What are German accents like Hamburg?

Question

What are German accents like Hamburg?

Answer 1

Hochdeutsch is the standard language spoken in public, newspapers, television and especially when you talk with foreigners. It is the German we learn in school. So: no problem here, there is a slight accent but that is no problem learning the language.



When in Hamburg try to find someone who speaks the old dialect of northern Germany: you will be surprised ! That is very close to english ! It is the area the anglo-saxons came from who settled in the British isles. But there is a very small number of people who still can speak it.



It is called "Platt-Deutsch".

Answer 2

Hochdeutsch is sometimes referred to as the standard German, which is an accent understood by most German speaking people. You'll be fine in Hamburg if you speak Hochdeutsch cuz it's more popular in the northern part of Germany incluidng Hamburg, and the people there can understand you although they might have a slight accent themselves.

Answer 3

German Accents

Answer 4

Hello,

Just want to add wherever you go in Germany, even the Hochdeutsch has a little of a regional accent. The one in Hamburg (from my experince) is probably closer to the standard Hochdeutsch than the one in Munich. As someone mentioned earlyer the further north....

If you end up going to Hamburg try taking a trip to one of the northern German Islands. The locals there are more likely to talk in Platt Duetsch to each other. I love listening to that. If you choose Hamburg, I am pretty sure you'll not be disappointed. Hamburg people will not be hard to understand.

Hope this helps a little in answering what you are trying to figure out.

Answer 5

Fuya gave you a completely reasonable answer. I don't know why someone gave them td.



It should be pretty easy to get by with Hochdeutsch (Standard German) in Hamburg. The traditional dialect in Northern Germany is called Plattdeutsch (Nether German), but I don't think there is anyone left who speaks it as their *only* native language. There are some communities that keep Plattdeutsch alive by teaching it to their children, but that doesn’t mean they don’t understand Hochdeutsch. And in Hamburg, you are even less likely to encounter real Platt speakers than in the rest of Northern Germany, because it’s a city where a great many people moved in from other regions of Germany over the last decade. Most folks here speak either pure Hochdeutsch or Hochdeutsch with a few idiosyncrasies borrowed from Platt – most importantly, pronouncing “st” as s + t instead of “sht” and a couple of words like “lütt” instead of “klein” (for “small”).