Sabine made very nice explanations. I would like to add: 1. Dialects spoken in Bavaria are not only Bavarian and Franconian, but also Swabian and "Allgaeerian" (Allgäuerisch/Allgaierisch). The latter one being an Alemannic dialect. Notes: in German, when you talk about the state, you write "Bayern", when you talk about the tribe, the language, you write "Baiern", i.e. in this case it would be "Bairischer Dialekt" - what of course again is a group of several dialects. 2. There is quite a difference of the terms between linguistic use and common use. The "Hochdeutsch" ("High German") means for a linguist a *group* of dialects, which includes even the Bavarian dialects (!!!), but means in common language only this kind of dialect, that is spoken around Hannover, and what has been declared as the "official" German language, i.e. the "Book language" as Sabine writes. 3. The "High", "Middle", "Low" does not refer to the positions on the map, but to geographic height, i.e. the "High, Upper" is in mountain areas, i.e. South, whereas the "Low" is in flat land, i.e. North. 4. A map about the dialects is at http://www2.genealogy.net/gene/ghlp/dialekt.gif Cheers, Stefan At 01:20 28.03.00 +0100, Sabine wrote: ------------------------- > Hi > > I am from Bavaria myself and no, we do not speak "low german", we speak > bavarian (or franconian in my case). It is right that "High German" is > taught in schools and all kids in Bavaria do learn it (otherwise we would > never be able to understand our fellow germans from other areas and vice > versa), but "high German" is a literal translation. It is actual "book > German", meaning it is the language as it is written in books and spoken by > newsreaders. German dialects are very strong and usually have their own > grammar and words. They are more like different languages (my friend from > Hamburg cannot actually understand what I say when I talk to my mum - very > handy indeed). > In some areas of Germany the dialect is exceptionally strong (i.e. cologne > and to some extent the southern countries). The dialects as such are not > taught in schools and therfore vary from area to area (in some cases from > town to town), just to make things easier for people trying to learn the > language.... > Everybody in Germany will be able to undersatnd "Book German", but not all > people are actually able to speak it, or at least not to the full extent. A > bit similar to Swiss-German: All german speakers in Switzerland understand > Book-German, but they are not always able to reply in that language > (allthough they try, my friend still doesn't know what they are saying and > it sounds perfectly understandable to me). > On top of that there is actually a language up north (close to the danish > borders) which is called "Platt-Deutsch" and that is actually a different > language. > In general one can say, the further one goes away from the Hannover area in > either direction, the stronger the dialect will be with the exception of > Cologne and Plattdeutsch. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <JOPARMLEY@aol.com> > To: <BAVARIA-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 27, 2000 9:30 PM > Subject: [BAVARIA] High German/Low German > > > > Hi all, > > > > I was wondering, might anyone know if people from Bavaria spoke Low > German? > > I'm guessing that the high and low refer to the geographic location of a > > place, and since Bavaria is in Southern Germany I'm inclined to think > > Bavarian people spoke/speak Low German. Am I right or wrong? > > > > Thanks for any help, > > Joanne > > > > > > ==== BAVARIA Mailing List ==== > > Sister or Brother, > > Can you spare $10 dollars to support Rootsweb? > > http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html#personal > > > > > > > ==== BAVARIA Mailing List ==== > Going on Vacation? Longer than 5 days? Please unsubscribe > Just click this and send it. It is all set up for you. > mailto:Bavaria-L-request@rootsweb.com?subject=unsubscribe > >