Hi Susan, If your mother spoke Low German, I presume she came from northern Germany or the Netherlands, or any of the countries where people from those countries had migrated to, such as Poland or Russia. Low German, or Plattdeutsch, is what the term implies: flat, meaning from the lowlands. As this dialect has its origins in the Saxon language, it does to a certain extent sound more English than German. I experienced that firsthand when we arrived in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) as refugees. At that time, Plattdeutsch was still widely used in the villages. We thought we were in another country and our people were quite bewildered, saying "They're speaking English here." Although we as children learnt it quickly, the older generation had a tough time adjusting to it. To give you a small example, when people would ask for the time, they would say, "Wat is de clock?" -- No need to translate that! The term "High German" has two meanings. Nowadays it is used mainly for the standard accepted language, such as Oxford English for the English language. Originally, however, the term defined the south and central German dialects, meaning the language spoken in the mountainous and hilly regions. As to the Schwowisch dialect, it varied from one village to another, depending on the regions the settlers originated from, and developed over time with the addition of Serbo-Croation, Hungarian, Romanian words, all depending on where they settled. Schwowisch also included a considerable number of French words that were brought from Alsace and Lorraine. Rose On 7 May 2014 07:40, SusanM <soozn_6@yahoo.com> wrote: > Is Shwovish German very different than low German? My mother said they > spoke low German, and I think it's the dialect most closely related to > English. Whatever that says. And so they spoke Shwovish, did that develop > in Eastern Europe, or did some people come there already speaking it? Now > that they have returned to Germany, are they speaking differently there > than the main population? > > Susan M > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >