German learners who step off a plane for the first time in Austria, Germany or Switzerland are shocked if they know nothing about German dialects. Although standard German (Hochdeutsch) is widely spoken and is usually used in typical business or travel situations, there always comes a point where you suddenly don't understand a word, even if your German is pretty good.
When this happens, it usually means that you have encountered one of the many dialects of the German language.
Linguistic diversity
According to some estimates, the number of German dialects varies from 50 to 250. A large discrepancy is due to the difficulty of defining the term "dialect" itself. This is a completely normal phenomenon, if we understand that in the early Middle Ages in the territory that is now the German-speaking part of Europe, there were only dialects of various Germanic tribes. There was no common German language, which came much later. In fact, the first common language- Latin - in the Germanic region was introduced by the Romans. The result can be seen in "German" words such as "kaiser" ("emperor" from Caesar) and "disciple" (Schüler from Latin scholae).
This linguistic confusion also has a political parallel: until 1871 there was no country called Germany. At the same time, the German-speaking part of Europe territorially does not quite coincide with the current political borders. In parts of eastern France in a region called Alsace and Lorraine, a German dialect known as Alsatian (Elsässisch) is still spoken.
Linguists divide varieties of German and other languages into three main categories: Dialekt/Mundart (dialect), Umgangssprache (idiomatic, local usage), and Hochsprache/Hochdeutsch (standard German). But even linguists disagree about the clear boundaries between the categories. Dialects of German exist almost exclusively in oral form (despite transliteration), making it difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Standard language
There is a dominant normative variety that almost all non-native speakers learn. It is called Standarddeutsch (Standard German) or often Hochdeutsch (High German).
Standarddeutsch exists in every German-speaking country. However, Germany, Austria and Switzerland have their own, slightly different version of Standarddeutsch. Since Germany is the largest country in the trio, most learn standard German. It is used in the German media, politics and education.
This "standard" German can have different accents (which is not the same as a dialect). Austrian German, Swiss (Standard) German or Hochdeutsch heard in Hamburg and heard in Munich may sound a little different, but everyone can understand each other.
Features
One way to determine is to compare which words are used for the same subject. As an example of German dialects, consider the common word "mosquito", which in them can take any of the following forms: Gelse, Moskito, Mugge, Mücke, Schnake, Staunze. Not only that, but the same word can have a different meaning depending on where you are. Eine (Stech-) Mücke in northern Germany is a mosquito. In some parts of Austria, the same word refers to mosquitoes or flies. In fact, there is no single universal term for some words in German dialects in Germany. The jelly-filled donut is called three different words, apart from other linguistic changes. Berliner, Krapfen and Pfannkuchen all mean doughnut. But Pfannkuchen in the south of Germany is a pancake or crepe. In Berlin, the same word refers to a donut, and in Hamburg, a donut is a Berliner.
Modern German dialects
Spending some time in this or that part of the German Sprachraum (“language zone”), you have to get acquainted with the local dialect. In some cases, knowledge of the local form of German can bea matter of survival. There are several main branches of the German language, running mainly from north to south. They all have different options within themselves.
Frisian
This German dialect in Germany is spoken in the north of the country, along the coast of the North Sea. The North Frisian dialect is used south of the Danish border. West Frisian up to present-day Holland, while East Frisian is used north of Bremen along the coast and, quite logically, in the North and East Frisian islands off the coast.
Low German
It is also called Netherlandic or Plattdeutsch. This dialect of German is used from the Dutch border east to the former German territories of East Pomerania and East Prussia. It is divided into many varieties, including North Low Saxon, Westphalian, East Italian, Brandenburgian, East Pomeranian, Mecklenburger, etc. This dialect often resembles English (with which it is related) more than Standard German.
"Low" in this case refers to the lowlands of northern Germany, as opposed to the highlands of the Alps. Although it is slowly fading away, many speakers still consider it part of their heritage, to the point of calling it their own language rather than a dialect.
Mitteldeutsch (Middle German)
The Middle German region stretches across the middle of Germany from Luxembourg (where the Mitteldeutsch sub-dialect of Latin is spoken) to the eastto modern Poland and the region of Silesia (Schlesien). There are too many sub-dialects to list here, but the main division was between West Middle German and East Middle German.
High Saxon (Sächsisch)
Saxony is one of the federal states of Germany. It is located in the eastern part of the country and was part of the former German Democratic Republic during the Cold War. It is considered by many to be the ugliest German dialect.
Its markers include a different pronunciation of the ei vowels, so they sound less like English hi, but more like English hay. Some R sounds also take on different pronunciations.
Berlin (Berlinerisch)
Some say it's dying because of the influence of standard German in the media, decades of division and the dwindling number of Berliners who have lived in the city all their lives. This dialect of German is known for replacing its ch sounds with k, softening the hard g with j and blurring the lines between cases.
Swiss German (Schwiizerdütsch)
This name (also spelled Schweizerdeutsch or even Schwizertitsch) is a generic term for various dialects in the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland.
Although they vary from place to place even in this small country, there are some general trends, such as vowel shifts compared to standard German, that can even affect how the Swiss pronouncearticles.
Austrian German (Österreichisches Deutsch)
There is a standard version of this language which is very, very similar to the one in Germany. In fact, if you see Austrian German in writing, for example in the newspapers Die Presse or Der Standard, you might not notice any difference at all! But spoken language is different. First of all, this concerns differences in pronunciation.
Bayerisch
Bavaria is located in the southeast of Germany, and it is the largest of the federal states. Bavarian has similarities with other dialects.
Because the Bavarian-Austrian region has been quite politically unified for over a thousand years, it is also more linguistically homogeneous than the German north. There are several divisions (Southern, Middle and Northern Bavarian, Tyrolean, Salzburg), but the differences between them are not very significant.
