German is spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other countries.
Since the various Germanic kingdoms because united only in the past couple centuries, it is to be expected that there were many quite different German Languages which we call dialects.
We hope residents of the various areas will write or send links to help others understand this heritage of culture and language.
Austria - Thomas Fischnaller has started the Austrian page
The Austrian language is different from the German language, but Austrian is just a dialect, like Swiss. Every Austrian has to learn German at school and, of course, we write our letters in "Hochdeutsch". There are several dialects in the german speaking area. The heart of real German speaking is Hannover (and surrounding). No other area speaks real german. The other regions speak dialect and slang. In alpine areas like Switzerland, Austria or Bavaria the dialect is sometimes really strong, and someone who isn't from the same area can not unterstand the people. But someone who speaks "Hochdeutsch" (real german) is understood in every area. Thus, if an American speaks "broken" german, it's no problem to be unterstood in Austria, Switzerland or Germany. The same with writing. Everybody in the german speaking area writes in the same German. Of course, there are "written dialects", too, but not in newspapers or in books.
There are just a few "official" words which are written in a different way, like Tomate (German), Paradeis (Austrian), tomato (English) or Aprikose (German), Marille (Austrian), apricot (English) etc.
It's similar to English vs American:
petrol (British English) and gas (US English)
colour (BE) and color (US)
centre (BE) or center (US).
Greetings, Thomas
Editor: Thomas' letter helps me understand my difficulties speaking German to farmers when I was in Germany during 1955. I knew my German was poor and I had heard about dialects, but the differences were greater than I realized at the time.
This will be moved to its own page later
ubject: [germanway] Plattdeutsch Date: 13 Sep 98 10:05:24 -0500 From: germanway@onelist.com To: Indbio
From: Kai Schleyerbach <kschleyerbach@agric-econ.uni-kiel.de>
Zhiwen Chong wrote:
> If all goes well, I may be popping off to Erlangen next year and I hope > they speak standard German. BTW, I notice you are from Kiel - do the > people there speak plattdeutsch? What about in Hamburg?
Nothing against Erlangen but you will recognize a strong bavarian accent there. In the north we speak clean Hochdeutsch with few exceptions that won't be a problem for you. Platt it spoken by older people in rural areas, farmers and so but it is not an everyday language for normal people any longer. At school I was in a theater group. We played Goethe's Faust in Plattdeutsch.
this is a rather free translation of the above Text into Plattdeutsch. The Problem is that you cannot tranlate directly because the whole language is less formular. There doesn't exist a written style:
Ick wull ja nu nix gegen de Erlanger seggen aver de snackt sick do een trecht! Hier in uns scheun Schleswig-Holsteen ward tomeest Hochdütsch snackt. Man blots son poar Utnahm warst Du finnen. Dat sün eher de öllern de platt snackt un dat ok eher opn plattn Land. Damols inne School hebb ick in plattdütsche Theater Gruppe speelt. Ick glöv datt wer de plattdütsche Faust.
Tschüß, kai --==================Kai Schleyerbach==================-- Inst.f. Agricultural Economics Kiel University Kai's NetzTip für Land & Leute http://www.agrarnet.de/tip Grüner Ring - Der Webring für die Landwirtschaft --============ http://www.gruenerring.net ============--
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Subject: [germanway] Plattdeutsch Date: 13 Sep 98 10:05:24 -0500 From: germanway@onelist.com To: Indbio
From: Kai Schleyerbach <kschleyerbach@agric-econ.uni-kiel.de>
Zhiwen Chong wrote:
> If all goes well, I may be popping off to Erlangen next year and I hope > they speak standard German. BTW, I notice you are from Kiel - do the > people there speak plattdeutsch? What about in Hamburg?
Nothing against Erlangen but you will recognize a strong bavarian accent there. In the north we speak clean Hochdeutsch with few exceptions that won't be a problem for you. Platt it spoken by older people in rural areas, farmers and so but it is not an everyday language for normal people any longer. At school I was in a theater group. We played Goethe's Faust in Plattdeutsch.
this is a rather free translation of the above Text into Plattdeutsch. The Problem is that you cannot tranlate directly because the whole language is less formular. There doesn't exist a written style:
Ick wull ja nu nix gegen de Erlanger seggen aver de snackt sick do een trecht! Hier in uns scheun Schleswig-Holsteen ward tomeest Hochdütsch snackt. Man blots son poar Utnahm warst Du finnen. Dat sün eher de öllern de platt snackt un dat ok eher opn plattn Land. Damols inne School hebb ick in plattdütsche Theater Gruppe speelt. Ick glöv datt wer de plattdütsche Faust.
Tschüß, kai --==================Kai Schleyerbach==================-- Inst.f. Agricultural Economics Kiel University Kai's NetzTip für Land & Leute http://www.agrarnet.de/tip Grüner Ring - Der Webring für die Landwirtschaft --============ http://www.gruenerring.net ============--
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Help support ONElist, while generating interest in your product or service. ONElist has a variety of advertising packages. Visit http://www.onelist.com/advert.html for more information.
Subject: [germanway] Plattdeutsch Date: 13 Sep 98 11:54:08 -0500 From: germanway@onelist.com To: Indbio
From: "Bernhard W. Vosteen" <bvosteen@venus.net>
Enjoying the Plattdeutsch! Thank you, Kai, for the sample.
My father and mother came to America in 1923 from the Bremen area where the dialect is spoken. My mother was born in Deichshausen in 1902, and my father in Bardewisch, 1900.
My father would receive each Christmas, as a gift from his brother, the current New Year's almanac for the Plattdeutsch enthusiast. And enthusiasts they are! He would read these stories and laugh until the tears came to his eyes. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of them, but then they never struck me the same way they did him. I guess you have to approach this humor with both a background in the culture and an understanding of the dialect. You might say "something was lost in the translation."
I was stationed in Bavaria during my military service but had the chance in 1955 to visit the northern area. My uncle, Hermann Stürken (my mother's brother), served as my tour guide, and we visited an inn in Bremen that was operated by relatives (I don't remember how we were related). This inn had been in operation for perhaps a hundred years. It had a white, stucco-like exterior, and a thatched roof. One of its primary bragging points was that the Society for Plattdeutsch Preservation (or something like that), met there for their monthly meetings.
Is anyone familiar enough with Bremen to recognize this by my description?
I've written quite enough for a chat-type forum. My father used to call me a "Snackerwat." (spelling?) I wonder what that means?
Viele Grüße aus Corydon (Indiana U.S.A) --------- Bernhard