The German Language: Its Fascinating History, Diverse Dialects & More!

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The German Cases Explained: A 5-Part Guide To Finally Understand The Cases In German:

⏱ TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Intro
1:04 - Old High German
2:01 - The High Germanic Sound Shift
4:44 - German Dialects in Germany
5:45 - German Dialects in Switzerland
7:15 - Other German Dialects in Europe
8:03 - A German Dialect in the US
8:46 - A German Dialect in Africa
9:29 - German Speakers in Russia
10:09 - Why is German Worth Learning?
10:56 - German Vocabulary
13:01 - German Alphabet
13:48 - German Grammar
14:40 - German Authors & Music

📜 ATTRIBUTIONS:

WIKITONGUES: Jakob speaking Zipser German

Low German with Herr Graeff

"Legal statuses of German in Europe" by 37ophiuchi is licensed under CC BY 4.0

WIKITONGUES: Anne speaking Swabian

WIKITONGUES: Julia speaking Swiss German

"Liechtenstein in Europe" by TUBS is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

"Map highlighting the location of the province of South Tyrol in Italy (in red)" by TUBS is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

WIKITONGUES: Vernell speaking Texas German

Bach, Air ("on the G string", string orchestra)

[hMngr]

After studying "school book" German in highschool and at university, my first immersion experience was a summer spent working at a supermarket in Switzerland. After 3 months I came back home speaking fluent German, but amusingly to my college professors, with a Swiss accent.

[tomj]

There's a German joke about dialects: What's the difference between a Saxon (native of Saxony) and a foreigner? You'll understand the foreigner if he speaks German

[languagelearning]

Die deutsche Sprache ist eine der faszinierendsten Sprachen der Welt und die Deutschen Kultur, Kunst und Wissenschaft ist hervorragend, darum lerne ich Deutsch. Ich bin Argentinischer Amerikaner.

[marcowen]

"learn German" is on my list of things to do before I die. Interesting fact: if you worked in chemistry before about 2005, you really needed German. The best textbooks and journals were still published in it, and it was a sort of lingua franca. For the middle of the 20th century the same was true of physics. I still can't get myself to use the "English equivalent" terminology. An ansatz is an ansatz and that is that.

[j.g.d.s]

It is really impressive how German spread all around the world. We also even have our own German dialect in Venezuela, that is why I started to learn it. German is such an important language as well as it has been for me one of the most beautiful and interesting languages I've ever begun to learn.

[lumino]

I'm so glad that German is getting more and more love on the internet, it's such a beautiful, diverse and fascinating language!

[Sgt__Hawk]

A pretty important idea transported with the word "Geborgenheit" is the feeling of being protected. So it's the idea of feeling comfortable because of being safely protected. A baby might feel "geborgen" in the arms of a parent. If you just want to convey a feeling of comfort and cosiness "Gemütlichkeit" is probably the word you are looking for.

[bxy]

About this whole "der, die, das /einer, eine, eines"-thing: Don't think about it too much. Yes, it exists and you should just learn it with the vocabulary when you hear it the first time to keep things easy. But it's absolutely no problem if you're messing it up completely in the end. Because it's really really rarely given, that one word means two different things just seperated by different articles. And even than it's easy to understand it by context. Think of it more like the differnece between "a" and "an": Although "an apple" might be correct, everyone will know what you mean, if you say "a apple".

[mikeohandley]

Thirty-eight years ago, the Army sent me to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey to learn German. I struggled mightily with German grammar and was put on probation after only a month. The head of the German department told me that if I didn't get my grades up I would be dropped from the course. My primary instructor, a wonderful Frau Hirt, helped me get beyond my grammar difficulties. She told me to go to a local bookstore and purchase a copy of a book (Now out-of-print) called English Grammar For Students of German. Using that book, going in an hour early every morning to get extra tutoring by Frau Hirt, and by hiding from the head of the German department (A whole different, and comical story), I managed to remain in the course; and, by the end, was voted by the instructors to receive the faculty book award - not for being the best German language student in my course, as was normal, but for being the most determined and showing the most improvement by the end of the course. It rankled the head of the German department to have to award me that book at graduation at the end of the thirty-sixth week, but the instructors had voted unanimously for me to get that award, so she had to do it. Many English speakers don't even understand our own grammar. Once we do, and see how it relates to German grammar, learning German becomes far simpler. For anyone trying to learn the German language, I strongly recommend scrounging old book stores for a copy of that book. It will make your journey into learning German much easier.

[marciocardozo]

No mention of the German community in Brazil : ( I mean, I know that there are just too many pockets of German speaking regions in the world, but I think the Brazilian-German community is probably one of the most important. German is second most spoken first language in the country and a variety of dialects have survived only due to immigration, like Pomeranian.

[derfailer]

At work a turkish guy telled me his story. He immigrated at the age of 14 and moved to Stuttgard (swabian) and he had to learn the dialect because everyone spoke it. After 12 years he moved to Munich and had to learn a new dialect and now he is speaking Turkish, English, German and two german dialects. This guy is a savage in my eyes :)

[fistofren]

One correction: the brothers Grimm did not write the fairytales, they only collected and them.

[jce]

Did not expect us to be named, not to many people know we exist 😂 kind regards from a German Namibian

[helensearle]

I love that the German for 'when the cat's away the mice will play' is 'when the cat is out of the house the mice dance on the table.' I picture them in little lederhosen doing Bavarian folk dances to the accompaniment of a tiny accordion.

[codingvio]

I am fluent in German, and it can be difficult to understand german dialects, but as you listen to the dialect longer, you begin to sort of tune in, and then you can understand it better.

[chrisrudolf]

When talking about German dialects being so different that the speakers of different dialects have trouble understanding each other, one should clarify that every German learns standard German in school and almost every German (not counting a select few very uneducated hillbillies) is able to speak standard German. Many may still have a recognizable regional accent when speaking standard German and may occasionally make mistakes deriving from their regional dialect, but they generally can tune down the regional influence in their spoken language well enough that they can be understood by a German from a different region or by a foreigner who only learned standard German in school. So yeah, a Bavarian speaking Bavarian and a Northern German speaking Plattdeutsch won't understand each other, but they can easily communicate by switching to just slightly off standard German and most Germans are polite enough to do so when they notice that a foreigner is part of the conversation and has trouble to follow.

[derWeltraumaffe]

I am very glad that you made this video. German is not considered the most pretty sounding language by many people, but in my opinion it is a language that can be very expressive and very beautiful. There is so much history, literature and art, that you can dive into when learning german and I would highly encourage anyone to do so. <3

[RicardoSilvaTripcall]

Great video Olly, congrats !!! Here in Brazil we also have a huge German community, and one in special speaks a dialect of German that is practically extinct in German, they speak Pomeranian, you can learn it at school in these communities, and they are doing a nice work keeping Pomeranian alive ...

[birchbarks]

German is a beautiful lyrical language. It's so detailed and can convey specific things that are hard to otherwise spell out.

[Fnaffan_-tcso]

Funfact: The widely used, OK, for everything’s fine comes from a time where most written Stuff in America got corrected by German Writers who would put, OK, (meaning, Ohne Korrektur, /, Without Correction, ) on the Paper and Signale with that, that the Articel is acceptable for publishing. Later that came back to Germany with pretty much the same Meaning it still has today