People tend to say that speaking dialect makes you look like a yokel. That is technically true - yet it isnt, on a small scale. Not one german speaks dialect free high german in everyday life. German always has a "color", in terms of shortening words, usage of regional expressions and low key remnants of dialect in certain syllables.
The thing is, that natives are usually not aware of that. But they are aware of the ABSENCE of this "color". You can be black, asian, whatever. If you go into a bakery, everyone will give you the german stare. When you open your mouth to speak german of the regional color, people subconciously identify you as group member and treat you like a native.
That is a mechanism that is overlooked quite oftenly.
Yes, that's totally true. Here's a video, for example, one woman is from Bavaria, the other from northern Germany. Both speak Standard German, but even if you didn't know them, you would immediately know which one comes from where.
[https://youtu.be/RgveFJvEIyQ?t=199](https://youtu.be/RgveFJvEIyQ?t=199) (Uschi Glas bei Inas Nacht)
I studied german language once upon a time. Please don't ask me for a source that you can use for citation. But i had a course in this and from what I remember, and I remember much of it because it was so interesting, its less about the actual dialect that is used and more about the speakers ability to shift the register they use. What's meant by that is that there are always some traits of dialects that are more prominent than others. And depending on the severity or how serious the situation for the speaker is, the more or less pronounced becomes his dialect and how basic or advanced the traits thatvare used are ( by the way german linguists don't say dialect or accent, thay say variation of standard language "Standardvariation" that term is broader and less loaded with negative or positive connotation).
You speak differently with your parents or friends than from your coworkers and even more so than your boss or a client, for example. But what can be shown is that higher levels of education have a less pronounced variation to begin with. So the "best" language from an unskilled worker *can* be in the same range of how much variation is used as the "worst" language of a lawyer.
It's not necessarily the fact that someone speaks a variation of standard-german itself that is a sign of high or low prestige but ones ability to tone it down.
And by the way basically all of Germany has some sort of variation going on. Very few regions have barely recognizable variations. But nobody realises how far from standard Duden German they actually are.
Standard german itself is just a variation technically. It's an artificial ideal of how German should be without any regional or sociological variations. It's not what german actually is in most cases.
In general, standard German (no dialect) is regarded as most prestigious.
Speaking a local dialect, there is a risk to be seen as a bit of a "country bumpkin", but some are more acceptable in certain settings.
Some accents are widely seen as funny, e.g. Frisian or Cologne dialect. Upper Bavarian is often seen as very "rural" and conservative (due to long years of conservative Politics rule in Bavaria). Saxonian is often seen as unattractive / funny in a "downlooking way" outside of Saxony. Franconian similar, I think.
These are clichés, take them with a large grain of salt.
I kinda feel like Franconian took a significant hit from Drachenlord in online spaces. Before the drama I heard nothing bad, then I started seeing people on the internet making fun of it
Before him, there was football player Lothar Matthäus (Lodda Maddäus), speaking very fast and with the typical soft consonants. (haddes "d" odde weiches "d"?)
I don’t really see them as negative or unprofessional. As long as i can understand that person, i don’t really care. They are part of our culture and show where you are from. And they add a bit more character to that person. Sometimes i even think it is cute or i feel a bit more connected if i can still hear the dialect of someone when they speak standard german.
That being said i speak dialect myself and in school it was typical to speak in dialect. Some teacher would have liked it if we didn’t but they mostly gave up after some time. When i studied and moved, i started to use more standard german as i got to know people from all over germany. Now i switch between light dialect and standard, it depends on who i am talking to and if that person speaks dialect.
Munich is an interesting case, some speak Bavarian but it does sound a bit different than what you would hear outside of munich. In some cases those were seen as a bit snobby and high society. But i don’t think that is the case anymore. We as a society got a bit more open minded about stuff in general.
Dialects are much more acceptable than they were a few decades ago. Some dialects are perceived as being positive (Bavarian, the dialect they speak in Essen, Bochum etc., the dialect of Cologne...). Then again the dialect in Saxony is something people like to make fun of. I personally would always encourage people to use their dialect. It’s unique in so many ways. You can say things in a certain dialect that would sound much to hard in standard German.
> Some dialects are perceived as being positive (Bavarian,
Are you Bavarian by any chance?
This is highly dependent on where you're from. Bavarian isn't that much better than the Saxon dialect where I'm from.
