mnss

Any Hamburgers here? what do you think?

hsv where are you!

logos999

Sure, that exactly what I want to say . Although those Niederbayern sometimes drive me crazy.

Ingo

Oh no, logos! Is Bavarian a German dialect? I always thought there are Germans and there are Bavarians. And that Bavaria is not Germany.

logos999

I did say German is a special Bavarian dialect, didn't I ? Must be, if it wouldn't, we wouldn't be able to understand you.

But do YOU understand what we are saying? ;-)

logos999

Now I understand..., we Bavarians are bilangual by nature.

hsv

mnss,

I was following this thread, but have no idea whatsoever how I would describe the pronounciation of the "ch" letters to an Englsih speaker.

That said, everything else has been said, I guess. There indeed are two seperate pronounciations depending on the vocal preceding the "ch". One is more guttural than the other.

Apart from that, I am definitely torn whether I would consider Bavarians as Germans ( ;-) ). As I used to live there for a couple of years, I certainly do appreciate some of their lifestyle options - beergardens and "Brezn" come to mind, but to call that back-of-the-woods rural accent prevailing down there a language of its own is completely unacceptable! Now, the true billingual speakers in Germany would be us North Germans, of course, being able to speak proper German and "Plattdeutsch" ;-).

A cheerful "Hummel Hummel - Mors Mors" to all of you - and special ones to logos in Munich and Ingo in Dresden!

kleeblatt

And to throw in my 5 Swiss Francs, if you can say Chuchikaeschtli correctly, then you've passed the "I can speak the Swiss German dialect" test.

logos999

cake box ?

logos999

It is good we share a common language, otherwise how would people understand what the other person is saying. I hope it isn't cheese cake

kleeblatt

kitchen cabinet.

logos999

Autsch...

logos999

Küche=Chuchi

jahoulih

Rex, in Russian there are two similar but different letters, one of which is transliterated as "sh" and the other as "shch." The one transliterated "sh" is pronounced farther back in the mouth than "sh" is pronounced in English. The one transliterated "shch" can be pronounced in two different ways: some Russians pronounce it more or less as we pronounce "sh" in English, while others pronounce it more or less as we would pronounce "sh-ch" in English. ("Fresh cheese" is sometimes used as an example of how to pronounce it; in German, it's transliterated "schtsch.&quot

I don't remember (if I ever knew) whether the two different ways to pronounce this letter are a regional distinction, or a class distinction, or what.

smalti

Afraid I have nothing for the OP, but I too need "German Language Help." In Munich next month, we'll encounter Bavarian dialect. Now I'm listening to tapes to refresh my very, very rusty "Hochdeutsch" from college (decades ago), but wondering if it's a waste of time. Is the Bavarian dialect really very hard to understand?

smalti

Of course I mean, is it hard for someone with very skimpy German to understand?

diddl_maus

They tell me it is even more diffiult to understand people from the Amberg area

logos999

Don't worry everybody will answer in high German, if you address them in high German ;-)

hsv

logos,

at least which you consider to be High German...

mnss

OK, So which one are Bavarians more likely to speak better: Proper High German or English?

smalti

mnss--I hope that many of the people we encounter will be fluent in English, as that's the only way I'll actually communicate. But, for the sake of politeness, I want at least to make an effort in the local tongue, before my pitiful attempts exhaust the patience of the German dealing with me.