Dialect a charm in the spoken language
 

Dialect is a very interesting and a charmy thing in a countries spoken language.

You can jump into your car, drive for less than 30 minutes or so and you are on a alien planet. It seems that way because you don't understand what they are saying to you.

In Denmark and Sweden there are lots of different dialect most of them are variation from the main language or variation in the dialect in the local area.

I can't remember how many dialect there is in my two countries.

I can say there are dialect I didn't understand a word of and I'm talking about places here in Denmark and in Sweden.

How many type of dialect does you country have and are there one of these you just don't understand ? Sounds like rubbish in your ears.

Markus

You can do the same in the UK probably the best example would be Wrexham north wales to Liverpool then Manchester then Leeds 4 dialects and accents and in some cases a totally different language in the space of a couple of hours.

We also have different slang words we use for example Jimbuna who would be up north would sounds very different to myself who has a Essex / cockney accent and slang.

I'm not a dialect expert by any stretch of the imagination but we have a great variety in dialects in Norway to the point where each valley has its own peculiar dialect. Me being from the south east understand next to nothing of the dialects in the south west, and some of the more local dialects up around the Trondheim counties are like Greek to me as well. Mostly the rest are fairly recognizable bar for the local words they might use.

As for Swedish, the one dialect I understand the least, that is I understand very little if at all, is the Scania dialect in Southern Sweden. Dialects from Gothenburg to Stockholm are a lot easier to the point where I can have a meaningful conversation.

There is an area in southeastern Virginia known as Guinea. No one outside of that community can understand a word they say. I'm pretty sure it's a form of English, but it sounds like gibberish.


There are other dialects in the U.S. I have trouble understanding. Some are a mixture of English and other languages. But for the most part, I've been able to get the gist of what anyone in the U.S. is talking about.


If I had to guess, I'd say there are probably hundreds of thousands of different dialects in the U.S.

Some Scottish (Glaswegian) and Geordie (North East England) accents may as well be Latin to me

My wife speaks what we call "Estuary Engish": for her a mountain is a "man-tin". She says "Wiw-yuh" instead of "will you", "chocklit" instead of chocolate. But the one I tease her about most is the the word 'roll'. I have a job even writing down the way she says it... she's the same with saying 'poll' or 'doll' and so are the rest of her family... but she says something like "Rah-wl"

And if you make her jump she'll yell "Gawd-un Bennit!"

Just five miles to Mackemland (Sunderland) from South Shields and you begin to struggle with the different dialect.

Thank you for your input.

Yes there are many dialect in a country.

I recall a situation where my father a friend and I visit some family in Germany. They had some guest who came from south Germany not so far from the border to Switzerland I didn't understand a word of what they said.

My father talked a dialect called Plattysk(Danish)-Google says Niederdeutsch(German)

I learned to talk south Scania dialect when I lived in South Sweden for some decades.

Edit
My little sister who is much better in English grammar, speaking(pronouncing) has an English dialect I call the Shakespeare dialect.
End edit

Markus

I can't say the same for other languages, but here in the US, most of the time the English language dialects and accents are mutually intelligible (except to an Englishman...)

Some examples:

1. Asking someone to repeat what they just said. "Say that again." "Say what?" "Do what?" and the standard USN phone talker phraseology "Say again." I can always tell former sailors by that last one.
2. Describing what you are going to do. "I'm going to..." "I'm gonna..." "I'm fixing to..." "I finna..."
3. Foodstuffs. Hoagie. Sub. Hero. Po'boy. Grinder. Moe. All essentially a sandwich on a long roll. Multiple variations, all claiming the others aren't. Likewise carbonated soft drinks - soda, soder, pop, or coke (even if it isn't coca-cola but another soft drink).

Interestingly, I find it easier to understand dialects here in the states than in other English-speaking countries.

I had to ask the customs officer at the airport in Sydney for clarification when he wanted to see my "engineer boots" since I had flown from South Korea. I finally realized he was asking about my steeltoes (well, technically my carbon fiber toes...). Or the strange look on the face of one of my Aussie counterparts on her trip to the US for business meetings when she ordered a "corned beef sandwich" expecting to receive a roast beef sandwich, when in the ensuing conversation the deli worker asked her if she wanted it hot with sauerkraut and dressing (a Reuben) or cold with coleslaw and dressing (a corned beef special). I had to explain to her that what we call corned beef was what she would call salt beef...

I use the last one a lot ... but I am not a former [or current] sailor.




I was once approached by a young man who asked me where the closest place was to get a pop. Being from the South, I was momentarily confused about what he was asking. We call it soda. Only Yankees say pop.

Sounds like she is from essex :D same as me Basildon