Thread: Letzebuergisch

Anyone speak Letzebuergisch?

Why?

What is that?

That's the German dialect which is spoken in Luxemburg.
Besides French it is one of the official languages of this country.

Would other German parts be able to understand? What if you are from Frankfurt?

If sombody from Frankfurt hears this language he will only partly understand what is spoken. But in genral I think he will grasp "о чем идет речь"

How close would you say Dutch is to German? Can you understand Dutch since you know German? I was wondering of Frankfurt because Anne Frank was from there. How many dialects are there in Germany?

(Sorry to anyone, I am off topic)

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

How close would you say Dutch is to German? Can you understand Dutch since you know German? I was wondering of Frankfurt because Anne Frank was from there. How many dialects are there in Germany?

(Sorry to anyone, I am off topic)

No, I don't understand Dutch. If I hear a Dutch speaker I only understand some words and phrases. But that is because I'm from southern Germany. German dialects near the Dutch boarder are quite similar to Dutch so that Germans who live in these areas often have no problems to converse with Dutch people.
I don't believe that you can give a certain number of dialects in Germany. It depends on how you define when two diealects should be looked upon as different.
In the area where I grew up I could tell from the kind how people spoke from which village they came i.e. each small village had it's own dialect. But otusiders from other areas typically could not hear any difference.

I understand. Is Frankfurt close to The Netherlands? Would people in this city be able to understand it better?

No, Frankfurt is around the southwest of Germany. I never got a chance to see the city itself, but I did get to navigate its labyrinthine airport twice

I guess people in Trier might understand it pretty well. Most Germans would struggle I think.
By the way, if you're ever in the world's second biggest illicit loot storage center, as I like to call it, avoid calling this language a German dialect (even if it is). They won't be exactly ecstatic at hearing that

No, the people in Frankfurt won't have a chance. Even the people in Westfalen who live near the Dutch border will not understand fluent Dutch (only a few words here and there) - only those who speak the local dialect, Westfalischer Platt, for instance, will be able to understand the Dutch from the border regions (because they too will be speaking a dialect of Dutch close to the Platt in Germany, not your "classical" or "proper" Dutch). Unfortunately, very few people speak Westfalischer Platt nowadays - most young people speak more or less Hochdeutsch albeit with a greater or lesser degree of a local accent. Young people there won't even be able to understand the dialect of their grandfathers, just a few common expressions, but that's not enough to understand real Dutch as it is spoken, say, in Amsterdam. The reason why the Germans often have no problem communicating with the Dutch is because in the majority of cases the Dutch are the ones who learn to speak the other party's language. When I was living in Westfalen I was constantly travelling to Holland and back to Germany and I was regularly witnessing the following situation (both on the German and on the Dutch side) - the Germans would adress the Dutch in German, without even asking them sprechen Sie Deutsch, and the Dutch would always reply in German.

Sorry I got confused in my last post. I thought you were talking about Letzebuergesch but you were talking about Dutch

Originally Posted by waxwing

I guess people in Trier might understand it pretty well. Most Germans would struggle I think.
By the way, if you're ever in the world's second biggest illicit loot storage center, as I like to call it, avoid calling this language a German dialect (even if it is). They won't be exactly ecstatic at hearing that

Not true. Most of them understand very well that their language is nothing but a German dialect. What makes it special is the French influence, which is both in the vocabulary and in the grammar.

Well, I'm sure you're right at one level - if they have half a brain they know it's a German dialect with French influences rather than vice versa, or something else. It's just a historical/political point - they don't like to be considered as part of the Germanic world, for obvious reasons.

That's right. But I'd say that are more relaxed about purely linguistic issues these days.

VendingMachine: Do you speak Letzebuergisch?

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

VendingMachine: Do you speak Letzebuergisch?

Not yet. But any day now.

I'm sorry for being random and off topic, but you speak Russian and English? Any other languages?

Yes, there are some.