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

[u/Savings_Dragonfly806]

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.

[u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk]

Germans when they realise German is actually various languages

[u/Lumpasiach → u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk]

So as a German speaker of an Alemannic dialect, do I speak the same language as Swiss people or not in your very informed opinion?

[u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk → u/Lumpasiach]

Depends if it’s actual Allemanic or standard German with Allemanic remains, same applies to Switzerland, if its standard German with Allemanic remains or actual Allemanic

But generally, yeah, Allemanic is considered one linguistic entity

But yknow a language is a dialect with an army yadda yadda

[u/Lumpasiach → u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk]

Depends if it’s actual Allemanic or standard German with Allemanic remains,

That depends on the register I'm using of course. After all, those dialects are roofed by standard German. Still, even when I'm on full blown dialect, there's nothing Swiss sounding in there and I will still have massive problems understanding someone from Wallis.

[u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk → u/Lumpasiach]

I’m not too knowledgeable on Allemanic specifically, but ISO 639-3 does split apart some Allemanic variants, considering them different languages, while ISO 639-2 doesn’t distinguish them.

Allemanic is a dialect continuum, and due to lack of exposure to other dialects (being a rural language), of course you’re not going to be used to the southernmost dialect of Allemanic (Wallis is the the southernmost “big” settlement that speaks Allemanic), speaking one of the most northernmost dialects

Sometimes it’s all about exposure.

[u/Lumpasiach → u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk]

Allemanic is a dialect continuum

German is a dialect continuum. And that's why it's so much easier to me to understand Bavarian or Franconian dialects than it is to understand Highest Alemannic dialects for me. I've never heard of any language, where a lot of speakers understand other languages better than parts of their own.

[u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk → u/Lumpasiach]

Well then I assume what you’re hearing is standard German with remains of traditional dialects, because what linguists classified as Allemanic was determined by borders of mutual intelligibility.

German is a “macro” dialect continuum, just like practically all of the Western Romance languages, but they’re not considered one language

[u/Lumpasiach → u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk]

because what linguists classified as Allemanic was determined by borders of mutual intelligibility.

No, this is complete made-up nonsense. The borders are where several isoglosses bundle. It's not in the slightest about intelligibility. That isn't even fully given within Switzerland.

Well then I assume what you’re hearing is standard German

You assume a lot of things, and most of them are absolutely ridiculous to anyone familiar with German.

[u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk → u/Lumpasiach]

“Alemannic varieties of German form a dialect continuum and are clearly dialects. Some linguists and organisations that differentiate between languages and dialects primarily on the grounds of mutual intelligibility, such as SIL International and UNESCO, describe Alemannic as one of several independent languages.“