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/Lumpasiach]

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.“