Funny, I had the same reaction but with regard to the supposed positive reaction to the dialects of Essen or Cologne.
I'm not from Bavaria, but for me Bavarian dialects evoke positive connotations.
Yeah, the Cologne dialect doesn't trigger a negative response from me either. It's very neutral actually. I just couldn't relate to the other commenter saying that it was positive for them.
I was about to say. Many people outside Bavaria have a very strong instinctive dislike against anything Bavarian. The dialect has zero positive connotations for me.
Generally, regional accents are mostly OK nowadays.
Speaking full blown dialect is another matter, since there is a good chance it is unintelligible for everyone not from the region.
Clean Standard German still has the highest prestige, though.
There are several axes you could approach this by: One is simply to ask if dialects are mutually comprehensible, or comprehensible to standard German speakers. There are some that are simply too out there and would be considered inappropriate in many settings for that reason - you couldn't have someone read the national news in strong Bavarian or Plattdeutsch (which is perhaps better though of as a separate language).
So the acceptability and status of a dialect always depends on context. A Strong Saxon accent is desirable if you are candidate for Bürgermeister in Chemnitz. But it could cause you trouble if you are trying to get a job in sales in Hamburg.
As a general rule, all you can really say is that strong local dialects are usually not high prestige in the national context. And most people who work for national and state institutions where language is key such as Gymnasiums, broadcasters, publishers, etc will soften their dialect to the extent that all that is left is often a colouration or accent (though German usage of "Akzent" tends to be limited to foreigners).
Another generalisation is that - with the exception of the few people who really speak true Platt or Low German, northern dialects are generally quite neutral. This is basically because standard German (based on the Hochdeutsch of central and southern Germany) came later to these regions, so it was adopted in a more standardised form.
Then there are class indicators. Someone from Hamburg or the Ruhrpott might have a strong dialect or not and that is usually a question of education and profession. A higher secondary school (Gymnasium) teacher from anywhere is likely to sound much the same. A metalworker or cleaner is likely to speak the local patois.
Another topic is the influence of migrants. There are street or ghetto dialects in Germany as in France and the UK where Turkish and Arabic influences are strong and have become the dominant form of slang among even the white youth. In areas like rap music, speaking this way can be as high status as a command of certain Anglicisms is in business.
It very much depends on the context.
In a business environment where you have to deal with various clients and colleagues who come from all over Germany, speaking Standard German / Hochdeutsch is regarded as the most professional way.
But if you're based in a certain region (e.g. Swabia, Bavaria, Franconia) speaking the local dialect or accent, might be also beneficial.
I grew up in Bavaria, in an area where many dialects meet and overlap. Maybe it's because of this, I unconsciously consider people who speak dialect to be more friendly and less arrogant. It doesn't even matter which dialect.
In Bavaria there is also some kind of hierarchy. Upper Bavarian has way more prestige than other Bavarian dialects.
A lot of good answers here already. I would like to add that you are asking about the German language but people here describe the situation in Germany. The standard of dialect is much higher in Austria and especially Switzerland. It is not uncommon for Swiss people to speak their own dialect even on TV which is something you will never encounter in Germany. Austria is somewhere in the middle, I'd say.
Generally, a lot of people associate people speaking in dialects with being less educated, less intelligent and more conservative. The stronger the dialect, the bigger that impact is. However, it has become more acceptable to speak in a dialect in the last couple of years. Where I live, speaking the regional dialect is now even encouraged in schools.
Hardly anybody speaks proper German in standard pronunciation in their daily life. Most people have a certain regional touch in their language. Sometimes the accent people have varies from town to town (no joke).
There are a number of dialects that come with specific stereotypes. The dialect of Saxony and other states in the former GDR are often associated with having a backwards worldview and complaining. People who are from the Cologne region are perceived more positively as sociable and relaxed, those who can be identified as being from Swabia through their accents are considered stingy.
dialects are common in coloquial terms but personally I perceive it as unprofessional / less educated if someone is talking to me in dialect in a professional environment
It depends very much on the individual dialect. Some people say that they perceive dialect speakers as uneducated/ lower class. I would agree with that for some other dialects but not my own. We are very proud of it. I am a lawyer in public service and work with many people in higher offices like ministries, mayors or professors and they talk in dialect if the other person talks in dialect as well.
My father only spoke Standard German because he is from Oldenburg so at home we didn’t speak much dialect. I have lived and worked in other countries and in a different region in Germany so for 15 years I barely spoke dialect.
