Primarily spoken in Switzerland, Swiss German exhibits enough differences with Standard German to be considered its own language. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Swiss German are German, Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans, and Swedish.
- German (95.0)
Standard German is the closest standardized language to Swiss German. Swiss German dialects are direct descendants of Old High German, just like Standard German. They share the same core vocabulary roots, grammatical structures, and a common written form. It is primarily spoken in Germany and Austria. - Dutch (85.3)
As an official language of the Netherlands and Belgium, Dutch is one of the closest relatives to Swiss German. Both languages have West Germanic origins and share numerous lexical and syntactical similarities. Dutch evolved from the Low Franconian dialects, which are siblings to the Alemannic dialects of Swiss German. - Flemish (85.3)
Hailing from Belgium, Flemish is a variety of Dutch spoken predominantly in the northern region of Flanders. While Flemish shares some mutual intelligibility with Dutch, it has its own unique linguistic characteristics, including pronunciation and vocabulary differences. - Afrikaans (82.8)
Originating from the Dutch spoken by settlers in South Africa during the 17th century, Dutch is a fascinating blend of Dutch, indigenous African languages, and influences from English. Therefore, despite being primarily spoken in Africa, this language has a lot in common with Swiss German. - Swedish (80.9)
Despite being a North Germanic language, Swedish shares notable resemblances with Swiss German, particularly in vocabulary and grammar. However, Swedish has evolved independently for a much longer period, leading to more significant differences in vocabulary and grammar than other languages on this list.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)