Ok look, I have lived in Stuttgart for all of one month and I'm rarely here as it is, so I really shouldn't judge - but I will anyway...
My german is relatively good I guess, I have no trouble getting by with normal day to day things, probably due to my obsession with TV shows like 'Familien im Brennpunkt' (Think Jerry Springer crossed with Neighbours) and 'Bauer sucht Frau' (Farmer wants a Wife....a fat, toothless, hillbilly wife), so I learn plenty of quality german... but, as a general rule, I'll understand nearly anything Germs throw at me....well except for Schwaebisch.
Schwaebisch is the local dialect here and just so that you have an idea of what it sounds like, I've included a short clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8UE8ADvF_s&feature=related
Admittedly it's not entirely my fault, with even Germs having to double-take when they hear it and with one of the sayings here being "Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch" (We can do everything - except speak standard German), I don't feel so bad for not understanding one word of it. Actually, it is a language of it's own really, with tours of Stuttgart being offered in both German and Schwaebisch, so I guess the dialect must be extraodinarily different. I think that maybe it sounds a bit like this to actual Germs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj82ZUn7mLs&feature=related
Did I get you again? Hehe....
Did I get you again? Hehe....
But I kinda like that Stuttgart has managed to maintain such a hardcore dialect whilst the rest of the German language seems to be becoming more and more anglicised - not that I'm complaining, 'der Computer' and other eingedeutscht terms totally work for me. And even though I will never understand what on earth it is the Schwabs are saying, I'll just smile - just in case it's my murder they're plotting...
Hope all is well.
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