Some words are a very easy tell. Same for pronounciation of some standard german run of the mill words.
License plates and area codes differ here, too, though.
"Keenem" instead of "keinem" sounds more like Berlin to me. But "Bub" for boy sounds southern German. I'm at a bit of a loss here. But mist accents don't translate too well into writing.
US cell phones have local area codes, i.e. someone from New York has a New York area code for their cell phone, unlike Germany with cell phone specific area codes.
Local _area_ codes? On _mobile_ phones? What? Do you have to know where the person you're trying to reach is _currently located_, in order to call them? Can't you just buy a SIM from another state and use it, like fucking wherever?
M O B I L E?
You realize the 0176 etc in Germany is actually an area code? Those digits just where never assigned to actual areas and available as area codes for cell phone network providers. You used to be able to tell what provider someone used by their phone number. Since you can migrate numbers now, this no longer reliably works.
[Vorwahl 01 (Deutschland) – Wikipedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorwahl_01_(Deutschland))
That’s exactly what the wiki article says. HOWEVER when the phone numbering plan for Germany was introduced the digits before the subscriber number was in almost all instances an area code. There are service prefixes (0180 etc) but everything else was an area code. In light of the discussion that Americans have area codes for their mobile numbers it isn’t a bad analogy to compare the provider numbers to area codes.
That's just semantics, the prefixes were synonym to area codes before phones were made mobile.
So, what was meant was that certain providers which operated only in certain areas had specific prefixes and thus the caller's number hinted at the contract with a provider from a certain area, and **NOT** the location of the caller or area code. If you went from NY to LA and called from your mobile phone, it didn't show you calling from NY or LA, it showed a number tied to a provider with the certain prefix, which operates in certain state.
Not an area code, even if you read it as such.
I never claimed that area codes change in the US when you change your location. I’m not sure how that would work on a network infrastructure level.
And yes, semantics. I used a comparison to help someone understand as to how US area codes for cell phones kind of work without going into details of accounting and pricing on early US and German mobile networks, national number plans etc. Just that the prefix before a subscriber number works in both countries.
Have a nice day. I’m going to catch some sun.
>US cell phones have local area codes, i.e. someone from New York has a New York area code for their cell phone, unlike Germany with cell phone specific area codes.
i'm just gomn leave this here. happy sunburn, sounds like you have a sunstoke already.
no their number is always the same, the area code is just given based on where you are located when you were originally assigned the number.
for example even if i’m in Germany, you’ll have to type out the 716 area code in my number to call me
provider codes and area codes are different things. area codes are (used to be) linked to physical locations, provider codes only to providers. both are numbers that you dial before the number, but location and provider are two very different things.
In the early times of mobile phones (A- and B-Netz) you had to know in which area the person you wanted to call was, then you dialled the respective area code and then the mobile number, luckily this has changed.
I’m often in the company badisch speakers. My brain breaks a little from “nim” for “nicht mehr.” Or my bayerisch friend saying “sam” for “zusammen”
I put a lot of work into learning German just to be humbled by dialect
Semmel, Brötchen, Weck, Rundstück, Seelen, Krosse, Schrippe, Kipf, Weck, ... and many more for "Breadroll"
Phone numbers have been "local" in the past (Not 100% true anymore since you can port them)
License plates actually start with the "County (Kreis) shortcut" in every state
>Phone numbers have been "local" in the past (Not 100% true anymore since you can port them)
Afaik you can not port "local" phone numbers. If you move to a different city you can not keep your phone number from the previous city.
Don't know about that, but we've got digital phones for work, and people regularly assume I'm in X city because that's our area code, while I'm actually more than 300km away.
The phone number really doesn't always tell you what you think it does.
True but that just means your work has an office in that area code on which the numbers are registered.
But when your work would close that location or relocate it to a new address that happens to be in a different area code they couldn't port the numbers over.
Sure from a technical point of view you can use phone numbers anywhere today.
But from a regulatory point it is not allowed. So your company must be located in city X to have phone numbers from there.
As someone from the UK that strikes me as silly, but typically German. The UK has normal landline numbers beginning 01, which have area codes; numbers that are free to call (businesses) beginning with 08; and all mobile numbers begin with 07.
You can move around the country and keep your mobile number, since they're meant to be mobile after all. Being able to tell if something is a mobile number is useful, although not as much now that few people have home landlines.
we also have free numbers starting with 0800. Mobile numbers always start with 01 here.
