Jump-Gate

[kota]

I want to learn Austrian if anybody can teach me. But if it's near German, then I might as well learn German.

I'm good in English. I can also write. I can teach you how if you can also teach me. You would have to do it by posting here, however. I'm busy doing research - in English.
_________________
Morning by morning, His great mercies, I see.

[contingency40]

The Austrians don't really have a language of their own, most Austrians speak dialects of high German. You're better off just learning high German. I can give you a hand with your German though it would be much easier doing it through MSN or something.

[kota]

Thanks, contingency,
What is high German?
By implication, is there such language as low German?
_________________
Morning by morning, His great mercies, I see.

[contingency40]

Yeah there is such a thing, Low German is a regional dialect. It's spoken by a lot in northern Germany near the Dutch border. It's more like Dutch than anything and isn't standardised. Whereas High German is the common German spoken throughout Germany and more or less Austria as well.

[Amikeco]

Don't mess up High German with Standard German.

The Austrian dialects belong to High German which is also spoken in the south of Germany. There is no Standard Austrian language per se and there are only minor changes in pronunciation and vocabulary when they speak Standard German. Every Austrian learns Standard German at school and it is the means of the media and bureaucracy. What is specific Austrian can be found in the vast amount of dialects. The best way to learn one of these dialects is to move to the region where it is spoken.


To learn more about German dialects and related languages, you should read here: http://www.ex.ac.uk/~pjoyce/dialects/diagen.html. Oftentimes, the so-called dialects are quite different, and the reason why they are called dialects lies in the language policy of Germany.

Note that the two Sorbian languages, although listed there, are no dialects of German but two indigenous, rather archaic Slavic languages.


Edit: added a comma

[kota]

Thanks for all your explanation.
_________________
Morning by morning, His great mercies, I see.

[Amikeco]

Your welcome!

[Amikeco]

[kota]

Where can I find conversational German? I mean common-day dialogue in German? Perhaps I can learn easily this way if the pronunciation of the words is not difficult.
_________________
Morning by morning, His great mercies, I see.

[Amikeco]

http://www.jump-gate.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3879#3879

Have a look at this thread.