Words in German Records

Heide,
Having lived in Germany, can you tell me anything you know about the high
and low German spoken awhile ago in Germany.
My Grandmother would always talk about this and i can't quiet understand
the meaning behind it. Her family spoke the one that is no longer spoken
over there.
Cindy
Indiana

[Original Message]
From: HeideB <heideb@uneedspeed.net>
To: Hannover-L <hannover-l@genealogy.net>
Date: 9/18/2007 3:30:22 AM
Subject: Re: [HN] Words in German Records

It's Heide - I live in Kingman, just below the Grand Canyon. If you ever

go

to Vegas, you pass by me. please stop by. I was born in Hannover, know

it

well. Let me know if you need help. Heide (which is Heather in German -
does Lueneburger Heide mean anything to you?)
From: "LadyBonita (USA)" <ladybonita@usa.com>
To: "'Hannover-L'" <hannover-l@genealogy.net>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 7:53 PM
Subject: Re: [HN] Words in German Records

Heidi ... You are a dream. I wish you were close to Phoenix, AZ ... I

have

purchased some books about the villages where my HILLMER's lived ... I

pick

Hi Cindy,
    I'm sure Heidi can give you good information about Platt Deutsch, but there
was a very extensive and interesting conversation about it on the list a year
or so ago. You can probably find it in the Hannover List Archives.
Don Roddy

----- Message from jordon85@earthlink.net ---------

That's a complicated question. If her family spoke the only one I can think
of that is no longer spoken is Plattdeutsch. I can't speak it or read it or
understand it. My family came to Hannover from the Eichsfeld region around
Goettingen during the 1880's. My grandmother could still speak it, she died
in 1984. I think because so many people left the area, the language died
out. Hi German refers to around the present city of Hannover where the best
German is spoken. (Not because that is my home, but that's what they speak
on the Stage, TV, Radio, you name it. It's also the one used in books and
taught in schools. When you get to the North (North Sea area) there are a
couple of dialects up there, one is Flemish. That is a very difficult
language. Berlin has it's own unique dialect. Low German would be the
Bavarian, Schwaebisch, Black Forest. I can't understand them but if I tell
them to speak high German they know how. You have to remember Germany was
made up of all these little Kingdoms and each had it's own customs and
culture and language. My German History is not too good so I don't know
when they united, but the people didn't want to give up was was theirs. To
this day you ask a Bavarian what he is and he will tell you Bavarian first
and German second. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Oh, one more thing. Anything printed before WWII is printed in what is
known as the Black Letter Script. After WWII everything printed in the way
we write. Handwriting too, resembled the black letter script. After WWII I
had it one year in school, then we switsched. Heide