If you plan to live or work abroad, private German lessons for adults in Switzerland can help you learn the essentials quickly. Learning basic phrases and greetings will make your life easier when taking public transportation, shopping, working, and navigating other aspects of your new life abroad.
Building German vocabulary for adults also shows locals that you respect their language and are making an effort to be a part of Swiss culture.
Covering the Basics
Focus on high-frequency words and set language learning goals for adults that are directly related to your lifestyle and routine. You can start by organizing word and phrase lists by topic. Grouping vocabulary like this will give the words more context and make them easier to remember.
Being Friendly and Polite
To make a good first impression, learn some common greetings such as:
When you’re eating at a restaurant or shopping, these phrases may come in handy:
If you need directions or are using public transportation, here are some phrases that may be helpful:
In German, time is written numerically in military style (a twenty-four-hour clock), but is described verbally using a twelve-hour clock:
A note about numbers: In German, the second digit is spoken first in numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. For example, forty-three is spoken as three-and-forty (‘dreiundvierzig’).
Language for the Workplace
Here are some common words you’ll probably hear at work:
Language for Medical Issues
If you need medical attention, here are some phrases and words you may need:
Language for Finding a Place to Live
Here is some vocabulary that might be useful when talking with a potential landlord:
Boost Your Language Skills With German Academy
German Academy Zurich combines the best of one-on-one instruction with an AI-powered language-learning platform that can help you learn the basics (and more) of the language.
As one satisfied client said, “Moving to Zurich, I was confused by Swiss German versus standard German. The course addressed the differences clearly, and my teacher tailored examples to everyday life, neighbors, shops, trams. The platform’s structure (video → exercises → quiz → lesson) made progress feel inevitable.”