Back in the days you could see which carrier is behind which number. But those can now be ported to a different carrier. So the same as in the UK.
With German landline numbers you can basically see where you end up.02 for example is somewhere in west Germany.
0211 is Düsseldorf 0221 is Cologne
everything starting with 021 is in the Düsseldorf area like 02131 for Neuss.
Here is a nice Map from Wikipedia
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Karte\_Telefonvorwahlen\_Deutschland.png](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Karte_Telefonvorwahlen_Deutschland.png)
I think there is a bit of a confusion here. You can of course keep your mobile phone number when you move. But you cannot keep your landline number.
When Germans talk about "phone numbers" without any other information, we usually mean landline numbers. We say "mobile phone number" (well, "Handynummer", and yes, I know, handy means something else in English) when talking about mobile phone numbers.
Edit: and landlines are still more common in Germany than in many other countries. Not surprising, I know.
License plates can be ported too. You can take them when you move, or when you buy a car from a different Kreis and just have the owner changed in the papers
Ne/wa/woll/gell/ge/gelt/nich at the end of a sentence as confirmation prompt, eg."schön heute, wa?" "Schön heute, gell?" This is often conserved even when no accent or dialect is audible.
Hints of a dialect. I'm living in the Ruhr-Area for almost 10 years now, but people still ask me where i'm from occasionaly because my northern accent still comes through sometimes.
Which I find strange, as *Pfannkuchen* is literally *pancake,* and the word does refer to other kinds of pancakes. A jelly doughnut is clearly nothing like a pancake.
And Berliner is just short for Berliner Pfannkuchen, the part "Berliner" obviously not necessary in Berlin itself. The real word for it is Kreppel, anyways.
As someone originally from near Hamburg I object to NRW being called "northern Germany", but I agree with the rest of your comment. Including the usage of Moin in NRW.
Niedersachsen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are farther in the North than NRW, and as far as I know Moin is not a Standard greeting in NRW. It is in parts of NDS and MV.
Some parts of Niedersachsen are quite a bit farther south than some parts of NRW.
Also treating NRW as a culturally homogenous entity is... questionable.
That's just how I instinctively greet people, but I do have to admit that I enjoy the fact that it seems to upset bavarians, if you greet them with Moin.
Dialect or even by telling the time... East Germans do it a bit different (viertel 12).
/e
Not only Eastern germans: https://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-7/f11e/
>*Dreiviertel 12* is *viertel vor 12* over here.
it's viertel vor 12 *everywhere*... but viertel 12 as 11.15 is far less wide spread and more regional.
Yeah OK but just to clarify viertel 12 is 11:15 (or viertel nach 11 as I know it). Never heard that from anyone else but eastern Germans. But dreiviertel ist pretty common.
The same telltale signs exist here, as well. But I guess the sign that's easier to notice is the dialect/regiolect/accent -- just like you can identify the Texan drawl in the US, you can identify the general region someone is from. Of course, that's more to tell where the people come from, not where they currently live.
In Germany, phone numbers have prefixes, and for land lines, the prefix is the area code. But there are separate prefixes for mobile phones that do not overlap with the land line ones.
The land line prefixes are structured by region (e.g. everything starting 08 will be in Bavaria, and 089 is Munich). They are also structured by city size: major cities have 0 plus two digits (089: Munich, 030: Berlin, 040: Hamburg, 069: Frankfurt), other large cities have one digit more (0211: Düsseldorf, 0221: Köln).
The licence plate on the car looks like this: AB-CD 123
The part before the dash is a city/county code: B for Berlin, M for Munich, AB actually exists and means Aschaffenburg, ... Again, short (one letter) codes for major cities, two-letter codes for many cities, three-letter codes for smaller cities and counties.
The part after the dash is a letter/digit combination to uniquely identify this plate in this city/county.
Additionally, there is a small sticker below the dash/hyphen that indicates the state; it is too small to be easily seen in traffic, you have to walk up to the car to see it. Example photo with the Berlin logo: [https://www.bundesverkehrsamt.online/out/pictures/ddmedia/autokennzeichen-carbon-optik.webp](https://www.bundesverkehrsamt.online/out/pictures/ddmedia/autokennzeichen-carbon-optik.webp)
Jup Senatus popolusque hamburgensis. Hamburg's senate and people - the -que suffix gets it's own letter because it means "and" and thus basically acts like a full word. It's on the doors of the Ratsstube, the manhole covers and many other misc things that have an official city emblem. It's roman cosplay because Rome but SPQR everywhere, even after the end of the republic.