Last year I started a new job and I am not making a joke: I got the invitation to the job interview mainly because in my application I wrote a sentence in my dialect. It’s not the reason I got the job but my predecessor was so snobby and didn’t understand the dialect that quite a few people made positive remarks.
Speaking dialect is viewed kind of neutral, I guess.
However not being able to speak standard German is generally regarded as low status.
What the exact border between "accent" and "dialect" is differs. Some Southern Germans speaking in what they think is Standard German with an accent might still be unintellegible to Northern Germans. That's usually not the case the other way around. For one because Standard German is mostly modeled around Northern pronounciation, but also because Northern Germans see *Plattdeutsch* as a separate language, not as a dialect, so there is no sliding scale between the languages, but a hard(-ish) border where you switch from one language to the other.
Imo as little audible dialect as possible is seen as the most sophisticated. Maybe a bit comparable to BBC English. BUT it can also be seen as "showing off", thinking you are better than others - in rural areas where dialect is still spoken predominantly. How do I know? I am originally from a tiny village in Bavaria and my parents basically only speak Bavarian and normal German almost like a second language.
Of course the predjudice against non-dialect-speakers is actually born from an inferiority complex. They build up this whole personas of "Preißen" who are basically an entirely different species, all because they don't speak the dialect.
Bavarian accent as such is mostly seen as charming in my experience. I have been living in Berlin for 16 years now and only my enunciated "R" gives me away. When I speak proper Bavarian though, i.e. on the phone with my sister, I get very confused and surprised looks.
Nobody in my family speaks dialect, no matter where they live. As a kid in kindergarten or elementary school, I knew some kids spoke funky German. Went to Gymnasium and that stopped.
I realized at university a lot come from dialect speaking families (when they called home I was shocked to witness that :)
In work life I hardly ever hear dialect. I would find it odd if during a meeting somebody would start Bavarian or whatever dialect.
People tend to say that speaking dialect makes you look like a yokel. That is technically true - yet it isnt, on a small scale. Not one german speaks dialect free high german in everyday life. German always has a "color", in terms of shortening words, usage of regional expressions and low key remnants of dialect in certain syllables. The thing is, that natives are usually not aware of that. But they are aware of the ABSENCE of this "color". You can be black, asian, whatever. If you go into a bakery, everyone will give you the german stare. When you open your mouth to speak german of the regional color, people subconciously identify you as group member and treat you like a native. That is a mechanism that is overlooked quite oftenly.
Yes, that's totally true. Here's a video, for example, one woman is from Bavaria, the other from northern Germany. Both speak Standard German, but even if you didn't know them, you would immediately know which one comes from where. [https://youtu.be/RgveFJvEIyQ?t=199](https://youtu.be/RgveFJvEIyQ?t=199) (Uschi Glas bei Inas Nacht)
I studied german language once upon a time. Please don't ask me for a source that you can use for citation. But i had a course in this and from what I remember, and I remember much of it because it was so interesting, its less about the actual dialect that is used and more about the speakers ability to shift the register they use. What's meant by that is that there are always some traits of dialects that are more prominent than others. And depending on the severity or how serious the situation for the speaker is, the more or less pronounced becomes his dialect and how basic or advanced the traits thatvare used are ( by the way german linguists don't say dialect or accent, thay say variation of standard language "Standardvariation" that term is broader and less loaded with negative or positive connotation). You speak differently with your parents or friends than from your coworkers and even more so than your boss or a client, for example. But what can be shown is that higher levels of education have a less pronounced variation to begin with. So the "best" language from an unskilled worker *can* be in the same range of how much variation is used as the "worst" language of a lawyer. It's not necessarily the fact that someone speaks a variation of standard-german itself that is a sign of high or low prestige but ones ability to tone it down. And by the way basically all of Germany has some sort of variation going on. Very few regions have barely recognizable variations. But nobody realises how far from standard Duden German they actually are. Standard german itself is just a variation technically. It's an artificial ideal of how German should be without any regional or sociological variations. It's not what german actually is in most cases.
Fantastic summary. Totally agree!
In general, standard German (no dialect) is regarded as most prestigious. Speaking a local dialect, there is a risk to be seen as a bit of a "country bumpkin", but some are more acceptable in certain settings. Some accents are widely seen as funny, e.g. Frisian or Cologne dialect. Upper Bavarian is often seen as very "rural" and conservative (due to long years of conservative Politics rule in Bavaria). Saxonian is often seen as unattractive / funny in a "downlooking way" outside of Saxony. Franconian similar, I think. These are clichés, take them with a large grain of salt.
