Berlin Dialect Special

Hi everyone,

I’m a little late with the article this time because of Jesus…. I … I mean Easter. And because I’ve been working on other stuff behind the scenes. And one of those other stuffs I made is…. a Youtube video!!!!!
Here you go, bros:

Fortnite Win Battle Royal –
CRAZY German Blitz, epic gameplay

Yeah… nope :)
(sorry if that got you excited, but hey… that means you’re young).
Seriously though, many of you probably know the Youtube Channel Easy German, the best Youtube channel for German learners. At least in my opinion. But it’s not only a great channel, Cari and Janusz, the creators, also live in Berlin (like me, myself and I) and they’re really cool, relaxed, beer chugging, down to earth people and we’ve always wanted to do something together. And now we did it :). A couple of them, actually and the first one is out now. The topic : the Berlin dialect.
It’s not a break down of the dialect in a sense of “This sound turns to this” but rather a little impression of how it sounds and feels in comparison to standard German.

So… viel Spaß :)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbjTpVrMehw&t=98s

 

So now, that you have a bit of an impression of the dialect, it’s time to give it a try yourself.
Here are eleven everyday sentence in Berlin dialect. Can you figure out what I’m saying :)?

EDIT: Arggghh… all audios disappeared. Will reupload later today :| Sorry.

  • Hey na, allet jut?
    Hey, na, alles gut?

  • Hammse vielleicht ma’n Euro oda watt su Essen?
    Haben Sie vielleicht mal einen Euro oder etwas zu Essen?

  • Weesick leida nich.
    Weiß ich leider nicht.

  • Vejane Wuscht? Hör bloß uff mit die Scheiße, alta.
    Vegane Wurst? Hör bloß auf mit der Scheiße.

  • Nimmste oh no ‘ n Bia, oda watt?
    Nimmst du auch noch ein Bier? (oder was)

  • Ab einse haick mong frei.
    Ab um eins habe ich morgen frei.

  • Kannste uffm Nahauseweg no’ Mülsch koofm?
    Kannst du auf dem Nachhauseweg noch Milch kaufen?

  • Nähste ma sagng se’t bitte glei’ wennse mit Kaate besahln wolln.
    Nächstes mal sagen Sie es bitte gleich, wenn Sie mit Karte bezahlen wollen.

  • Die Austellung is echt hamma interessant, kiek da die uff jedn Fall ma an.
    Die Austellung ist echt hammer-interessat, guck dir die auf jeden Fall mal an.

  • Ditt vejane Essn wa eignkich ok jewesen, aba hat ma ni’ richti’ satt jemacht.
    Das vegane Essen war eigentlich ok, aber hat mich nicht richtig satt gemacht.

  • Ditt wah jani so schwer jewesen, wie ick jedacht hatte.
    Das war gar nicht so schwer, wie ich gedacht hatte.

How was it for yo? Could you understand me? Do you maybe have some ideas about features of the dialect? How does it sounds to you compared to other German dialects?
Let’s talk about it in the comments below. And of course if you have any questions about the dialect or the exercise, let me know.
Hope you enjoyed this und bis nächste Woche :)

Check out Easy German on Youtube

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Emanuel

Emanuel Creator & Author

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Felix
Felix

Wer etwas mehr über die Berliner Mundart lernen will, https://berliner-schnauze.wtf ist eine Recht gute Adresse dafür.

xv
xv

Hey Emanuel, When i was in the Netherlands recently I noticed they use “dit” to mean “that”. I assume they have the same root. Do you know anything about this?

xv
xv
Reply to  Emanuel

Lautverschiebung. Good new word. Thanks for the tip

Anonymous
Anonymous

> Vejane Wuscht? Hör bloß uff mit die Scheiße, alta.

Ich hatte eine Frage über diesen Satz… Ist es in dem berlinerischen Dialekt den Dativ so zu vermeiden? Genauer gefragt, ist “mit die” üblich im Allgemeinen in Berlin, wenn wir anderswo “mit der” erwarten würden?

Entschuldigung übrigens für einen Zombie-thread wiederzubeleben :P

Otipeps
Otipeps

Greetings! My name is Andy from I love languages Channel. A non profit educational Youtube channel dedicated in documenting different languages/dialects of the world. I’m really interested on featuring your beautiful Berlin German dialect. I would like to create a video about it. If you are interested here are the things we need from you:

Text and Audio for the ff:
Numbers 1 to 10
Greetings & Phrases
Any story / Sample text

But in case you can translate this short story. That would be great! :D

The Wren

The wren used to have his nest in the car shed. Once the old ones had both flown out—they had wanted to get something to eat for their young—and had left the little ones all alone. After a while, Father Wren returns home. “What’s happened here?” he says. “Who harmed you, children? You are all terrified!” “Oh, Dad,” they say, “some big bogeyman came by just now. He looked so fierce and horrible! He stared into our nest with his big eyes. That scared us so!” “I see,” Father Wren says, “where did he go?” “Well,” they say, “he went down that way.” “Wait!” Father Wren says, “I’ll be after him. Don’t you worry now, children. I’ll get him.” Thereupon he flies after him. When he comes around the bend, it is the lion who is walking along there. But the wren is not afraid. He alights on the lion’s back and starts scolding him. “What business do you have coming to my house,” he says, “and terrifying my children?!” The lion pays no attention to it and keeps walking. That makes the little loud-mouth berate him even more fiercely. “You have no business being there, I tell you! And if you come back,” he says, “well, then you’ll see! I don’t really want to do it,” he says and finally lifts one of his legs, “but I’d break your back with my leg in a second!” Thereupon he flies back to his nest. “There you go, children,” he says, “I’ve taught that one a lesson. He won’t be back.”

