After having looked at three lower German and three middle German dialects, we come to the upper German dialects. And we start with Swabian, or Schwäbisch, as it’s called in German. Wikipedia says that ‘it is spoken in Swabia, which covers much of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, including its capital, Stuttgart. It is also spoken in the rural area known as the Swabian Alb, and in the southwest of Bavarian Swabia.’ (Read more here)
I found an online text translator that translates from “proper” German to Swabian.
Guess what sentence I typed in to get this (answer at the bottom): Die Schwaba schwätza oi luschdig Schbrache
But you’re here to listen to some Swabian, so here are some videos:
A ‘lesson’ about the Swabian noun ending ‘le’, meaning little (equivalent to the German ‘chen’ ending)
A lesson about the Swabian way of telling the time
And one more
“Die Schwaba schwätza oi luschdig Schbrache.” Did you work out what this sentence meant? It’s “Die Schwaben sprechen eine lustige Sprache.” The Swabians speak a funny language!
Funny, but lovely, don’t you agree?
Ahhh yes, the Kingdom Formerly Known As Swabia…and not knowing that fact would be as big a social faux pas in Stuttgart as not knowing who ‘Kini’ was in Munich. Swabia with it’s National Motto of “Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue”. (Work, work, build a small house)
Been a long time since I was in Stuttgart , long before the ’21’ and things have no doubt changed but back in the late 1990s, if you were a British businessman, connected in anyway with the car industry, in Swabia then you could make your life so much easier by understanding the dialect. Of course the management of Mercedes and all the parts firms spoke fluent English but the moment you went on the shop floor or went out for a meal or just tried to do some shopping….
Even though I spoke fluent German at the time, being asked for my ‘EC-Kaertle’ threw me, as much due to the Spaetzle sucking accent as the word itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iUEcgz5Fao
Brilliant video! I hadn’t see that one, only the ‘Ein Münchner im Himmel’.
I get to Waiblingen near Stuttgart every three years for the twinning weekend, as Devizes is twinned with Waiblingen (and Mayenne in France). Luckily, I’ve managed to understand most of it ….. so far!
Bitter! The words to “In Bayern auf du und du”. Or is that impossible? I am 90 years young and Esslingen was our family hometown. The youngsters still keep in touch with the old folks over here.
I couldn’t find the lyrics anywhere but did find a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3vj59wQ8YE
Is that what you’re looking for?