The German Language: Its Fascinating History, Diverse Dialects & More!
TLDRThe video explores the origins and evolution of the German language over time, beginning with Old High German in the 8th century through the development of many regional dialects. It highlights the uniqueness of German compound words, grammar complexities, and obscure varieties like Texas German and Namibian German. The host argues German is worthwhile to learn given its global reach, literature, innovations, and more. He introduces effective language learning approaches to handle the tricky grammar, utilizing immersion, stories, and context rather than rigid rules.
Takeaways
- 😲 The earliest form of German called Old High German existed between 750-1050 AD
- 👅 The High Germanic sound shift around the 8th century led to distinct High German and Low German dialects
- 🌎 Today there are many regional German dialects spoken across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and beyond
- 🎉 Despite the dialects, standard German allows communication across regions and countries
- 📚 Standard German is based on the phonetics of High German
- 🔬 German has influenced important figures like Freud, Einstein and Bach over history
- 🎵 The oldest surviving German text is an 830 AD epic poem called The Song of Hildebrand
- 📜 The first printed book was the Gutenberg Bible in German, which helped standardize the written language
- 😄 German is known for long compound words created by combining multiple words
- 🎓 Learning German grammar is best done through immersive methods like the story learning method
Q & A
What is the oldest surviving piece of German writing?
-The oldest surviving piece of German writing is an epic poem called the Song of Hildebrand, written in Old High German in the 830s. It is about a tragic encounter in battle between a father and his son who does not recognize him.
What was the High Germanic sound shift?
-The High Germanic sound shift was a gradual change in pronunciation that occurred over a few centuries starting around the 8th century AD. It caused consonant sounds to change between vowels first and then at the beginning of words. Altogether 9 consonants changed, resulting in the High German and Low German dialects.
What are the differences between High German and Low German?
-High German was spoken in the higher elevation regions of southern Germany while Low German was spoken in the low-lying northern regions. Low German is considered an older form that survived the move to Standard German, and these days mostly just older people still speak it.
Why can Swiss German be hard for Germans to understand?
-Swiss German consists of Alemannic dialects that can sound very different from Standard German. Many Germans say they cannot understand Swiss German at all, to the extent that TV interviews with Swiss German guests need subtitles.
When did Standard German develop?
-Writers started working on a standard written form of German over a few hundred years, but Standard German has only existed since the 1800s. It is based on High German phonetics.
Where are some places outside Europe that German is spoken?
-There are German speakers and communities in Namibia, Russia, the US (especially Texas), and other places around the world. Over 15 million people globally are currently learning German.
Why are German compound words so long?
-German allows multiple nouns to be combined into one long compound word rather than needing spaces between the words like in English. This allows for very descriptive but lengthy words.
What was voted the most beautiful German word?
-In a vote by Germans on the most beautiful word in their language, the word "geborgenheit" won. It describes an intensely comforting feeling of peace and happiness, with no exact English equivalent.
How did the printing press help standardize German?
-When the Gutenberg printing press was invented in Germany to print Bibles, people all over learned the written form of German by reading it. This written version eventually became the standard spoken German.
What is the best way to learn German grammar?
-Rather than focusing too much on grammar rules which can be confusing, the best way to learn a language like German is through immersion and context, especially by using stories. This allows you to acquire the grammar naturally.
Outlines
😊 Overview of the Germanic world and introduction to the oldest German writing
The paragraph provides an introduction to the Germanic world, noting that it is more spread out than most people think and contains fascinating dialects and people. It introduces the oldest surviving piece of German writing called the Song of Hildebrand, an 830s epic poem about a tragic battle between a father and son. The opening lines of this poem remarkably survived numerous threats over history.
😯 Tour through the diverse modern German dialects
This paragraph explores the spectrum of German dialects spoken today within Germany and nearby German-speaking countries. It notes that dialects are an important part of cultural diversity and provides audio samples of dialects from different regions. Even German natives can struggle to understand some dialects like Swiss German, which uses no standard written form.
👍 Why learn German? Exploring its global reach and unique features
The paragraph makes a case for learning German, noting its ranking as the 11th most spoken language globally and in Europe. Germany itself is a leading country for immigration and business. German is also the 2nd most used scientific language. It then explores some unique aspects of German vocabulary like compound words and provides some basic introduction to the grammar and alphabet.
🎶 More on German's cultural contributions and a method for learning
This final paragraph highlights additional cultural contributions from iconic German figures in music, science, and technology. It notes Germany's role in innovating modern print communication. The paragraph concludes by recommending story-based learning as an effective and natural way to learn German grammar.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Germanic
💡dialect
💡Old High German
💡High German consonant shift
💡Low German
💡Standard German
💡Swiss German
💡Namibian German
💡compound word
💡grammatical case
Highlights
The earliest stages of the German language was called Old High German which existed roughly between the years 750 A.D to 1050.
The oldest surviving piece of German writing and their very first masterpiece is an epic poem called the Song of Hildebrand written in the 830s in Old High German.
A big event changed the way that people spoke and this was the High Germanic Sound Shift - sounds very glorious doesn't it?
We've ended up with two distinct dialects - High German and Low German. High German was spoken in the south of Germany at a higher elevation.
For a while German people spoke increasingly differently from region to region to the extent that they battles to understand each other.
While schools have to adhere to this written standard there is actually no pronunciation standard which is good news right? You can get away with your own weird accent while you are learning the language.
Many Germans say that they can't understand Swiss German varieties at all - in fact TV interviews with Swiss German guests actually need subtitles.
Dialects like Swiss German are important to try and preserve because they hold so many cultural memories - things like traditional songs people grew up with.
German is an official language in the south Tyrol part of Italy and that's the northernmost point. It used to belong to Austria but was given to Italy after World War 1 despite the fact that everyone spoke German.
If you love sand dunes, shipwrecks and all things African this country on the southwest coast of Africa makes a very adventurous place to learn German - it is Namibia.
German is the 11th most spoken language in the world. It's also the second most widely used scientific language - doctors, medical researchers, engineers make up a lot of the students.
German is famous for ridiculously lengthy words - as Mark Twain said "Some German words are so long that they have perspective."
Germans voted one lovely word as their most beautiful word of all - geborgenheit. There isn't an exact English translation but it describes an intensely comforting feeling like a moment of unadulterated peace and happiness.
The German language even gave us our first printed book - it was the Gutenberg press that was invented in Germany initially to print the bible.
The best way to learn a rich language like German is with a method that uses stories so that you can enjoy the language and learn the grammar naturally.
Transcripts
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