Sometimes contemporary speakers pronounce their name a certain way in order for others to spell it correctly. For example, my maiden name is Mueller (umlaut u, of course). Many families pronounce it as Miller, and everyone in the community knows to spell it Mueller.
In our community, though, we had families whose names were Miller, Muller and Mueller. In order for our name to be spelled correctly by those who heard it, we pronounced it Mueller, as in Mule - er.
In the other thread:
My mother who learned German in the US from her parents and grandparents who were from east of the Oder, could not understand the speech of her in-laws, who were from the Hannover area.
that only may be when they speak low German (Plattdeutsch)
there are different dialects between the different parts of Germany.
High German will be understand everywhere in Germany.
I hope it wii be clear now.
My grandmother spoke it and she has been dead since 1984. She always
complained that nobody spoke it anymore.
According to my grandmother Plattdeutsch came from the Eichsfeld area and
there weren't enough speakers to keep it going. High German sort of took
over. You're in Germany. Do you have other information? Heide
Plattdeutsch is still quite a spread language in the nothern parts of Germany like Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg., especially in rural areas. There are many villages in which Plattdeutsch is even today the common spoken language! Heide, leave your town and travel along the countryside!
Eberhard
I just got back from a week-long trip to Germany in search of ancestors. We spent several days in Ostfriesland, trying to cope with: Plattdeutsch. Often High German is also understood, and so I survived. But the thousands who speak Plattdeutsch don't know it is no longer spoken.> From: Wilfried.Petersen@t-online.de> To: hannover-l@genealogy.net> Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 19:48:00 +0000> Subject: Re: [HN] PLATTDEUTSCH> > "HeideB" <heideb@uneedspeed.net> schrieb:> > Plattdeutsch is no longer spoken. Heide> > > Are you sure?> Wilfried> > ______________________________________________> > Hannover-L mailing list> Hannover-L@genealogy.net> hannover-l - genealogy.net
I just wondered if the term "Plattdeutsch" would translate as "Low German" ? I have heard "Low German" spoken of but have not heard the term Plattdeutsch before.
Hi Bernd
It is incorrect to say low German (Plattdeutsch). It should be, Plattdeutsch that is spoken in the low lands of Northern Germany. If you are trying to say in your message that Plattdeutsch is a dialect that is also incorrect as Pattdeutsch is a stand alone language. If you wish to have a LOW German language to refer to you might try Badisch, Hessenisch, or Bayrisch as those are dialects but I don't think that they would approve of their language being referred to as LOW.
Jim
I can make all kinds of conjectures as to how the term "Low" came about, but most of them do not make sense to me. As I understand, Platt means flat. In the part of Iowa I grew up in, the English term used "by and for" Plattdeutsch people was "Flatlanders" The term Low was considered demeaning.
Your comment about Plattdeutsch being a stand alone language has my support. As I have said several times on this list, my Plattdeutsch Father could converse with his Dainish brother-in-law without much problem, but he had trouble talking to a German brother-in-law from a differ area in Germany.
Gale, I may have a better answer for you because I have been in that
situation. Over here in US we are isolated. Just as I was saying my german
froze in place in 1953 because of lack of contact with other speakers. For
example, when I go to Germany I have problems understand the new on TV,
Radio, reading newspaper and speaker with other people. Another thing that
drives me crazy is the loud speakers in Train stations, etc. Yet if you
were to speak with me in German, I am so fluent but with a limited
vocabulary. Depending upon the subject, you probably would not even notice.
The last time I had company from Germany, I had known this "kid" for over 40
years with limited contact over the years. He cracked up over some of my
expressions because they are so out of date. I am a German teacher, German
was my first language but because of lack of use I have forgotten and
relearned it so many times If you don't use it, you loose. I hope this
made sense. Heide
Your comment about Plattdeutsch being a stand alone
language has my support. As I have said several times on
this list, my Plattdeutsch Father could converse with his
Dainish brother-in-law without much problem, but he had
trouble talking to a German brother-in-law from a differ
area in Germany.
Your comment about German not changing in the U.S. has merit. I think it was Norway (might have been Sweden) who sent language specialists to Minn. to record and document the old forms of the Norweigen language which was no longer existant in Norway.
GErmans in the US are interesting. Most will not speak German. I started a
Kaffeeklatsch just so that I would have a little German contact, when my
mother died. I took care of her for 24 years. I didn't want to loose my
German again. I have been in the US since 1953, been back to Europe 10
times each time for long visits in areas were no English spoken at that
time. Now, everybody in Germany is dead so correspondence and visits are no
longer available. When I read some of the e-mails I realize how
"old" my German is. The language has grown a lot in the last 20-30 years.
It's really a shame but German, in my opinion, is going to disappear in the
future. I have to ask when I don't understand something and because I am
fluent, people look at me strange. LOL Heide
Hi PJV,
"Plattdeutsch" is the German word for the language. "Low German" is an
attempt at translating that word into English. Unfortunately many English
speaking people assume the "low" refers to social status when in fact it merely
describes the area where the language is spoken.
Don Roddy
I decided to look up Plattdeutsch in Wahrig which is Mr. Webster in German.
It says: adjectiv - niederdeutsch (zu nddt. plat in der Bedeutung
"verstaendlich, deutlich) then Platt, noun, plattdeutsche, niederdeutsche
Mundart; Hamburger, Mecklenburger sprechen. I thought that was interesting.
Heide