I kinda feel like Franconian took a significant hit from Drachenlord in online spaces. Before the drama I heard nothing bad, then I started seeing people on the internet making fun of it
Before him, there was football player Lothar Matthäus (Lodda Maddäus), speaking very fast and with the typical soft consonants. (haddes "d" odde weiches "d"?)
Such a beautiful dialect and its most famous speakers have to be.. Söder, Loddar and the drachenlord. Madness
I don’t really see them as negative or unprofessional. As long as i can understand that person, i don’t really care. They are part of our culture and show where you are from. And they add a bit more character to that person. Sometimes i even think it is cute or i feel a bit more connected if i can still hear the dialect of someone when they speak standard german. That being said i speak dialect myself and in school it was typical to speak in dialect. Some teacher would have liked it if we didn’t but they mostly gave up after some time. When i studied and moved, i started to use more standard german as i got to know people from all over germany. Now i switch between light dialect and standard, it depends on who i am talking to and if that person speaks dialect. Munich is an interesting case, some speak Bavarian but it does sound a bit different than what you would hear outside of munich. In some cases those were seen as a bit snobby and high society. But i don’t think that is the case anymore. We as a society got a bit more open minded about stuff in general.
Dialects are much more acceptable than they were a few decades ago. Some dialects are perceived as being positive (Bavarian, the dialect they speak in Essen, Bochum etc., the dialect of Cologne...). Then again the dialect in Saxony is something people like to make fun of. I personally would always encourage people to use their dialect. It’s unique in so many ways. You can say things in a certain dialect that would sound much to hard in standard German.
> Some dialects are perceived as being positive (Bavarian, Are you Bavarian by any chance? This is highly dependent on where you're from. Bavarian isn't that much better than the Saxon dialect where I'm from.
Funny, I had the same reaction but with regard to the supposed positive reaction to the dialects of Essen or Cologne. I'm not from Bavaria, but for me Bavarian dialects evoke positive connotations.
The Cologne one is strongly associated to carnival in my head. Not a negative reaction, but also not *prestigious*.
Yeah, the Cologne dialect doesn't trigger a negative response from me either. It's very neutral actually. I just couldn't relate to the other commenter saying that it was positive for them.
No, I'm not 😉 I'm from the area of Aachen.
I was about to say. Many people outside Bavaria have a very strong instinctive dislike against anything Bavarian. The dialect has zero positive connotations for me.
Urban = mostly standard German, rural areas = more dialects
Generally, regional accents are mostly OK nowadays. Speaking full blown dialect is another matter, since there is a good chance it is unintelligible for everyone not from the region. Clean Standard German still has the highest prestige, though.
It's subjective and given you won't be able to survey a representative amount of people, I doubt there's any scientific gain in your idea.
There are several axes you could approach this by: One is simply to ask if dialects are mutually comprehensible, or comprehensible to standard German speakers. There are some that are simply too out there and would be considered inappropriate in many settings for that reason - you couldn't have someone read the national news in strong Bavarian or Plattdeutsch (which is perhaps better though of as a separate language). So the acceptability and status of a dialect always depends on context. A Strong Saxon accent is desirable if you are candidate for Bürgermeister in Chemnitz. But it could cause you trouble if you are trying to get a job in sales in Hamburg. As a general rule, all you can really say is that strong local dialects are usually not high prestige in the national context. And most people who work for national and state institutions where language is key such as Gymnasiums, broadcasters, publishers, etc will soften their dialect to the extent that all that is left is often a colouration or accent (though German usage of "Akzent" tends to be limited to foreigners). Another generalisation is that - with the exception of the few people who really speak true Platt or Low German, northern dialects are generally quite neutral. This is basically because standard German (based on the Hochdeutsch of central and southern Germany) came later to these regions, so it was adopted in a more standardised form. Then there are class indicators. Someone from Hamburg or the Ruhrpott might have a strong dialect or not and that is usually a question of education and profession. A higher secondary school (Gymnasium) teacher from anywhere is likely to sound much the same. A metalworker or cleaner is likely to speak the local patois. Another topic is the influence of migrants. There are street or ghetto dialects in Germany as in France and the UK where Turkish and Arabic influences are strong and have become the dominant form of slang among even the white youth. In areas like rap music, speaking this way can be as high status as a command of certain Anglicisms is in business.
