Plattdeutsch speaking state

Valdemar II

Banned
The same is true in Hamburg, today, but that is after a good two centuries of schoolchildren having Hochdeutsch beaten into them.

Exactly, two century ago a speaker of danish and a speaker of plattdeutsch could have understood each other with some problems.
 
So what would Schwyzerdeutsch count as? :D I know that Swiss French is seen as a variant of French (with a few differences, mainly in word choices - i.e. septante vs. Standard French soixante-dix; or souper (which also exists in Québec French) vs. Standard French dîner (which means lunch in Québec and IIRC also in la Romandie)), so what about Schwyzerdeutsch?
 
the best way i'd describe the german dialects is they are similar to the english dialects in britain. They all have different ways of saying things and their own words but 95% of the words are the same.
 

Susano

Banned
They are High German dialects, IIRC.

Upper German.
High German would be Standard German. The German dialects are usually divided between Upper German (Bavarian, Swabian and Allemanic [Schyzerdütsch is a fprm of Alemannic]), Middle German (Saxonian [including Thüringian], Franconian, Hessian, Rhine Franconian [the Rhinelandian dialects]), and Lower German (Lower Saxon, North Elbian, Mecklenburgisch, Märkisch [Brandenbuger Dialect], Prussian - and as said, West Franconian, if it werent for it forming an own language called Ducth ;))
 
Upper German.
High German would be Standard German. The German dialects are usually divided between Upper German (Bavarian, Swabian and Allemanic [Schyzerdütsch is a fprm of Alemannic]), Middle German (Saxonian [including Thüringian], Franconian, Hessian, Rhine Franconian [the Rhinelandian dialects]), and Lower German (Lower Saxon, North Elbian, Mecklenburgisch, Märkisch [Brandenbuger Dialect], Prussian - and as said, West Franconian, if it werent for it forming an own language called Ducth ;))

A friend of my Dad's who was Swiss, insisted that standard Hochdeutsch was the first FOREIGN language she had to learn in school; Bavarian from everything I have heard is similarly incomprehensible; and Swabisch, well that's proverbial, no? So, I suspect that the various German 'dialects' are far further apart from each other than, say Swedish vs Norwegian or Slovak vs. Polish.
 
A friend of my Dad's who was Swiss, insisted that standard Hochdeutsch was the first FOREIGN language she had to learn in school; Bavarian from everything I have heard is similarly incomprehensible; and Swabisch, well that's proverbial, no? So, I suspect that the various German 'dialects' are far further apart from each other than, say Swedish vs Norwegian or Slovak vs. Polish.
Not Slovak vs Polish, I think, but Swedish vs Norwegian, though, that might be right (depending on which dialect is being compared to which).
 

Susano

Banned
A friend of my Dad's who was Swiss, insisted that standard Hochdeutsch was the first FOREIGN language she had to learn in school; Bavarian from everything I have heard is similarly incomprehensible; and Swabisch, well that's proverbial, no? So, I suspect that the various German 'dialects' are far further apart from each other than, say Swedish vs Norwegian or Slovak vs. Polish.

Actually, Bavarian has teh reputation to be difficult, but thats not true. Well, maybe I say so because its nearly a neighbouring dialect, but - well, Standard German was mostly derived from Middle and Upper German. That does not necessarily say much, as the case of Alemannic (and to a lesser degree even swabian) shows, but IMO Bavarian is not that far from Standard German. Saxonian, th emost ridiculed German dialect, neither, its just their accent that makes it absolutely nonunderstandable.

Franconian, Hessian and Rhine Franconian are pretty near Standard German, and the Lower German dialects pretty far from it. Yes, German dialects can be pretty different - but nearly nobody speaks them anymore anyways :D And yes, Lower German could well have become an own language.
 
How do you classify Alsatian, then?

The interesting parts is that it has commonality with Dutch, which are not shared with high german.
 
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