Am 24.03.2002 16:37 Phillip M. Jones, C.E.T. schrieb: > Your correct! > > Like I said I've forgotten the the spelling. > > Basically, it was supposed to say "I don't speak German", or don't speak > German, or "can't speak German" something the neighborhood. > > Doesn't the two words together (sprechen deutsche) above mean something > like : DO you Speak German? > > My friend wife notes there are two versions (dialects) of German, > regular German, and High German. That, there some words in each version, > that are not in the other. And that pronounciation can be different. And > that Austria tend to use one version while, Germany tends to use the > other, although they both know each version and can speak them as needed.
<histoy lesson> Austrians use different words, but a German should understand them, in a written form anyways... :-) German consists of so many different dialects it's hard for a German form the North to understand a Bavarian, and vice versa, if they do not speak "High German". The German spoken in Switzerland is even harder to understand. But also here in the region where I live people that live 5 kilometres away speak differently already. The thing is that High German is "artificial", it's maybe like "Queen's english" in England... nobody really talks that way (Martin Luther and his bible translation is considered to be the starting point for High German). It also has historical reasons. For most of German's history, there was no Germany at all, but many many small countries with their different ways of speaking. These german-speaking countries had a few things in common: a basic german language and the same cultural background. In the 19th century the two dominant German states (Prussia and Austria) fought for control over the rest of the german countries, Prussia won and eliminated Austria's influence over other German states almost completely. This victory over Austria gave Prussia total control over the weaker German states and in 1871 Germany was found, under almost complete control of Prussia (the prussian King was also the German emperor, the prussian chancellor was also the german chancellor). </history lesson> - Holger
