Learn German Language Archives

German Dialects List

Low German – Named after the flat lands in the region. Low German is spoken from the Dutch border to the former German lands of Eastern Pommerania, and Eastern Prussia. Low German includes many sub dialects.

Frisian German – Dialect found along the border of Denmark and the North Sea Coast.

Middle German – Spoken in the region in the middle of German from Luxembourg to Poland and Silesia. Middle German includes many sub dialects.

Frankish German – The Frankish Dialects lie east of the Rhine River in near the very center of Germany.

Alemannic German – This dialect follows the Rhine River north from Switzerlan to Basel and Freibug. This dialect includes many sub dialects like Alsatian, Swabian, Low and High Alemannic.

Bavarian-Austrian German – Included most of southern Germany. This region hosts many different sub dialects that fall under this category. Theses include (South, Middle, and North Bavarian as well as Tyrolian and Salzburgian)

Different German dialects of the German language are spoken in many different nations and regions around the world, most commonly throughout Europe. However, the differences in regional dialects may not make one German speaker nearly incomprehensible to another. In most cases, the different German dialects don’t have a specific written form of the language, but there’s usually a certain amount of literature that accompanies each German dialects.

Interested in further study into German or confused on where to start? I recommend reading our German Beginners Guide

The German alphabet is part of language that’s origins trace back to early 700s. German contains the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet and adds the extra letters ä, ö, ü and ß. All German letter have upper and lowercase version except for ß. The letter ß will never be at the start of a word.

German is s viewed by non-native German speakers as a harsh sounding language.

The German language is a more consistent phonetically language than English.

German Alphabet Table

Learn German Alphabet Pronunciation

Some German Letters way different their English counterparts. For example, the German W sounds like English V, and German V sounds like the English F. Most of the time the German sounds like Z in English when placed at the beginning of a word followed by a vowel. Learn German Alphabet letters g, ch, and pronounce mostly in the back of the throat. The pronunciation of some of these German letters not have an English counterpart (Like “ü” for example”).

Learn German Alphabet Diphthongs and Grouped Consonants

Diphthongs are combinations of two vowels(and only vowels) that are combined and sounded together. Consonants can be grouped together this way as well. Instead of each letter being pronounced separately, the two letters have combined pronunciation and sound. Example of German Alphabet Diphthongs and Group Consonants below.

German Alt Codes

To do the extra German letters without using German keyboard. Alt code can be used. Alt code is when you press then hold down the Alt key on your keyboard then type in numbers on your num pad then release the alt key.

The German Alphabet plays a very important role in learning German, especially when it comes to pronunciation. So make sure to practice pronouncing the German Alphabet multiple times often. Whenever you can.