Plattdeutsch
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:06 pm
While in South Carolina this weekend, I was introduced to a woman who was obviously, by her accent, German. She had a wonderful sense of humor. As I was listening to her talk, I could hear a slight bit of a southern drawl to her heavily accented but well spoken English. This was indicative of her living in South Carolina for the better part of seventeen years. The more she talked, the more I kept hearing something in her accent that was familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. So I asked where she was born. She said Germany and I asked what part of Germany as her accent differed from the German I had heard before. She went on to tell me she was from a small Island in the northern part of Germany and that she spoke a German dialect known as Plattdeutsch, a low German dialect. Well that explained it. I had never met someone who actually spoke the language until then. Or at least not that I knew of. The only thing is she spelled it different from that of any way I had seen it. She told me some things were spelled different in German than in English, due in part to their alphabet differing from ours. I had always been under the impression that this is a common language of the Mennonites. But a Mennonite she was not.
What I couldn't put my finger on was the "Dutch" sound in the accent. It reminded me of the accent of an acquaintance of mine who was born and raised in South Africa. It sounds kind of British but not.
While I was off in the right direction with the accent, others came forward to say they thought she was from Louisiana--as in Cajun. She and I were both surprised at that, being as she has never been to Louisiana... bless her heart.
What I couldn't put my finger on was the "Dutch" sound in the accent. It reminded me of the accent of an acquaintance of mine who was born and raised in South Africa. It sounds kind of British but not.
While I was off in the right direction with the accent, others came forward to say they thought she was from Louisiana--as in Cajun. She and I were both surprised at that, being as she has never been to Louisiana... bless her heart.