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 > >