[ARCHIVE] Learning Schwäbisch

[Corinnebelle]

Lindsagna wrote:

I am currently taking German (Hochdeutsch) classes and am part of a GAPP program that will be traveling to Rottweil. What would be the best plan of action? Should I try to learn Schwäbisch or is Hochdeutsch still commonly known in the area?

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[Explorer]

Meine erste Lehrerin sprach Schwäbisch!

[Corinnebelle]

Cool!

[Chrisinom]

Believe it or not but I live at Rottweil. You don't really have to learn Swabian, the great majority of people speak Hochdeutsch, and most people here have left their caves and speak at least a bit of English, too. What is more, Germany is a multicultural country by now and you will also be able to find people who speak Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Russian and other languages. Only if you want to participate actively in the famous Rottweil carneval do you have to be able to speak Swabian. Enjoy your stay in our small town, it's a little jewel.

[Chrisinom]

Lindsagna wrote:

Should I try to learn Schwäbisch or is Hochdeutsch still commonly known in the area?

Is Hochdeutsch "still" known? There's an error in the assumption of the role of dialects in Germany today. Dialects generally are disappearing more and more or, at best, they survive in a weakened form as accents. Thus, defining e. g. Bavarian as a language may be correct, but that does not mean that you have to learn it to get along there. The Baden Württemberg government coined a slogan for investors to advertise the "land": "Wir können alles außer Hochdeutsch", we're able to do everything but speak Hochdeutsch". But that's just irony. By the way, the new slogan is just "Baden-Württemberg. The Länd". Just to underline their/our cosmopolitanism and at the same time play with a regional rooting by alluding to a typical feature of the Swabian dialect, the use of the diminutive ending -le. Thus we say "Häusle", Mädle," instead of Häuslein, Mädchen. And Baden-Württemberg is"das Ländle".

[FrankReynolds69]

Not only are dialects disappearing, but ever more anglicisms are entering the German language and even change the perception of correct German grammar.
For example one of my pet peeves is:

"Ich erinnere das"

which is incorrect German, because in the German language "erinnern" is a reflexive verb. The correct usage would thus be:

"Ich erinnere mich daran".

Also direkt translations from the English language like:

"Ich bin fein damit", "damit bin ich cool"

are increasingly used (which sound really awful to me).
I don't have a problem with new words entering the language in general, but some of those constructions are really unnecessary and sound very inelegant compared to their original German counterparts.

[PtolemysXX]

Only if you want to participate actively in the famous Rottweil carneval do you have to be able to speak Swabian.

It is Fasnet time now! Time to speak Schwäbisch

Enjoy your stay in our small town, it's a little jewel.

Yes, indeed. Schöne Grüße nach Rottweil!

[Chrisinom]

S'goat dagägä! Huhuhuhuhu!

[fremanolas]

"Ich bin fein damit", "damit bin ich cool"

are increasingly used (which sound really awful to me).
I don't have a problem with new words entering the language in general, but some of those constructions are really unnecessary and sound very inelegant compared to their original German counterparts.

I agree (with both parts of the statement), in particular as in this case there's already a good German phrase: "Das passt für mich!" which can be shortened to "Passt für mich!" or even "Passt!".

[MoniqueMaRie]

Isn't Swabian also one of the dialects that can mostly do without t and p?

I came up with it when I read "passt", because having grown up with a p-/t-free dialect, I immediately thought "basst"

[Chrisinom]

No, the Swabian dialect belongs to the upper German (oberdeutschen) dialects, which have realized the shift from b d g to p t k completely, whereas the middle German dialects haven't. Only in the northern and extreme western parts of Baden may there be found the b d g, like in the Alsacian dialect. With regard to "basst (scho)": I think that comes from Bavaria, although the Bavarian dialect does use the p. Maybe it has its origin in Franconia.

[MoniqueMaRie]

Right on time for carnival, I just got to know Eugen Bruddler. I particularly liked his song "Nie wieder Trollinger" ("Never again Trollinger)" I just watched on youtube.

[Chrisinom]

I don't know Eugen Bruddler (which is a pseudonym) but I do know Trollinger. Some people say that this famous and typically Württember wine is not wine, but that's a bit unfair. The grape comes from Italy, the German province of Südtirol, where it is known as "Großvernatsch". Hence its German name: Tirolinger, Trollinger.

[MoniqueMaRie]

In others of his songs I got the impression that Eugen Bruddler (Wolfgang Kaiser, physician) likes Trollinger but nevertheless he's making fun of it. One of his other songs is "mir trinket Trollinger"

[Chrisinom]

"Bruddler" is a typical Swabian word for a rypical type of Swabian. It's not nagging or scolding, you almost can't hear it. It`s the expression of a typical petit bourgeois anarchism: You don't agree with the world and the government and everything else, but you're happy to have said it, (almost) nobody else has to hear it. I've checked about Eugen Bruddler: He's from Haberschlacht, a village in the Heuchelberg hills which is famous for its Trollinger and "TL" ( Trollinger with Lemberger). What is more, he himself is a "Wengerter" ("Wengert is Swabian for Weingarten, vineyard. Stuttgart in the Swabian dialect is Schduágórd, Stutengarten). So he must like Trollinger.

[rudi]

Not only are dialects disappearing, but ever more anglicisms are entering the German language and even change the perception of correct German grammar.

I don't have a problem with new words entering the language in general, but some of those constructions are really unnecessary and sound very inelegant compared to their original German counterparts.

I am so happy every time someone says "Es ergibt Sinn." instead of "Es macht Sinn". Social media contribute a lot to spreading false grammar. Simply by reading it very often wrong, over and over again. People less fit in grammar and expression (is this the correct translation to "Ausdruck"???) tend to think of it as the correct grammar, just because they've heard it that often.

I really fear this will increase and someday even change the "Duden".

Therefore my signature. Just a try.