62
votes
Low German, Upper German, Bavarian ... Where are these dialects spoken?
When you talk about geographic borders of dialects, you talk about isoglosses.
What is an isogloss?
An isogloss is a geographic boundary between two linguistic features. One famous example of such an ...
- 122k
35
votes
"es" ("it") for a woman
Below is a map from the Atlas der deutschen Alltagssprache1 that shows how article forms for females are distributed. As you can see, neutral article forms (yellow and pink dots) are common in western ...
- 22.5k
29
votes
Accepted
Reading a Swiss newspaper as a German learner
Yes, you will. Not only in the Swiss dialects, but also in written Swiss standard German (as used in the press), word and expression usage can differ so significantly that even a native German speaker ...
- 2,085
27
votes
Accepted
'spazieren' - walking in a silly and affected manner?
I think that comment you cite is just wrong in the claim
"spazieren" on the other hand can mean you are walking in a silly and affected manner, and it is usually used in a situation which appears ...
- 16.2k
27
votes
Accepted
Help translating the old German word hewrigenn
Hewrig/heurig (akk: heurigen) means "of the current year" or also "new", "young" (also here). This is still in use in Austria, for example for new wine or new potatoes. ...
- 25.6k
27
votes
Accepted
At what age do the speakers of Bavarian learn Standard German?
How I learned Standard German in the 1970's
I was born in 1965 in Graz, the capital city of Styria (Steiermark, one of the nine states of the federal republic of Austria) (Wikipedia-Artikl iwa'd ...
- 122k
25
votes
Accepted
"es" ("it") for a woman
I am from a region where it is normal to refer to a woman with the pronoun "es" (Region of Kaiserslautern). After joining university I was asked that question by some people not familiar ...
- 366
22
votes
Accepted
Ist das Verb „schaffen“ eine Beleidigung in Bayern?
Ich kenne viele Wörter, die eine Bedeutung unter der Bettdecke haben, aber schaffen gehört nicht dazu. Vielleicht ist es regional begrenzt auf Ost-/Nordostbayern, oder vielleicht ist es jüngere oder ...
- 38.5k
22
votes
Accepted
Apart from "berlinern", do any other German dialects have a corresponding verb?
Das gibt es auch bei anderen Dialekten:
Der Schwabe schwäbelt.
Der Sachse sächselt.
- 11.5k
21
votes
Accepted
Dialect of a story from the "Koch-Buch für die Deutschen in Amerika" (1897)
This sounds clearly Swabian - a few indicators are
Metzelsupp (used in Southern German dialects),
S' Kürbsamärtes Hansjörg (common way of naming, i.e. genitive of family name followed by first name ...
- 24k
18
votes
Accepted
Ist die Form »mein Gutster« akzeptabel im Hochdeutschen?
Nein, diese Anrede ist im Standarddeutschen nicht akzeptiert. Natürlich ist sie möglich, natürlich wird sie verstanden, aber verwendet wird sie in der Regel nicht.
Laut den Kommentaren unter der ...
- 38.5k
18
votes
Reading a Swiss newspaper as a German learner
You will encounter vocabulary that isn't widely understood in Germany or Austria. But it's the same the other way.
German speakers have to live with that. The worst thing which could happen is that ...
- 57.3k
18
votes
Accepted
Austrian: What is the phrase that sounds like "Da die so" and "da ma' so" in the context "it's completed/ we're all done"?
What you hear as "Da die so" is in fact
Tat i so = Täte ich so
Or with some more words:
Des tat i a so = Das täte ich auch so
It means:
This is how I would do it.
What you hear as &...
- 122k
17
votes
Accepted
Was bedeutet „Wat kiekstn so, Fatzke?“
Kieken ist das berlinerische Wort für gucken, schauen. Kiekstn ist eine Kontraktion von kiekst du denn.
Fatzke bezeichnet einen dummen, eitlen Menschen.
Der Satz, nach dem du fragst, ist übrigens ...
- 8,726
16
votes
Accepted
Weihnachtsfest begehen
Man kann ein Fest durchaus begehen. Der Ausdruck ist aber sehr "vornehm" und wird immer seltener verwendet. Für so etwas "normales" wie Weihnachten, das jedes Jahr stattfindet, würde ich ihn eher ...