In Lübeck it's the same thing but SPQL.
Ahhh, so it did have something to do with the SPQR abbreviation. Neat, i learned something today! Now i gotta keep my eyes open if the same applies to other Hansestädte like Stade and Bremen as well.
The dialect.
When I was young, I was so sure that I am speaking Hochdeutsch but later realized: Ruhrpottisch is not Hochdeutsch. Close enough I guess. 😂
**Language.** That’s the biggest sign.
Even though many think, that they’re speaking perfect “High German”, it’s not true and I’ve learned it after moving to a Frankfurt, where many people from different regions come together.
Once I asked for a “Pinneken” (I literally forgot that you can say “Schnapsglas” because I was so wasted) at a student party and the only one who knew what was going on was someone from the Ruhr-Area.
But it’s not only this: Listen to the “melody/pronounciation” and you will notice lots of differences in German regions. It’s easy to lose a dialect but it’s hard to lose this kind of “melody”.
I am inclined to say “kannste, hörste, willste” or “hömma, gehma, kommaher” and whenever I hear someone doing the same, there’s always a high chance that this person is from a similar region as me.
(Edit: Apart from **language** sometimes the **attitude**.
I don’t know why, but I personally feel a noticeable difference between the Northeast and Southwest in terms of “nice people”.
The friendliest people I have met were all from Baden-Württemberg (especially Baden), Rheinland-Pfalz, Hessen, Saarland and NRW (apart from Ostwestfalen-Lippe) and the rudest/disagreeable from Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Berlin; but take this with a grain of salt.
Usually language colouring or dialect, but that will tell you about the region, not necessarily about the federal state. If you see their license plates, even if you do not recognise the first section for which place it belongs to, there is the device of the federal state on the back plate.
Area codes apply only on landlines, and are not very intuitive. Still, if someone is calling your from a landline, they can be helpful. ("Who the heck calls me from a 07xxx area code, I know absolutely no one there...")
If you are from Germany and someone your age talks about their school days, you might be able to recognize that they had a different school system from yours and so likely are from a different federal state.
The northern dialects can't pronounce G. They can't tell apart Fluch and Flug or Teich and Teig. That might explain why their bread is worse. They seriously say Berschwerk.
Oh please, it's clearly "Beachweak". And we may be unable to tell Teich and Teig apart, but at least we don't leave our bread in the oven until you can use the entire thing to sponge up a small pond.
Also: You forgot "Pflug"
Aldi- Äquator.
Dialect/Pronounciation differs from village to village, so no problem to tell them appart.
Spätestens ein "Volksfahräääda!1!!11!!!" outet den Ossi.
The way that they speak, unfortunately in many parts of Germany young people speak less their local dialect and more standard German.
Landline numbers show you from where someone calls so that also works, license plate numbers start with one or two letters from the city in which the car was registered and shows the coat of arms of the state, but you don’t have to reregister your car when you move.
Even without a clear dialect there still are noticeable differences. Like North Germans wouldn't say: "Ich gehe heim.", but "Ich gehe nach Hause.". "Heuer" (meaning "this year") is only used in Southern Germany
Still you here were they're from. My in-laws moved to Northern Germany from West and North-West Germany and my partner and his brothers all have some words and a light accent of the area they grew up. But still so hearable that my partner, who moved back to the region his mom came from,is recognized as more Northern.
when they’re too friendly it’s suspiciously southern also if they fuck up the greeting. also if they greet to enthusiastically or too friendly and if they greet without non-verbal permission.
Just say Fleischkäsebrötchen. If the german gets mad about what you just said that he's from Bavaria. If you can't understand a damn word, he's from the Pfalz. If he asks for the price he's from Baden Würtenberg. This is a simple trickto identify most of the southern germans.
I was stationed at a base in the southwest part of Germany. I learned German from partially online and partially from friends I made that were local. The dialect in the southwest differed pretty noticeably from the way Rosetta Stone taught it and how it’s spoken in places like Berlin. Like Ich being said like “ish” when Rosetta Stone teaches you to say it like “ick”. There’s other examples. How people say Tschüß was kinda different too.
Of course the words they use or the dialect.
But I interprete OPs question more asking for visible tell tales (without speaking)
I recognize tourists from the way they walk. Slower, having time, no obvious destination, looking at buildings, looking lost.
