Different German accents/dialects & audiobooks

[walldepartment]

Hello. I would like some audio to listen to from a variety of different accents in German so I can get accustomed to them. I would like to start with some audio books perhaps. Does anyone know where I can get some free audio books spoken by a narrator of non-standard German? So like, a Swiss narrator, an Austrian narrator, or some type of low German narrator. I am not familiar with all the different dialects, but when I hear High German, it is way clearer than any other dialect I may hear. So I just need some recommendations for some materials if anyone knows of any.

[Axon]

Hello!

I'm afraid I don't know much about dialect audiobooks, but I can link you to a couple of resources on German dialects.

The main thing I use is world radio. You can listen on your computer at listenlive.eu, and there are also several radio apps for different smartphones. My favorite is just called Radio FM, for Android. I usually listen to it at the gym, and it's a cinch to switch between different stations in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. I know my comprehension of Austrian German has gotten a lot better since I started doing this.

Next is dialect TV programming. Here's a show I watched a few years ago that makes liberal use of Swabian German, and the difference between German dialects is key to several main plot points.

The Easy German YouTube channel has a couple of videos done about dialects in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. In addition, since they interview people on the street wherever they go, they're bound to have people with different German accents in practically every video.

Lastly, our users Systematiker and Bakunin have spent quite a bit of time learning Swiss German. They might be able to point you toward more resources for that language specifically.

Best of luck!

[Finolia]

Hi
I don't know any audiobooks either but I saw some (ok at least one ^^") on Youtube, as well as e.g. Asterix & Obelix in Bayerisch and short parodies of LOTR in Sächsisch. It's probably not exactly what you are looking for but nonetheless listening practice to familiarise yourself a bit so I would simply suggest searching for "Sächsisch", "Hessisch", "Bayerisch" etc. on Youtube maybe in connection with "Hörbuch" or something else you are interested in.

There is also a Bavarian tv show. I can't find the first episode (but a couple of episodes of season 1) but there are now over 2000 episodes and I think it would be fine not to start from the beginning ^^ The last few episodes are free to watch.

[walldepartment]

Thank you for the posts. I will mark some of these to start on at some point. Since we're on the topic, what are the most common dialects, perhaps most different from each other, that would be the most useful to know? Taking English as an example, if you were explaining English dialects to an English learner, you might tell them about the American accent vs British vs Australian.

I would like to do some semi-intensive listening to the important dialects, preferably with text to read along with, so if anyone has any good sources, please let me know.

[Kraut]

I am myself a German dialect speaker and my advice is: don't take this too far. All these dialects come in many shades and you will never get closer to even a small number. Watch a few YouTube videos to get an idea:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ob ... ORM=VRDGAR

Sometimes you don't even have to listen to their dialect. Listening to their English will also do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RrEQ8Ovw-Q

[tarvos]

Honestly, some of the dialects are far out or in the countryside and you're not that likely to come across them that often. The only dialect that I have seen rather often is Bavarian (and that is because I have travelled to Bavaria quite a bit on holiday and because my best friend is from there).

Swiss dialects vary all over the place too. The thing is that when I speak German to these people as a foreigner, we end up on middle ground. I speak all right German so what happens is that they will notice my slight accent (foreign, but not annoying) and they will usually resort to speaking in a more standard manner. They may then have an accent, but that will be comparable to my own. The real difference is that their grammar is usually better.

[Iversen]

Watch programs from zoos on the Mediathek's of the German television stations. The language there is more varied than in for instance news reports.

As for Low German I have also discovered that there is one program in Platt every last Sunday in each month before noon on NDR - I thought that was all, so why I didn't notice Düt un dat op Platt on the radio station (cfr the previous message from Zé do Rock) is a mystery to me. Now I have bookmarked the page where it is found, and I'm going to spend some time listening.