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Different Dialects/Accents

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  • 28-02-2016 2:53pm
    #1
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,664 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Currently I am studying a German course. There are different speakers from Northern Germany and also from Austria.

    My query is would there much of a difference between the two regions - as for example there being differences between US and UK English in meaning and pronounciation.


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    #2
    peasant
    Registered Users Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    That depends really ...

    In the environment of a language class where people try to speak "by the book" all you would hear is different accents. A northern German vs. an Austrian accent would be clearly distinguishable (even to a foreigner) but still the same language and understandable by both.

    Dialects however are a totally different matter:D
    A Tyrolian farmer and an inner city Viennese street hawker could talk "Austrian" to each other for hours without understanding a single word.

    The same goes for a northern German "Plattdeutsch" speaker and an "allemanic" speaking person from the far reaches of the black forest.

    Dialects differ so widely in vocabulary and grammatical structure, I would almost consider them languages of their own.


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