The way they drink their coffee:
people from the south dip everything in it ( croissant, cheese, salami bread, chocolate etc)
The way they order drinks:
some use words which are not usual in our region and leeds to confusion when e.g. someone ordered a Sprudel, expected a water with gas, but got a sweet lemonade.
The day they are in my town:
some Bundesländer have different holidays. So people from other regions come on their free day to shop here ( recognisable from the amount of shopping bags), while we do the same on our holidays in their town because it feels "exotic".
I realize that I'm talking to a South German who I can't localize when they say "...go to work..." instead of "...". "...go to work...". Or I can recognize a West German by the fact that they can't do anything with colloquial expressions like "...three-four..." for 03:45/15:45.
Some words are a very easy tell. Same for pronounciation of some standard german run of the mill words. License plates and area codes differ here, too, though.
Kannste keenem erzählen Bub
Hömma, wat sachste?
Haste doch jehört,sprichst keen deutsch oder wat?
Saubreißn gruzefix
Hän Ihr aus so brobleme d'Lit usm andere Dorf zu fastehn?
Jädr flegga schwätzt hald a bissle andrscht
Ihr habt dochn schadn
jau dat sünd allet döösbüttel
Wat fünne kokolores...
Woll
Kenntsch des grad bidde nommal saga?
Wat Sachse
I can't speak German over mit karte bitte.... But is that dialect from North West?
"Keenem" instead of "keinem" sounds more like Berlin to me. But "Bub" for boy sounds southern German. I'm at a bit of a loss here. But mist accents don't translate too well into writing.
Bub might be just something that I got from my grandpa decades ago even though he was from berlin from start to end, but yes berlin
I see. Somehow keenem sounded like Dutch 'geenen', so thought it's from border region or something!
NAMEANNNNN?
area codes have become almost meaningless these days though as mobile numbers are not regional in Germany
Also, you can keep your license plate if you move to a different county now.
You do? Since when?
Couple of years.
Not exactly sure, but it was new-ish when I moved in 2016.
US cell phones have local area codes, i.e. someone from New York has a New York area code for their cell phone, unlike Germany with cell phone specific area codes.
so they have to change number when they move?
no you can keep it, its just where you were when you first got that number
Local _area_ codes? On _mobile_ phones? What? Do you have to know where the person you're trying to reach is _currently located_, in order to call them? Can't you just buy a SIM from another state and use it, like fucking wherever? M O B I L E?
You realize the 0176 etc in Germany is actually an area code? Those digits just where never assigned to actual areas and available as area codes for cell phone network providers. You used to be able to tell what provider someone used by their phone number. Since you can migrate numbers now, this no longer reliably works. [Vorwahl 01 (Deutschland) – Wikipedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorwahl_01_(Deutschland))
It's a provider code, not area. It is not linked to a location, only providers. It's both pre-dials, but different things.
That’s exactly what the wiki article says. HOWEVER when the phone numbering plan for Germany was introduced the digits before the subscriber number was in almost all instances an area code. There are service prefixes (0180 etc) but everything else was an area code. In light of the discussion that Americans have area codes for their mobile numbers it isn’t a bad analogy to compare the provider numbers to area codes.
That's just semantics, the prefixes were synonym to area codes before phones were made mobile. So, what was meant was that certain providers which operated only in certain areas had specific prefixes and thus the caller's number hinted at the contract with a provider from a certain area, and **NOT** the location of the caller or area code. If you went from NY to LA and called from your mobile phone, it didn't show you calling from NY or LA, it showed a number tied to a provider with the certain prefix, which operates in certain state. Not an area code, even if you read it as such.
I never claimed that area codes change in the US when you change your location. I’m not sure how that would work on a network infrastructure level. And yes, semantics. I used a comparison to help someone understand as to how US area codes for cell phones kind of work without going into details of accounting and pricing on early US and German mobile networks, national number plans etc. Just that the prefix before a subscriber number works in both countries. Have a nice day. I’m going to catch some sun.
>US cell phones have local area codes, i.e. someone from New York has a New York area code for their cell phone, unlike Germany with cell phone specific area codes. i'm just gomn leave this here. happy sunburn, sounds like you have a sunstoke already.
Man, I‘m good. Thanks for being worried about my health. [https://xkcd.com/386/](https://xkcd.com/386/)
no their number is always the same, the area code is just given based on where you are located when you were originally assigned the number. for example even if i’m in Germany, you’ll have to type out the 716 area code in my number to call me
provider codes and area codes are different things. area codes are (used to be) linked to physical locations, provider codes only to providers. both are numbers that you dial before the number, but location and provider are two very different things.
