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> In German, you can read a word and know how it is pronounced, and hear a word and know how it's written. So there are no dialects in Germany, do they really
by kwhitefoot 9y ago
> In German, you can read a word and know how it is pronounced, and hear a word and know how it's written.
So there are no dialects in Germany, do they really pronounce all words the same in the dockyards of Hamburg as they do in the university at Heidelberg? What about Austrian German, Swiss German, and the German speakers in Argentina and Brazil.
And you never 'steal' words? What about spaghetti (or is it spagetti now?). If German had been the most used auxiliary language for the last two hundred years I think it too would have borrowed a few more words.
- StavrosK 9y ago> So there are no dialects in Germany, do they really pronounce all words the same in the dockyards of Hamburg as they do in the university at Heidelberg? No, but they pronounce the words consistently in each dialect, as opposed to English where bow and bow are pronounced differently. > What about Austrian German, Swiss German, and the German speakers in Argentina and Brazil. What about them? > And you never 'steal' words? Fine, "borrowed" then. I didn't mean it pejoratively. Also I'm not a native speaker of either English or German. > If German had been the most used auxiliary language for the last two hundred years I think it too would have borrowed a few more words. What do you mean? That, say, the word "fraternity" is French-derived because the French spoke English? It seems to me that it's exactly the other way around.
- kwhitefoot 9y ago> No, but they pronounce the words consistently in each dialect, as opposed to English where bow and bow are pronounced differently. So I have to know which dialect the author used in order to know how to pronounce a word.
- StavrosK 9y agoAs opposed to English where all dialects pronounce the words the same? Why was that comment even worth making?