Should German count as only one language?

[Tender Branson]

I knew two brothers from Upper Austria and one of them went to school in Salzburg, the other in Munich and only after a year at university, the brother in Munich had pretty much switched over to speaking high German except for the word "nicht", which he still pronounced "net".  His brother that stayed in Austria spoke with a full Upper Austrian dialect.

So I don't know what to make of that.  If the guy in Munich had treated the language there like a foreign language, you'd think he'd speak high German there and then come home and speak in his normal Austrian German... but his dialect and accent actually changed... like if an American were to move to Scotland and live there for years.. he'd probably have an obvious bit of a Scottish accent when he returned to America.

I know what you mean. A good friend of mine since middle school is now studying medicine in Vienna (already for 5 years now) and when he comes back into town during the summer or during christmas holidays and we go for a drink or playing pool, he has adopted (very slightly) this Vienna dialect. Of course in university you only talk standard-German, so it's normal that your dialect at home changes a bit. I like to correct him once he uses something very Viennese in our discussions. But once he starts saying Uber-Viennese things like "Ur-leiwand" or "hoggn" for work, I'll probably punch him in his face to remind him where he's from ...

[Tender Branson]

A friend's uncle was a politician in Austria. He had to have an interpreter in certain places to communicate with the locals when campaigning.

Lol, what ?

Was the guy from Vienna and wanted to campaign in Vorarlberg ?

Because I don't see how anyone from the other 8 states would beed an interpreter in these states other than maybe Vorarlberg.

Unless the uncle was a foreigner and not capable of the Austrian-German ...

[Tender Branson]

So let's compare different German dialects with concrete examples. I made up the following Standard High German sentence and would like to have it translated into different German varieties. Maybe some other German-speaking users will help me and write how the sentence sounds in their dialect. The sentence just serves the purpose of comparing some varieties - don't look too much at the content.

The English translation of the following sentence is something like "I'm staying at home today because I got sick yesterday."

Standard High German: Ich bleibe heute zu Hause, weil ich gestern krank wurde.
Swiss German: Ich blib hüt dihei, wil ich geschter chrank worde bi.

Zell am See German:

I bleib heit dahoam, waö I gestan kronch woan bi.

[Tender Branson]

Dictionary I found:

English-Pinzgauerisch-German



PS: Pinzgau is the name of the Zell am See district.

[Tender Branson]

Fellow German posters, try to translate these 2 dialect-sentences into Standard-German:

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I'll give you one tip:

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This is a brutal example of why our dialect could be its own language ...

[Tender Branson]

Fellow German posters, try to translate these 2 dialect-sentences into Standard-German:

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I'll give you one tip:

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This is a brutal example of why our dialect could be its own language ...

... no chance. I only get "Vorgestern (?) am ... haben wir, weil wir ... waren, nach dem/den ... mein ... auf beiden (?) Seiten grün gefärbt (?)" - maybe.

This is correct.

[Tender Branson]

I'll give you another tip:

"Vofeascht" means "2 years ago".

It comes from "feascht", which means "last year".

And "Vo-" in front of it means "before" last year.

I don't think there is a word for this in Standard-German, without using "Jahr". Maybe "Vorletztes Jahr" ?

The same with the word "znaxt", which means "a timespan of about 1-3 weeks ago". You can maybe translate it with the Standard-German "neulich" or "vor Kurzem" ...

[Tender Branson]

A few other good examples:

"driving backwards": aschleng foan (dialect), rückwärts fahren (standard-German)

"bridge railing": Bruggnglanna (dialect), Brückengeländer (standard-German)

"cranberry marmelade": Granggnmarmalad (dialect), Preiselbeermarmelade (standard-German)

"talk": Hoagascht (dialect), Unterhaltung/Gespräch (standard-German)

"pickaback": Bugglkrax (dialect), Huckepack (standard-German)

"native": doega (dialect), Einheimischer (standard-German)

"groundhog": Manggei (dialect) - Murmeltier (standard-German)

"pointless": lafeschdeg (dialect) - zwecklos/sinnlos (standard-German)

"poor guy": heita-mandl (dialect) - armer Mann (standard-German)

"sand avalanche/mudflow": bloak (dialect) - Mure (standard-German)

and a ton of other words that have nothing to do with standard-German ...

[Tender Branson]

Another great word is "babysitting".

Almost everyone in Germany has already taken over this English word into the German mainstream. I cannot think of another word than "Kinder betreuen" for it.

Here in dialect we just say "kinzn" for babysitting. So, while the rest of the German-speaking areas have introduced this English word, in dialect it is not used. Only if you write it lets say in the newspaper: Babysitter wanted. Because there is no noun for it.

[Tender Branson]

Fellow German posters, try to translate these 2 dialect-sentences into Standard-German:

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I'll give you one tip:

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This is a brutal example of why our dialect could be its own language ...

Well, the second sentence is easy. Schau dir an, wie das bei den Weibern ankommt.

The first though.... uh. What?

You got the 2nd sentence right.

OK, here's the translation:

Vofeascht = vor 2 Jahren

am Bachötog = am Weihnachtstag/24.12.

hobi ma = hab ich mir

waö ma zoch woa = weil mir langweilig war

nochn zwogn = nach dem Duschen/Baden

mein Iaxnboscht = meine Achselbehaarung/meinen Achselbart (lol)

huseg = schnell

auf iappeda Seit = auf beiden Seiten

grea gfarbb = grün gefärbt

...

And now in English:

"Two years ago on Christmas Day, out of boredom, after taking a shower I quickly colored my armpit hair on both sides green. Let's see how this works out with the ladies."

[Tender Branson]

And now in English:

"Two years ago on Christmas Day, out of boredom, after taking a shower I quickly colored my armpit hair on both sides green. Let's see how this works out with the ladies."

Häsch das würkli gmacht?

(Have you really done that?)

LOL. no.