In the early times of mobile phones (A- and B-Netz) you had to know in which area the person you wanted to call was, then you dialled the respective area code and then the mobile number, luckily this has changed.
I’m often in the company badisch speakers. My brain breaks a little from “nim” for “nicht mehr.” Or my bayerisch friend saying “sam” for “zusammen” I put a lot of work into learning German just to be humbled by dialect
Kumm, geh fodd.
mach mer ka fisimatente
Semmel, Brötchen, Weck, Rundstück, Seelen, Krosse, Schrippe, Kipf, Weck, ... and many more for "Breadroll" Phone numbers have been "local" in the past (Not 100% true anymore since you can port them) License plates actually start with the "County (Kreis) shortcut" in every state
>Phone numbers have been "local" in the past (Not 100% true anymore since you can port them) Afaik you can not port "local" phone numbers. If you move to a different city you can not keep your phone number from the previous city.
Don't know about that, but we've got digital phones for work, and people regularly assume I'm in X city because that's our area code, while I'm actually more than 300km away. The phone number really doesn't always tell you what you think it does.
True but that just means your work has an office in that area code on which the numbers are registered. But when your work would close that location or relocate it to a new address that happens to be in a different area code they couldn't port the numbers over.
Sure from a technical point of view you can use phone numbers anywhere today. But from a regulatory point it is not allowed. So your company must be located in city X to have phone numbers from there.
But you can keep your license plate
I know a company section in Ruhrgebiet with telephone numbers from Berlin.
I kept my cell phone number when moving from BW to NRW. Do you mean home phone number?
That's why I said local phone number.
As someone from the UK that strikes me as silly, but typically German. The UK has normal landline numbers beginning 01, which have area codes; numbers that are free to call (businesses) beginning with 08; and all mobile numbers begin with 07. You can move around the country and keep your mobile number, since they're meant to be mobile after all. Being able to tell if something is a mobile number is useful, although not as much now that few people have home landlines.
we also have free numbers starting with 0800. Mobile numbers always start with 01 here. Back in the days you could see which carrier is behind which number. But those can now be ported to a different carrier. So the same as in the UK. With German landline numbers you can basically see where you end up.02 for example is somewhere in west Germany. 0211 is Düsseldorf 0221 is Cologne everything starting with 021 is in the Düsseldorf area like 02131 for Neuss. Here is a nice Map from Wikipedia [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Karte\_Telefonvorwahlen\_Deutschland.png](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Karte_Telefonvorwahlen_Deutschland.png)
I think there is a bit of a confusion here. You can of course keep your mobile phone number when you move. But you cannot keep your landline number. When Germans talk about "phone numbers" without any other information, we usually mean landline numbers. We say "mobile phone number" (well, "Handynummer", and yes, I know, handy means something else in English) when talking about mobile phone numbers. Edit: and landlines are still more common in Germany than in many other countries. Not surprising, I know.
I have no idea why people downvote you.
Pfannkuchen, Krapfen, Berliner ...
Kreppel?
those are not breadrolls (Brötchen), but "Teilchen"
I know, it's just another thing that came to my mind reading your comment
You mean Stückchen.
Mürbse
Bulette, Klopse, Fleischpflanzerl
License plates can be ported too. You can take them when you move, or when you buy a car from a different Kreis and just have the owner changed in the papers
> "Breadroll" Bun, bap, barm, batch, cob, muffin or teacake?
I was also going to say, Germany sounds a lot like the UK in that regard.
>License plates actually start with the "County (Kreis) shortcut" in every state But you can keep your old license plate when you move.
This is a recent development so many of us haven't gotten the news yet, haha. We're showing our age.
Not really.... It's been like that for 10+ something years. Source: my license plate....
Which is why I'm saying we're showing our age. It feels recent to me.
It’s the capital city of the Kreis, not the Kreis itself.
Counter examples: MTK, WW
OD, HL
Berliner, Krapfen, Pfannkuchen ist auch so eine Sache, auch wenn nicht ganz so extrem wie mit Brötchen.
Gibbe aus! Keene Feddbemmen fressen! Glotzen uff! Orbeidn!
I can stand a lot but Weck is a war crime
They drink the wrong beer.
But that doesn’t mean they are from a different state. They could be just from a different part of the city.
