In einer eMail vom 23.04.2007 08:42:43 Westeuropäische Sommerzeit schreibt
dhk3502@hotmail.de:
Standard German in
German is simply called "Hochdeutsch" throughout Germany. And "Hochdeutsch"
literally translated into English is "high German".
Hello,
another thing is that "standard German" or "Hochdeutsch" is a construct
while "lower German" is a name for all "original" German languages. Hochdeutsch
is like Esperanto, needed for Bavarians being able to talk to people from
Hamburg as well as from the region where I live (Saarland). I assume that the
slangs in America originate from a standard English mixed with idioms brought
along by immigrants from their native countries. While Hochdeutsch was put
together from our "slang" to have an accepted base for all. Thus the German
spoken by the Amish in Pennsylvania Dutch County is the standard German spoken in
that particular countryside.
Yours
Roland Geiger, St. Wendel, Saarland, Germany
with sun shining through the window and no rain clouds in the sky
nevertheless badly needed