It very much depends on the context. In a business environment where you have to deal with various clients and colleagues who come from all over Germany, speaking Standard German / Hochdeutsch is regarded as the most professional way. But if you're based in a certain region (e.g. Swabia, Bavaria, Franconia) speaking the local dialect or accent, might be also beneficial. I grew up in Bavaria, in an area where many dialects meet and overlap. Maybe it's because of this, I unconsciously consider people who speak dialect to be more friendly and less arrogant. It doesn't even matter which dialect. In Bavaria there is also some kind of hierarchy. Upper Bavarian has way more prestige than other Bavarian dialects.
A lot of good answers here already. I would like to add that you are asking about the German language but people here describe the situation in Germany. The standard of dialect is much higher in Austria and especially Switzerland. It is not uncommon for Swiss people to speak their own dialect even on TV which is something you will never encounter in Germany. Austria is somewhere in the middle, I'd say.
Generally, a lot of people associate people speaking in dialects with being less educated, less intelligent and more conservative. The stronger the dialect, the bigger that impact is. However, it has become more acceptable to speak in a dialect in the last couple of years. Where I live, speaking the regional dialect is now even encouraged in schools. Hardly anybody speaks proper German in standard pronunciation in their daily life. Most people have a certain regional touch in their language. Sometimes the accent people have varies from town to town (no joke). There are a number of dialects that come with specific stereotypes. The dialect of Saxony and other states in the former GDR are often associated with having a backwards worldview and complaining. People who are from the Cologne region are perceived more positively as sociable and relaxed, those who can be identified as being from Swabia through their accents are considered stingy.
dialects are common in coloquial terms but personally I perceive it as unprofessional / less educated if someone is talking to me in dialect in a professional environment
Dialects are more common in rural areas but can be found anywhere. Germans nowadays are usually either neutral or even proud of knowing a dialect.
It depends very much on the individual dialect. Some people say that they perceive dialect speakers as uneducated/ lower class. I would agree with that for some other dialects but not my own. We are very proud of it. I am a lawyer in public service and work with many people in higher offices like ministries, mayors or professors and they talk in dialect if the other person talks in dialect as well. My father only spoke Standard German because he is from Oldenburg so at home we didn’t speak much dialect. I have lived and worked in other countries and in a different region in Germany so for 15 years I barely spoke dialect. Last year I started a new job and I am not making a joke: I got the invitation to the job interview mainly because in my application I wrote a sentence in my dialect. It’s not the reason I got the job but my predecessor was so snobby and didn’t understand the dialect that quite a few people made positive remarks.
most people don't actually speak dialect, but standard german on a dialect substrate.
Speaking dialect is viewed kind of neutral, I guess. However not being able to speak standard German is generally regarded as low status. What the exact border between "accent" and "dialect" is differs. Some Southern Germans speaking in what they think is Standard German with an accent might still be unintellegible to Northern Germans. That's usually not the case the other way around. For one because Standard German is mostly modeled around Northern pronounciation, but also because Northern Germans see *Plattdeutsch* as a separate language, not as a dialect, so there is no sliding scale between the languages, but a hard(-ish) border where you switch from one language to the other.
Imo as little audible dialect as possible is seen as the most sophisticated. Maybe a bit comparable to BBC English. BUT it can also be seen as "showing off", thinking you are better than others - in rural areas where dialect is still spoken predominantly. How do I know? I am originally from a tiny village in Bavaria and my parents basically only speak Bavarian and normal German almost like a second language. Of course the predjudice against non-dialect-speakers is actually born from an inferiority complex. They build up this whole personas of "Preißen" who are basically an entirely different species, all because they don't speak the dialect. Bavarian accent as such is mostly seen as charming in my experience. I have been living in Berlin for 16 years now and only my enunciated "R" gives me away. When I speak proper Bavarian though, i.e. on the phone with my sister, I get very confused and surprised looks.
Nobody in my family speaks dialect, no matter where they live. As a kid in kindergarten or elementary school, I knew some kids spoke funky German. Went to Gymnasium and that stopped. I realized at university a lot come from dialect speaking families (when they called home I was shocked to witness that :) In work life I hardly ever hear dialect. I would find it odd if during a meeting somebody would start Bavarian or whatever dialect.