According to my wife’s relatives in Vienna, there are so many dialects of German in Switzerland (which, you’ll note, is small enough to fit into her cousin’s claustrophobia-inducing flat) that there are German-language newscasts with German-language subtitles.
I once spoke to a Swiss who was very angry that the Swiss Government made standard Deutsch one of the four official languages and snubbed the local Schwyzerdütsch or Schwiizertüütsch or Schwizertitsch.
But I’m not sure Austrians are much better. In fact, every corner of the German-speaking world has its own variant. Travel 20 miles and you’ll have trouble understanding the locals; travel 50 and it might as will be a different language. That’s why they all end up with one (or two or four) standard national languages.
William Pursell almost 7 years ago
Funny how we always try to NOT create monsters and yet always succeed in doing just what we tried not to do.
tcayer almost 7 years ago
She would do well to remember that Irwin is an idiot. What HE considers brilliant is a low bar!
h.v.greenman almost 7 years ago
She can always rebrand the subtitles as “Closed Captioned” and make a bundle off of grants from the NEA
bookworm0812 almost 7 years ago
Thank God for those subtitles! I would have been so LOST!
ChessPirate almost 7 years ago
Pretty sneaky, Broomie! Trying to take control of our devices like that! ☺
Sisyphos almost 7 years ago
Subtitles are good on foreign films and for operas. For our little loquacious green witch, not so much….
TheAuldWan almost 7 years ago
HA!!!
K M almost 7 years ago
According to my wife’s relatives in Vienna, there are so many dialects of German in Switzerland (which, you’ll note, is small enough to fit into her cousin’s claustrophobia-inducing flat) that there are German-language newscasts with German-language subtitles.
pschearer Premium Member almost 7 years ago
I once spoke to a Swiss who was very angry that the Swiss Government made standard Deutsch one of the four official languages and snubbed the local Schwyzerdütsch or Schwiizertüütsch or Schwizertitsch.
But I’m not sure Austrians are much better. In fact, every corner of the German-speaking world has its own variant. Travel 20 miles and you’ll have trouble understanding the locals; travel 50 and it might as will be a different language. That’s why they all end up with one (or two or four) standard national languages.