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Just wanted to share the bizarre dialect known as Swiss German (locally known as Schwyyzer Dytsch)

An excerpt of a text (had a bunch, first one on the pile) written by one of the cliques (performin groups) that takes part at this year's Fasnacht (annual carnival that starts at 4AM the Monday after Ash Wednesday and ends exactly 72 hours later, on Thursday)

"Geen mr zrugg in d 70er Joor,
zu Sex and Droegs* und lange Hoor.
Bekifft isch me durch d Gegend gloffe,
het druze e Bierli gsoffe
und bim Gemotze vo de Alte
het me nur uff Durchzuug gschalte.
D Waelt, die isch soooo ungeraecht
und die Junge sinn so schlaecht!"

*how "drugs" would sound out of the mouth of a Swiss-German speaker

Now in German, just in the interst of comparing Swiss German, an Alemannic dialect of Upper German with High German, here is the above in High German (I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors)

"Gehen wir zurueck in den 70er Jahre,
zu Sex and Drugs und lange Haare.
stoned ist man durch die Gegend gelaufen,
hatte dazu ein Bier gesaufen
und bei den Beschwerden von den Alten
hat man (no direct translation) sie nicht beachtet.
Die Welt, die ist so ungerecht
und die Jungen sind so schlect!"

The rough English translation

"Lets go back to the 70s,
to sex and drugs and long hair
walking stoned through the neighbourhood
also drinking a beer
ignoring the complaints of the older people.
The world is so unjust
and the youths are so bad"

I'll see if I can find a funnier one and try to translate it.

If anyone wants to share any other dialects from the region they live in, feel free to do so.

Somehow, this looks almost exactly like "Schwäbisch", a south-western german accent. But I could be wrong, being the northener who I am.

sparrowtm wrote:Somehow, this looks almost exactly like "Schwäbisch", a south-western german accent. But I could be wrong, being the northener who I am.

Probably does, as, according to wiki they're in the Alemannic German group of dialects. In the north-west of Switzerland it's likely so similar because of our close proximity to southern Germany.

It doesn't sound that bizarre. If you read it out it's close enough to German to get the thrust of it, except for the grammar.

Dutch has a lot of "dialects" that are almost little languages on their own with their own vocabulary and grammar. For instance -

The Lord's Prayer in Limburgish:

Oze vader, dae in de hemel ies, eure naam ies oes heilig, laot eur riek van vrae kómme op dees waereld en laot oes handele volges eure wil. Gaef ederein zien dageliks broad en vergaef oes oos miessjlaeg, zoa wie veer aan andere vergaeve wat ze taege oes miesdege, bring oes neet in verzeuking en verlos oes van alle koad.
Want van uuch ies 't keuninkriek en de krach en de gelökzaligheid in alle ièwigheid. Amen.


A bit about Enola Gay in West-Flemish:

Enola Gay wos de noame van de vlieger die bist den Twiddn Weireldôorloge d'êerste atôombomme, genoamd Little Boy (Klêen Manje in 't West-Vlams) eit gesmeetn ip de Japansche stad Hiroshima ip 6 ogustus 1945. Ierdeure woarn der derekt 78.000 miensn dôo moa deur de radioactieve stroalinge eit da oantal nog ipgeloopn tot 140.000.

De vlieger wos nen B-29 Superfortress-bommnwerpre me serienuméro B-2945-MO 44-86292 en wos speciaal utgekoozn deur kolonel Paul Tibbets, de pilôot bist de beroemdn vlucht, en z'ein em specioal moetn anpassn vo de missie. Ezzo ein ze nen ôop bewoapeninge en de bescherminge dervan moetn oaln vo gewichte te spoarn zoda de vlieger ogger koste vliegn vo nie gerakt te kunn zyn deur 't luchtafwêergeschut. En j'es genoemd achter de moedre van Paul Tibbets.

Bounty wrote:It doesn't sound that bizarre. If you read it out it's close enough to German to get the thrust of it, except for the grammar.

Dutch has a lot of "dialects" that are almost little languages on their own with their own vocabulary and grammar. For instance -

The Lord's Prayer in Limburgish:

Oze vader, dae in de hemel ies, eure naam ies oes heilig, laot eur riek van vrae kómme op dees waereld en laot oes handele volges eure wil. Gaef ederein zien dageliks broad en vergaef oes oos miessjlaeg, zoa wie veer aan andere vergaeve wat ze taege oes miesdege, bring oes neet in verzeuking en verlos oes van alle koad.
Want van uuch ies 't keuninkriek en de krach en de gelökzaligheid in alle ièwigheid. Amen.


snip the West-Flemish

Limburgish is Platdeutsch right? Would explain the similarities to High German. Oze = Unser, dae = der, de = dem, ies = ist...oes = uns?

Limburgish is Platdeutsch right?

I believe so; either that or it's a transitional form.

I'd post some East-Flemish, but it's mostly H's with some vowels thrown in. I can never quite understand my friends from that area unless they switch to AN and even then the accent makes it hard. Not as bad as West-Flemish, though.

Telling someone they're an idiot, for instance, sounds to me like hè zhe n ehje moat. I have no idea what the correct notation is...