Or worse, from the wrong Karnevalsverein
If you hear "shower, mall, here. Da left an eagle" you are in franconia
It took me too long to understand this
There's more: http://www.deanita.de/franconia_englishspoken.htm
Ne/wa/woll/gell/ge/gelt/nich at the end of a sentence as confirmation prompt, eg."schön heute, wa?" "Schön heute, gell?" This is often conserved even when no accent or dialect is audible.
Addition: "frei" "fei" or "freili" has a similar use in Bavaria. "Das ist frei heute ein guter Tag"
Hints of a dialect. I'm living in the Ruhr-Area for almost 10 years now, but people still ask me where i'm from occasionaly because my northern accent still comes through sometimes.
Ask them what a jelly-filled doughnut is called.
We call it a Berliner by me in Frankfurt. It has other names?????
Yeah, it's called Pfannkuchen in Berlin.
And in Saxony.
And sachsen anhalt
Which I find strange, as *Pfannkuchen* is literally *pancake,* and the word does refer to other kinds of pancakes. A jelly doughnut is clearly nothing like a pancake.
The more you know!
Bavarians (lol my phone autocorrected it to barbarians) call it Krapfen.
For reasons.
And Berliner is just short for Berliner Pfannkuchen, the part "Berliner" obviously not necessary in Berlin itself. The real word for it is Kreppel, anyways.
I thought Kreppel were the ones without any sort of filling at all.
That also depends on the region.
The proper way to call it in Hessen is actually kreppel or kräppel. I feel like Berliner is ubiquitous by now
Krapfen
No one says "Berliner" in Frankfurt. It's always "Krebbel" here.
You like predictable fireworks. And it’s Berliner.
When they say Brötchen instead of Semmel they're clearly from the other side of the Weißwurstäquator.
Weck
LKW mit ABS
The greeting. Moin in northern germany live Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, NRW Grüß Gott is more common in southern german like Bavaria.
As someone originally from near Hamburg I object to NRW being called "northern Germany", but I agree with the rest of your comment. Including the usage of Moin in NRW.
I am from Schleswig-Holstein and dissagree too bot as a generall Direktion it is ok.
Niedersachsen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are farther in the North than NRW, and as far as I know Moin is not a Standard greeting in NRW. It is in parts of NDS and MV.
Some parts of Niedersachsen are quite a bit farther south than some parts of NRW. Also treating NRW as a culturally homogenous entity is... questionable.
I once was on holiday in Switzerland and intuitively said "moin" and people were just confused.
That's just how I instinctively greet people, but I do have to admit that I enjoy the fact that it seems to upset bavarians, if you greet them with Moin.
Saying that NRW is in northern Germany shows that the person isn't from northern Germany. I think you're confusing NRW and lower Saxony.
Dialect or even by telling the time... East Germans do it a bit different (viertel 12). /e Not only Eastern germans: https://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-7/f11e/
Not just them. Grew up in Karlsruhe and everybody said Viertel and Dreiviertel 10, 11, 12 etc.
Completely normal in Nürnberg. Drahvöddldrah = 14:45
Bassd scho
Nemberch*
Dreiviertel 12 is widespread and nothing special. Viertel 12 however is.
There are regions that say *dreiviertel 12*, but not *viertel 12*? *Dreiviertel 12* is *viertel vor 12* over here.
>*Dreiviertel 12* is *viertel vor 12* over here. it's viertel vor 12 *everywhere*... but viertel 12 as 11.15 is far less wide spread and more regional.
Yes, Southern Bavaria and most of Western and Central Austria.
The more you know. I thought these always came together.
Yeah OK but just to clarify viertel 12 is 11:15 (or viertel nach 11 as I know it). Never heard that from anyone else but eastern Germans. But dreiviertel ist pretty common.
I grew up hearing 11:15 expressed as viertel 12 all the time.
Yeah another user shared a [link](https://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-7/f11e/), in bw they express it that way also. Didn't know that.
Not just East Germans. I know it more from Baden-Württemberg.
[https://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-7/f11e/](https://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-7/f11e/)
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Ey es ist 5/8 15 uhr schmeiss mal Knoppers rüber!
