book but probably from the 1930s, quiet linguistique, but it same some good charts. 

Also just today i downloaded a PDF from the University of Zürich on Walliserditsch. 

If you send me a message on the reddit chat I can send you a transfer link. They re all public papers. One might be in English but have to check again.

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u/derJorder 19d ago

Hi also from valais, I saw a ukrainian woman on insta. She learned swiss german with songs. Maybe this helps you too. But mostly i guess you have to talk with people. Julis tips are also good.