[R_H] wrote:

sparrowtm wrote:Somehow, this looks almost exactly like "Schwäbisch", a south-western german accent. But I could be wrong, being the northener who I am.

Probably does, as, according to wiki they're in the Alemannic German group of dialects. In the north-west of Switzerland it's likely so similar because of our close proximity to southern Germany.

Written this way, it may have some passing similarity to Swabian, but spoken, it is a world of difference. I am Swabian, but I have a hard time completely understanding a Swiss-German going at it.

Around here, 'caught' and 'cot' sound the same.

Also, anyone caught pronouncing Oregon as "ore-ee-gone" is shot and redeemed for bounty.

The Kiwi accent is getting stronger. If you ask a baby boomer Kiwi to say "Spear" and "Spare", you will hear two distinct words. If you ask someone Spyder's age, the words are pronounced the same.

In the words of Spyder: "What!? They're not homonyms?"

I made $2000 yesterday doing that!

Also, apparently the "Oregon dialect" of english is the most clear and used by call centers and TV news anchors because it's the best dialect of english.

Also, companies have training to teach their employees to say "Oregon" correctly. Apparently it's one of the main reasons for dissatisfied customer-service calls in the US.

Pro-Oregonian though I may be, I'd hesitate to say that it's because it's the "best" dialect; rather, I believe the reason given is that it is a relatively neutral dialect compared to other regions of the US.

Hawkwings wrote:I made $2000 yesterday doing that!

Also, apparently the "Oregon dialect" of english is the most clear and used by call centers and TV news anchors because it's the best dialect of english.

Also, companies have training to teach their employees to say "Oregon" correctly. Apparently it's one of the main reasons for dissatisfied customer-service calls in the US.

I thought it was the midwest dialect that was used by TV Anchors.

Sorry for unclarity, by "best" I meant that they thought it was the most clear.

edit: oh hey, that's kinda what I said. Redundancy is redundant.

Uraniun235 wrote:Around here, 'caught' and 'cot' sound the same.

Also, anyone caught pronouncing Oregon as "ore-ee-gone" is shot and redeemed for bounty.

So is it "Ore-eh-gone," or is my maritime tendency right and it's "Ore-eh-g'n"?

(edit) And of course, the Down East dialect and accent are just impenetrable enough to serve as a basis for humor and to confound people "from away."

Simplicius wrote:

Uraniun235 wrote:Around here, 'caught' and 'cot' sound the same.

Also, anyone caught pronouncing Oregon as "ore-ee-gone" is shot and redeemed for bounty.

So is it "Ore-eh-gone," or is my maritime tendency right and it's "Ore-eh-g'n"?

(edit) And of course, the Down East dialect and accent are just impenetrable enough to serve as a basis for humor and to confound people "from away."

Speaking as a Washingtonian, I pronounce it "Ore-g'n", so that is the correct pronunciation. While we're on the subject, I believe U235 lives in the "Will-amm-eht" Valley, not the "Will-uh-metty", I have a friend from "Yack-i-maw", not "Yah-kee-ma", and I come from "Skuh-may-nee-uh", not "Skah-mah-neea".

Dammit, ya'll, are we gettin' inta axcents 'gain? 'Cause ya'll really don'wan me talkin' Hillbilly ta ya'll 'gain.

Last time, som'one said it up n' gave 'em a headache readin' ma ritin'.

Spin Echo wrote:

Hawkwings wrote:I made $2000 yesterday doing that!

Also, apparently the "Oregon dialect" of english is the most clear and used by call centers and TV news anchors because it's the best dialect of english.

Also, companies have training to teach their employees to say "Oregon" correctly. Apparently it's one of the main reasons for dissatisfied customer-service calls in the US.

I thought it was the midwest dialect that was used by TV Anchors.

I heard that Canadians are highly favoured for TV anchor positions, because apparently Canadians (esp. Ontarians) have a neutral accent to American ears.

Simplicius wrote:So is it "Ore-eh-gone," or is my maritime tendency right and it's "Ore-eh-g'n"?

No "gone", that's the shootable offense. "Gun" or "g'n" are acceptable.

While we're on the subject, I believe U235 lives in the "Will-amm-eht" Valley, not the "Will-uh-metty"

He's talking about the Willamette Valley, folks. And he's right.

My school did its sixth form German exchange to Liechtenstein which really didn't work. When you're greeted with 'hier wir sprochen schwiezer dootch' you know your German isn't going to get any better.

Teebs wrote:My school did its sixth form German exchange to Liechtenstein which really didn't work. When you're greeted with 'hier wir sprochen schwiezer dootch' you know your German isn't going to get any better.

Ouch. Any day trips to Germany or Austria (although a stay in Vorarlberg or Tyrol won't help a lot) ?

For some reason, people often think that I have a French accent. Ze Nerve!

Teebs wrote:My school did its sixth form German exchange to Liechtenstein which really didn't work. When you're greeted with 'hier wir sprochen schwiezer dootch' you know your German isn't going to get any better.

Why didn't you do your school do its exchange in Germany?

DEATH wrote:For some reason, people often think that I have a French accent. Ze Nerve!

While in the USA, I was once asked by a waiter whether I'm from Canada.
I didn't complain, but am still wondering whether he wanted to pull my leg.