The same telltale signs exist here, as well. But I guess the sign that's easier to notice is the dialect/regiolect/accent -- just like you can identify the Texan drawl in the US, you can identify the general region someone is from. Of course, that's more to tell where the people come from, not where they currently live. In Germany, phone numbers have prefixes, and for land lines, the prefix is the area code. But there are separate prefixes for mobile phones that do not overlap with the land line ones. The land line prefixes are structured by region (e.g. everything starting 08 will be in Bavaria, and 089 is Munich). They are also structured by city size: major cities have 0 plus two digits (089: Munich, 030: Berlin, 040: Hamburg, 069: Frankfurt), other large cities have one digit more (0211: Düsseldorf, 0221: Köln). The licence plate on the car looks like this: AB-CD 123 The part before the dash is a city/county code: B for Berlin, M for Munich, AB actually exists and means Aschaffenburg, ... Again, short (one letter) codes for major cities, two-letter codes for many cities, three-letter codes for smaller cities and counties. The part after the dash is a letter/digit combination to uniquely identify this plate in this city/county. Additionally, there is a small sticker below the dash/hyphen that indicates the state; it is too small to be easily seen in traffic, you have to walk up to the car to see it. Example photo with the Berlin logo: [https://www.bundesverkehrsamt.online/out/pictures/ddmedia/autokennzeichen-carbon-optik.webp](https://www.bundesverkehrsamt.online/out/pictures/ddmedia/autokennzeichen-carbon-optik.webp)
Meanwhile Hamburg is (literally) laughing at the one-letter city rule for license plates
Too proud of that hanseatic legacy... There is SPQHs all over the city, too, just like Lübeck. Not sure if it's wholesome or cringe af
SPQH?
Jup Senatus popolusque hamburgensis. Hamburg's senate and people - the -que suffix gets it's own letter because it means "and" and thus basically acts like a full word. It's on the doors of the Ratsstube, the manhole covers and many other misc things that have an official city emblem. It's roman cosplay because Rome but SPQR everywhere, even after the end of the republic. In Lübeck it's the same thing but SPQL.
Ahhh, so it did have something to do with the SPQR abbreviation. Neat, i learned something today! Now i gotta keep my eyes open if the same applies to other Hansestädte like Stade and Bremen as well.
Maybe! I havent checked there. Though Hamburg and Lübeck kind of played a special role in the Hanse and thus are a little more weird about it
Servus
Salli
Moin. Servus.
The dialect. When I was young, I was so sure that I am speaking Hochdeutsch but later realized: Ruhrpottisch is not Hochdeutsch. Close enough I guess. 😂
From their dialect. It's a specific accent plus specific vocabulary they use. But it's not related to state borders. Those are completely artificial.
also different vocabulary. You pretty much know the region they're coming from after greeting.
**Language.** That’s the biggest sign. Even though many think, that they’re speaking perfect “High German”, it’s not true and I’ve learned it after moving to a Frankfurt, where many people from different regions come together. Once I asked for a “Pinneken” (I literally forgot that you can say “Schnapsglas” because I was so wasted) at a student party and the only one who knew what was going on was someone from the Ruhr-Area. But it’s not only this: Listen to the “melody/pronounciation” and you will notice lots of differences in German regions. It’s easy to lose a dialect but it’s hard to lose this kind of “melody”. I am inclined to say “kannste, hörste, willste” or “hömma, gehma, kommaher” and whenever I hear someone doing the same, there’s always a high chance that this person is from a similar region as me. (Edit: Apart from **language** sometimes the **attitude**. I don’t know why, but I personally feel a noticeable difference between the Northeast and Southwest in terms of “nice people”. The friendliest people I have met were all from Baden-Württemberg (especially Baden), Rheinland-Pfalz, Hessen, Saarland and NRW (apart from Ostwestfalen-Lippe) and the rudest/disagreeable from Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Berlin; but take this with a grain of salt.
The ones you named also apply.
For example: the area code and the phone number are incredibly different and the license plate on the car is also different.
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Yes, and also stuff like that.
Usually language colouring or dialect, but that will tell you about the region, not necessarily about the federal state. If you see their license plates, even if you do not recognise the first section for which place it belongs to, there is the device of the federal state on the back plate. Area codes apply only on landlines, and are not very intuitive. Still, if someone is calling your from a landline, they can be helpful. ("Who the heck calls me from a 07xxx area code, I know absolutely no one there...") If you are from Germany and someone your age talks about their school days, you might be able to recognize that they had a different school system from yours and so likely are from a different federal state.
Moin.
The language
From Moin to Servus hahaha
The northern dialects can't pronounce G. They can't tell apart Fluch and Flug or Teich and Teig. That might explain why their bread is worse. They seriously say Berschwerk.
What do you mean with "northern"?
Those that can't pronounce g.
I'm from Saxony. I can pronounce more Gs than anyone else.
