Dealing with German dialects
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 5:48 am
Hello everyone!
I am not seriously considering learning German, but today after talking with some Dominicans for a while, and remembering just how diverse Spanish is, I started thinking about my experience in Austria, with a German dialect.
A lot of members on this forum speak German, but I hear very little talk of the dialects. (You can skip to the bolded text at the bottom for the short version of this question However, the information below might be entertaining to some.
I spent about a week with friends of the family after my car broke down near their town in Austria last summer on the way Italy. The whole family speaks fantastic English, and in retrospect it was an insanely awesome coincidence. HOWEVER, I noticed that their German was crazy. They're live in Villach, and have been there for generations. Even though I don't speak German, I studied it for about 6 months, and I'm somewhat familiar with it, especially in terms of it's structure and phonetics, (though I've forgotten so much vocabulary )
They really enjoyed "teaching me German" and I actually revived it very slightly however, I only got "input" from written sources and the radio / TV. I asked them a lot about the differences between their German and standard German, and I actually recorded lots of stuff on my phone, which for some reason I can't find. I would say something in German, (often they would correct it,) and then I would ask them how they would say it in their dialect. It was really different. None of them are really into linguistics or languages, but they on multiple occasions would tell me how their grammar differed etc. etc.
Like I said, I'm not interested in Germany. I spent 2 weeks there, in Heidelberg and Munich, and while it was beautiful, and I find their history and culture super cool I actually became less motivated to learn the language. (probably the first person on this forum to say this lol)
Austria is another story, I really liked it. However, THE DIALECT:
Situation #1: one night when we were out drinking, I met the boyfriend of one of the girls they hang out with, who was from Hamburg, but has spent lots of time in Villach. At one point everyone was getting pretty drunk and rowdy, and he came over to me and said, "I can't understand anything they're saying, so I'll just talk to you."
Situation #2: I was out to eat with their family, and the table next to us was laughing and talking really loudly, I jokingly asked the mother, "was that joke really that funny?" and she said, "they're from [I totally forget where she said, but it was relatively nearby,] I can't understand a word of it!" and they all started chuckling.
I know that Swiss German is basically a different language, but Austria surprised me. The fact that everyone from this very educated and "well to do" family spoke "in our accent unless I go somewhere different," was really shocking. To clarify, they said that the only people can't speak standard German "just as good as we speak in our accent," are old people, and they just prefer to speak the way they speak.
Summary:
1. How hard is it to socialize with German speakers of a different dialect if you speak standard German at a B2+ level.
2. How hard is it to become "fluent" in a dialect, (obviously this will vary depending on the dialect.)
3. How would you compare the German dialects to lets say... The Romance Languages... or even English dialects/accents.
4. What do foreigners generally do when they move somewhere where everyone speaks dialect?
Thanks folks. I want to post an interesting side note about Irish accents, but I might save that for a later post!
I am not seriously considering learning German, but today after talking with some Dominicans for a while, and remembering just how diverse Spanish is, I started thinking about my experience in Austria, with a German dialect.
A lot of members on this forum speak German, but I hear very little talk of the dialects. (You can skip to the bolded text at the bottom for the short version of this question However, the information below might be entertaining to some.
I spent about a week with friends of the family after my car broke down near their town in Austria last summer on the way Italy. The whole family speaks fantastic English, and in retrospect it was an insanely awesome coincidence. HOWEVER, I noticed that their German was crazy. They're live in Villach, and have been there for generations. Even though I don't speak German, I studied it for about 6 months, and I'm somewhat familiar with it, especially in terms of it's structure and phonetics, (though I've forgotten so much vocabulary )
They really enjoyed "teaching me German" and I actually revived it very slightly however, I only got "input" from written sources and the radio / TV. I asked them a lot about the differences between their German and standard German, and I actually recorded lots of stuff on my phone, which for some reason I can't find. I would say something in German, (often they would correct it,) and then I would ask them how they would say it in their dialect. It was really different. None of them are really into linguistics or languages, but they on multiple occasions would tell me how their grammar differed etc. etc.
Like I said, I'm not interested in Germany. I spent 2 weeks there, in Heidelberg and Munich, and while it was beautiful, and I find their history and culture super cool I actually became less motivated to learn the language. (probably the first person on this forum to say this lol)
Austria is another story, I really liked it. However, THE DIALECT:
Situation #1: one night when we were out drinking, I met the boyfriend of one of the girls they hang out with, who was from Hamburg, but has spent lots of time in Villach. At one point everyone was getting pretty drunk and rowdy, and he came over to me and said, "I can't understand anything they're saying, so I'll just talk to you."
Situation #2: I was out to eat with their family, and the table next to us was laughing and talking really loudly, I jokingly asked the mother, "was that joke really that funny?" and she said, "they're from [I totally forget where she said, but it was relatively nearby,] I can't understand a word of it!" and they all started chuckling.
I know that Swiss German is basically a different language, but Austria surprised me. The fact that everyone from this very educated and "well to do" family spoke "in our accent unless I go somewhere different," was really shocking. To clarify, they said that the only people can't speak standard German "just as good as we speak in our accent," are old people, and they just prefer to speak the way they speak.
Summary:
1. How hard is it to socialize with German speakers of a different dialect if you speak standard German at a B2+ level.
2. How hard is it to become "fluent" in a dialect, (obviously this will vary depending on the dialect.)
3. How would you compare the German dialects to lets say... The Romance Languages... or even English dialects/accents.
4. What do foreigners generally do when they move somewhere where everyone speaks dialect?
Thanks folks. I want to post an interesting side note about Irish accents, but I might save that for a later post!