- 62.6k
16
votes
Accepted
What could the old German (or maybe Bayrish?) word gestu:ep mean?
According to the DWDS I tend to powdered spice ("gepülvertes gewürz") in the context with the mentioned cookbook. The spelling deviates somewhat with the search term with gestüpp. ...
- 2,537
14
votes
Accepted
Was heißt „O’zapft is“?
Nun, der Ausspruch erfolgt, wenn das erste Bierfass beim Oktoberfest vom Münchner Oberbürgermeister erfolgreich angezapft wurde, so dass das Bier raussprudelt bzw. abgezapft werden kann: Also stammt ...
- 1,918
14
votes
Accepted
In welchem Sprachraum sind die Worte "Möhle", "möhlen" und "möhlig" verbreitet?
Gemäss dem Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache handelt es sich um ein umgangssprachliches mecklenburgisches Wort mit der Bedeutung ‘kramen, wühlen, herumsuchen’, vgl. „mölen“, Wörterbuch der ...
- 7,041
14
votes
Accepted
Gab es einen deutschen "posh accent"?
Ich nehme die Aussprache des Professor Crey ebenso wahr wie der Fragesteller. Kurze Recherche aus eigenem Interesse ergibt, dass das Phänomen auch schon in der Literatur diskutiert wurde.
Zimmermann ...
- 7,698
14
votes
Accepted
How do they say "ich" in Bavaria(n)?
Atlas der Deutschen Altagssprache is right. The most common form for "ich" is "i" in Bavaria.
Nobody from Bavaria says “isch” for “ich”. The rule
ch is pronounced sch
does not ...
- 3,338
13
votes
Accepted
Wie bei Muttern?
Zum Singular Dativ und Akkusativ Muttern (nicht zu verwechseln mit dem Plural der Schraubenmutter) schreiben die Grimms:
Nur der Hausrede des nördlichen Deutschlands gehört die Dat.- und Acc.-Form ...
- 70.2k
13
votes
Do Germans understand Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish German)?
I have watched most of the videos you provided links for.
Some insights I found interesting when listening to the speakers:
Listening to German Dialect (that is what PD occurs to me) spoken with a ...
- 62.6k
13
votes
Accepted
In which regions or dialects is the Schmetterling called "Buttervogel"?
Summary
I find evidence for use of the term Bottervögel in East Frisian Low German and less certainly in the Low German of Braunschweig, Buxtehude and Solling in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). ...
- 6,722
13
votes
Accepted
Are there places in Germany where Standard German completely replaced local dialects?
Yes, in large parts of Northern Germany (also well south of Hanover), people nowadays can
neither consciously switch between standard German and a local dialect (although they frequently do so ...
- 9,111
12
votes
Accepted
Which German dialects roll the 'R'?
I'm from Northern Germany. I hardly pronounce the /r/ at all, instead I either lengthen the previous vowel (as in Arbeit: /a:beit/) or pronounce it almost as /x/ (the 'ch' sound), especially at the ...
- 1,118
12
votes
Accepted
Ist "Kiez" Berliner Regionalsprache?
Ich zitiere aus dem deutschen Wikipediaartikel:
Kiez bezeichnet vor allem in Berlin einen überschaubaren Wohnbereich
(beispielsweise einen Stadtteil), oft mit weitgehend vom Krieg
verschonten ...
- 8,527
12
votes
Accepted
»Schau ma mal« in Norddeutschland
It's mal sehen, often shortened to masehn.
Wirste heute noch fertich? — Masehn.
Wirst du heute noch fertig? — Mal sehen.
Are you going to finish (your work) today? — Let's see.
Da kannstamasehn, ...
- 57.3k
12
votes
Reading a Swiss newspaper as a German learner
Reading a Swiss or Austrian newspaper will increase the likelihood of encountering constructions that may be rejected by Germans as not conforming to the standard.
For instance, note the position of ...
- 25.5k
12
votes
At what age do the speakers of Bavarian learn Standard German?
Disclaimer: I'm from the only part of Austria where we don't speak a Bavarian dialect but an Alemannic dialect. It is the same everywhere where strong dialects are spoken, though.
In most areas of ...
- 3,338
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