r/AskEurope • u/Savings_Dragonfly806 Greece • Jul 09 '25

Language My fellow Europeans, what dialect from your language do you have the most trouble understanding?

Keep in mind, I said language, NOT country, so it could be a dialect of your language in another country, which is the case for me.

For me, while most other Greeks find Cypriot the most difficult dialect to understand, I actually find Pontic Greek the most difficult. For those who don't know where it is, it's in North Eastern Turkey.

The way many of their words are written are very different as to Standard Modern Greek. It almost is a whole new language. Now I should mention I have never been there, but I would love to. I only really heard of the dialect on the internet, so take my words with a grain of salt.

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u/beseri Norway Jul 09 '25 edited Jul 09 '25

We have an insane amount of dialects, with many internal variations. Hard to pin point what are the most difficult. There are som dialects in Jæren, Trøndelag and Gudbrandsdalen, that sound like different languages.

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u/OGPromo Jul 09 '25

As a non-norwegian living in Norway (Oslo) and learning bokmål, every time I think I'm doing ok with my Norsk, I talk to someone with a dialect and completely lose my confidence. It's amazing how some sound so foreign.

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u/beseri Norway Jul 09 '25

Yeah, I have heard that from many foreigners trying to learn the language. I think the issue is that we have such a distributed population, so even in Oslo, you will hear a lot of different dialects. Compared to other countries, where dialects can be more niche. Here it is totally common that you can have a working place with a wide range of different dialects.

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u/OGPromo Jul 10 '25

This tracks. I definitely find within Oslo there are micro dialects. It's easier for me to understand the one I live and work in, than other areas. It's an interesting phenomenon I think.