Kindly send it to my email address otipeps24@gmail.com Looking forward!

Andrei
Andrei

This is terrible, thank you.

Anonymous
Anonymous

A few corrections for you in caps lock:

Hi everybody,

I’m a little late with the article this time because of Jesus …. I … I mean Easter. And because I’ve been working on other stuff behind the scenes. And one of those other

THINGS I made is

But it’s not just great, Cari and Janusz, the creators, ARE really cool,

Here are eleven every DAY sentenceS in Berlin dialect. Can you figure out what I’m saying

Franzi
Franzi

Mein Lieblingskiez ist Berlin-Spandau, wo wohnt meine liebe, schöne, berlinerischsprechende Gastfamilie! I wish this wasn’t a special, but rather an on-going blog. Emanuel, Cari, and Janusch – pretty heady stuff!! Juuuhuuu…mach’s jut.

Daniel
Daniel

Emanuel du schaust voll sympatisch aus. Schön jetzt endlich mal nach all diesen Jahren das Gesicht meines virtuellen Deutschlehrers sehen zu dürfen.

Sebastian
Sebastian

So nett! I can finally give a face to the famous author of this wonderful blog :) Sehr gutes Video!

Derek
Derek

Ich wohne schon seit 3 Jahren in Berlin und, ohwohl es Anfangs fast unmöglich war, mit den Einheimischen klarzukommen, kann ich die jetzt verstehen und–noch wichtiger–weiss ich zu schätzen, wie schön und humorvoll ihr Dialekt ist. Ich habe von Freunden gehört, dass anderswo im Deutschland die Leute versuchen, ihren Dialekt zu wahren. Aber so weit ich weiss, gibt es nichts ähnliches hier in Berlin. Vielleicht heißt das, dass der Dialektt gesund genug ist, ohne Mühe einfach von selbst weiterzumachen. Aber ich habe das Gefühl, dass es von anderen Deutschen für trashig gehalten ist. Das spiegelt sich in Literatur, wo es angesichts der Zahl der Sprecher fast nirgends zu finden ist.

Kannst du mir/uns was zeitgenössishces empfehlen?

lisztomania
lisztomania

Berliner Akzent always change the ‘G’ for ‘J’? It doesn’t sound as dyslexic as Bayerisch (with all due respect). As if german wasn’t complicated enough with all the exceptions to every “rule” they also have 3.5 billion dialects. Fun language though! :-)
Na jut, sehr nettes video, du siehst ein bisschen schüchtern aus.

SteveBead
SteveBead

Was für ein Zufall. Ich bin ein Abonnent von beide Easy German und German is Easy. Es war sehr witzig!

Amerikanerin
Amerikanerin

Auf einer rein oberflächlichen Ebene: On a purely superficial level: Emanuel doesn’t look AT ALL the way he sounds on his audio on this site – weird how that works; you hear someone’s voice and get a picture of them in your mind that very rarely jives with how the person really looks.

Who cares?

Cari’s dialekt is easier to understand – sounds like the words look in print. Emanuel’s dialect sounds slack, lazy but very charming – unlike the dialect in Bayern which hurts my ears. However, I listen to “NDR 90.3, Wir sind Hamburg” every day so my ear is accustomed to a clear dialect.

The Berlin dialect pronounces the “g” as “j” – same in Swedish, which is easier, somehow, but the “g” pronounced as “g” or “k” as in Cari’s German is much more charming. Gives it that “deutscher Geschmack” that is just oh, so enchanting!

Looks like the two of you had heaps of fun – sorta “ansteckend”.

My two favorites in the same video! Kinda like a Reese’s Cup – peanut butter and chocolate at the same time!
Zwei meiner Favoriten im selben Video! Wie en Reese’s Cup – Ernussbutter und Schockolade in einem!

Jim Luck
Jim Luck

Berliner’s words run together, and some even go missing form the sentence!, That’s going to be tough to master!

peterlobl
peterlobl

Knorke!

Cooper Graham
Cooper Graham

Sehr nutzvoll. Vielen Dank!

jacbop
jacbop

Meine Lieblingslehrer endlich zusammen zu sehen! Emanuel und Cari, hab euch lieb!

Amerikanerin
Amerikanerin
Reply to  jacbop

Ich unterstützen den Antrag! Wie ein Reese’s Cup – Erdnussebutter und Schockolade in einem!

Anonymous
Anonymous
Reply to  Emanuel

Was ist “prolomäßig”?
I have a question in mind, which I don’t know how to formulate very well because i don’t want to sound condescending, but is it that it’s more likely to hear uneducated people speak dialect? Because it sounds kind of like pigeon English, or some botched language. Sorry for my ignorance!

Toranome
Toranome

Das war super interessant! Ich denke dass der Berliner Dialekt schwer zu verstehen ist, aber nich so schwer wie der Dialekt hier in Wien, z.B. ‚Ois is urleiwand Oida!‘ (,Das ist super toll, Alter!‘). Übrigens, was ist mit diesem ‚jewesen‘, und warum sagen die Berliner eigentlich ‚mit die‘ anstatt ‚mit der‘?

Anonymous
Anonymous

Ich lese vor dem Schlafen nur Deutsch, entweder Buecher oder Komix z.b. Asterix damit ich mein Deutsch verbessern kann. Ich habe von Freunden in Deutschland ein paar Asterix geschenkt bekommen, worin Asterix schwaetzt schwaebisch, aber ich bin nicht sicher ob dass vernuenftig ist, wenn ich immer noch beim hoch Deutsch lernen bin. Ihre Meinung? Bitte.