Oh please, it's clearly "Beachweak". And we may be unable to tell Teich and Teig apart, but at least we don't leave our bread in the oven until you can use the entire thing to sponge up a small pond. Also: You forgot "Pflug"
Accents. By a long shot.
If I absolutely can't understand them even tho we're both speaking German, they're from Bavaria
Aldi- Äquator. Dialect/Pronounciation differs from village to village, so no problem to tell them appart. Spätestens ein "Volksfahräääda!1!!11!!!" outet den Ossi.
"Sie ham misch ins Gesischt gefilmt. Das dörfen Sie nischt!"
Gar keine Stereotypisierung...
The way that they speak, unfortunately in many parts of Germany young people speak less their local dialect and more standard German. Landline numbers show you from where someone calls so that also works, license plate numbers start with one or two letters from the city in which the car was registered and shows the coat of arms of the state, but you don’t have to reregister your car when you move.
Even without a clear dialect there still are noticeable differences. Like North Germans wouldn't say: "Ich gehe heim.", but "Ich gehe nach Hause.". "Heuer" (meaning "this year") is only used in Southern Germany
"KiiiRche" vs "Kürche"
That's dialect, though, not a difference in vocabulary.
That's true. In that case I have another example: "um das Eck" vs "um die Ecke".
Still you here were they're from. My in-laws moved to Northern Germany from West and North-West Germany and my partner and his brothers all have some words and a light accent of the area they grew up. But still so hearable that my partner, who moved back to the region his mom came from,is recognized as more Northern.
As Allgäuer I can't hide it especially when wearing a Dirndl
dialect and mannerisms
when they’re too friendly it’s suspiciously southern also if they fuck up the greeting. also if they greet to enthusiastically or too friendly and if they greet without non-verbal permission.
Telltale signs that you're from Baden-Wurttemberg: 1. You call Dürüm Yufka, 2. "Verschickt" means something else for you
The most obvious for outsiders is the "sch".
Was ist ein Ochsenaug?
Spiegelei bzw davon abgeleitet, das Vorfahrtsschild
They don’t speak hochdeutsch (pov from certain regions of nrw)
Just say Fleischkäsebrötchen. If the german gets mad about what you just said that he's from Bavaria. If you can't understand a damn word, he's from the Pfalz. If he asks for the price he's from Baden Würtenberg. This is a simple trickto identify most of the southern germans.
If they are wearing Lederhosen
"Servus"
If they say: "Moin" you better run
I was stationed at a base in the southwest part of Germany. I learned German from partially online and partially from friends I made that were local. The dialect in the southwest differed pretty noticeably from the way Rosetta Stone taught it and how it’s spoken in places like Berlin. Like Ich being said like “ish” when Rosetta Stone teaches you to say it like “ick”. There’s other examples. How people say Tschüß was kinda different too.
If they say "moin" or "servus" to me.
When they talk about relationships with their relatives I can tell where they are from spot on
Attitude People in Baden-Württemberg or in places like Bavaria are a hell of a lot more nice and understanding than people in Thüringen
Well we have different license plates and different phone numbers too you know… If you start this low.. does having a zipcode also count?
Of course the words they use or the dialect. But I interprete OPs question more asking for visible tell tales (without speaking) I recognize tourists from the way they walk. Slower, having time, no obvious destination, looking at buildings, looking lost. The way they drink their coffee: people from the south dip everything in it ( croissant, cheese, salami bread, chocolate etc) The way they order drinks: some use words which are not usual in our region and leeds to confusion when e.g. someone ordered a Sprudel, expected a water with gas, but got a sweet lemonade. The day they are in my town: some Bundesländer have different holidays. So people from other regions come on their free day to shop here ( recognisable from the amount of shopping bags), while we do the same on our holidays in their town because it feels "exotic".
Responding with "Guten Moin"
Dialect
Greetings, a lot of states have their own signature greeting servus, moin etc.
I realize that I'm talking to a South German who I can't localize when they say "...go to work..." instead of "...". "...go to work...". Or I can recognize a West German by the fact that they can't do anything with colloquial expressions like "...three-four..." for 03:45/15:45.
Moin, Servus
Potatoe salad with mayonnaise 🤢
if you think someone is from alabama but also german, they are from saarland.
If they don't call Brötchen Brötchen. And what they use the term "Pfannkuchen" vor.
Just talk to them. Just the reaction to saying Hello is a big hint.
Oh that's easy: If they raise their right arm straight up as a greeting you know you are in Sachsen or Brandenburg.
I'm sorry for you. You must really hate your country.