Susan, I can answer from my own experience living close to the German boarder and being often enough in Germany. In ancient Schwabenland (now part of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Swabia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabia_(Bavaria, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabia ), people spoke already different dialekts, but understood eachother. Like somebody already said in a previous message, each family came and brought their own ''Platt'' or dialekt, which changed over time and with the influence of the ''environmental majority''. That is why in Glakova they spoke a slightly different dialekt as in Vinkovci or in Sombor, but they would still be able to communicate without problem. The Schwowisch dialekt from Schwaben, as a historical germanic region, is still spoken, but has also quite a bit evoluated. This dialekt is understood by a person living in Alsace, where several alemanic dialekts are still spoken or at least understood (located on the other side of the Rhine river and the Black Forest). Except for some words that are locally used - and this is also true for the Schwowisch dialeks spoken throughout the empire - Schwowisch can usually also be understood by people from Palatine and Baden-Württemberg (I should say from elderly people of these regions). Don't forget that our forefathers came in big numbers from those regions. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German). I don't think that our people that came from various countries belonging to the former empire spoke exactly the same dialekts that were then formed over time and which became their own Schwowisch dialekts. I can definitely say that when my father, who spoke Schwowisch, communicated with some members of our family leaving in Freudenstadt, Germany or others in Kagenfurt, Austria, which never moved from their spot, made himself understand. Indeed the dialekts differ in the pronounciation, the use of words, the sentence structures, etc., as it does for the French language that is spoken in Québec, where it took time to catch up with the evoluated language spoken in France. Our people in the former empire were quite autonomous and not many countries cared too much about them. So they had to struggle along even with their language, as no rules were really implemented in order for them to speak a more standard German. When my father's family left Yugoslavia, and then the Austrian camp, they had to adapt and no longer speak their dialekt. Of course, my father spoke it with us at home, but not with someone who would speak standard German. First because he would have been considered as a peasant or low class person, and second because people speaking only standard German or Hochdeutsch would have found it difficult to understand him. Hope this is helpful. Have a wonderful day all of you. Tina ----- Original Message ----- From: "SusanM" <soozn_6@yahoo.com> To: <DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 10:40 AM Subject: [DVHH] Dialect > 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 > > > > ----- > Aucun virus trouve dans ce message. > Analyse effectuee par AVG - www.avg.fr > Version: 2013.0.3469 / Base de donnees virale: 3722/7453 - Date: > 07/05/2014 >