Originally published at: The correct pronunciation of German camera stuff | Boing Boing
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This reminds me of this.
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Was zum Teufel ist das?
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For full effect, German words should be shouted…
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oi… for a few years i was lucky enough to have lunch every weekday with about a half dozen Germans from Bonn University…
This discussion is not over until a Swiss German wades in with some fricative chs and xs that really mean business.
y’know Universities, which try to assemble people from different geographical areas? Well, the most common argument (and there were always arguments) was about correct pronunciation. Half the time, as a rudimentary speaker of German, i couldn’t even hear the distinctions, between z.B.: The exact transitional sound between the ‘ell’ and umlaut u sound in “der Schlüssel” (the key) by which one may deride someone from Hessen from the (somehow far more proper) Brandenburg region. And yes, the ultimate insult was to compare someone’s German pronunciation to “Switzer” (Swiss German).
In short, i’d allow that there is such a global diversity of spoken English that only three out of ten of our jokes depend on taking exception to an accent, whereas in Germany it’s likely more than half.
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You must be aquatinted with my German side of the family, prodigious shouters.
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An odd Story: I’m an American who studied German in High School, went to Germany for a Year in College and became fluent in German enough to lose my American Accent (and acquire Schwäbsch in Stuttgart - southern Germany). Twenty years later now, whenever I go back, I can still fool most People into thinking I’m a native German until I encounter Words that would now be Anglicized but I pronounce them as German Words. (This doesn’t take long anymore - about ten Minutes of Conversation to reach one of those Words. Less frequently, an actual English Word is used and I pronounce it without the characteristic German Inflection, or use a less common German Word instead.)
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I am not sure, but sometimes I think that native speakers of English have a very sophisticated programming for reading and pronunciation, which tends to trip them up when encountering words that should be read “as they are”. Languages like German (or Italian) are quite the opposite: what you see is - almost - what you say, provided you are prepared for some interesting… peculiarities:
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My parents had a similar experience when they visited Germany- their German now makes them sound exceedingly old and conservative because they learned the language back in the 1960s and so they were using no modern phrases and absolutely no Denglish.
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Whenever someone takes a jab at how German sounds, just remind them they’d have a really hard time ordering scrambled eggs for breakfast travelling in a German speaking country.
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As a Yankee who has been living in Bavaria since 1990, I say…
Bassd scho, oida. Kannst weida machn.
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I had two Roommates who grew up in the former East Germany so that was quite an Eyeopener as well - much different Accents than the Westerners, and a slightly different Interpretation of Language as a Result of having grown up in the communist East - no Denglish for them even though the Stuttgarters were starting to absorb more English Words (though both Roommates were under 15 when the Wall Fell and Germany reunified (itself)).
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I was there for Architecture School - the Word that tripped up my American Friends was “Transparency” - at the Time, one said “Durchsichtigkeit”, but now most People say “Transparenz”
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Ganz klar! That’s cool!
I remember meeting one architecture student in Stuttgart.
Where did you attend? Were you neck deep in Bauhaus?
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Bit of Viennese creeping in there
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It is worth noting that Germans are very much guilty themselves of butchering foreign words by “germanizing” them. Just listen to them pronounce “Michelin” for example.
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That was Münchnerisch. I have noted now many Northerners mix up Bavarians and Austrians.
Once the pandemic lifts, though, I do plan on visiting Vienna.
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It was a reference to this:
And if you call this Franconian a Northerner again he will… actually do nothing specifically. That whole regional rivalry thing is so overplayed.
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Ach goddala naa, a Frank! Des is halt a weng a Zufall, da war ich 20 Jahr lang in Bareit!
I am well acquainted with the Upper Franconian dialect, as I lived in Bayreuth and Kulmbach from 1990 to 2010, and then I moved to Munich. The last ten years have seen my accent and dialect drift, mainly because Munich has its own mix of Hochdeutsch, Boutiquenbayrisch and Neu-Münchnerisch.
No, with Northerners I did not mean you, but Hamburgers, Berliners, Hannoveraner, and those sorts. Oida as spoken by a Bavarian sounds different than a Viennese, but not so much that you could see it in spelling. But it’s all in good fun, gell?
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Fei scho
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