All over the place I’ve been hearing references to Bayerisch (the Bavarian language) in connection to Oktoberfest. The official website has an English-Bayerisch dictionary. A friend gave me an Oktoberfest song book* which also includes a Bayerisch phrase guide (and an interview with Roberto Blanco, of all people. WTF? All I know is that if he’s performing at Oktoberfest, I am so there.) Advertisements seem to be tossing in a Bayerisch phrase or two all over the city.
This confuses me a bit (“this” meaning the whole Bayerisch thing, although the Roberto Blanco thing also has me a little baffled). First of all, despite warnings to the contrary from non-Bavarian Germans, Bayerisch is not the default language in Munich. German is. People don’t speak Bayerisch at me,** and they don’t speak it around me. In my eight months here, I have heard very little Bayerisch, and trust me, I do a lot of eavesdropping. You want to see a city where people speak dialect instead of a real language? Go try Zurich, because Munich is pretty solidly a convert to the Hochdeutsch camp. I hear more English and Italian here than I do Bayerisch. Secondly, rumor has it that Oktoberfest is sooooo commercial and so very overrun with tourists that the locals, for the most part, are oh-so-fed-up, and don’t even hardly go to the Wies’n anymore.
So whom, exactly, is going to be speaking all this Bayerisch at me? Is it one of those scenes like Colonial Williamsburg or a Renaissance fair where the employees get all crazy into character and refuse to speak like a normal person? Somehow I’m skeptical. But just in case, I’m arming myself with a few key vocabulary words and phrases. Feel free to print this out and carry it around as a cheat-sheet. Oktoberfest starts tomorrow!
Z ‘ dringga mächd i biddschee a Mass! – I’d like to have a beer.
biddscheen – please / you’re welcome.
Deaf i mi zu dia hisizn? – May I sit down here?
Naa – no
Zoin – The bill, please.
aufmandeln – to aggrandize oneself, especially when you do not find any free seats in the beer tents.
aufstöin – to donate a beer.
Bierdimpfe – notorious beer drinker, “tavern potato”.
Fetznrausch – totally drunk.
Gaudinockerln – luxuriant breasts
Weißbia – wheat beer (only in the smaller beer tents at Oktoberfest)
Deaf i Dia a Busserl gem. – I’d like to give you a kiss.
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* The Oktoberfest Song Book comes on a long blue ribbon, so that you can hang it around your neck. Very handy!
** As if trying to prove me wrong, a little old lady actually came up to me and spoke Bayerisch in the grocery store today.
I’m thinking that Gaudinockerln is not something that I will need to learn for my trip, unless, of course I plan on talking about my own. NOT!
I’m glad to know that a) I’ll be missing Oktoberfest and b) English is spoken in Germany—otherwise, I would be in trouble. Although, I will be carrying Rick Steves German dictionary. Wish me luck!!
“aufstöin” – never heard of this expression, and I can prove my bavarian ancestry down to the 15th century. 😉 Only to be found on this Wiesn-Dictionary…
“dablecka”* is a common sport among Bavarians, and this seems to be the case here.
*to pull someone’s leg
It almost looks like Swiss German, although I can’t comprehend either so I couldn’t say for sure…
By the way, could you please send your husband to the men’s toilet on the Wies’n to take a picture of one of the huge signs there which tells you what punishement you can expect in case you would try to steal a “Mass” (big empty glas of beer).
“Aufstoin” is like in Swiss-German “ein Aufsteller”, somebody who sets you up, puts you in a good or better mood.
Lulu – come on now, you never know when you might need a word like that! 🙂
Corregio – but it’s such a lovely sentiment, don’t you think? And thanks for adding a word to the list! I’m going to be sure to work “dablecka” into a conversation. 🙂
NHS – it reminds me of Swiss German, too, but probably only because they both seem like crazy mangled versions of German to me…
Jens – if I deem him sober enough to handle the responsibility of the camera, I’ll let him take it to the loo sometime.
Haidhausen must be swarming with Ausländer. Just look for a bar with an electronic dart board/gambling machine. You might find a translator there.
it reminds me of Swiss German, too, but probably only because they both seem like crazy mangled versions of German to me…
I agree on the similar degree of visual divergence from Hochdeutsch, but beyond that, icksnay on the imilaritysay, if you ask me. Man…that long weekend in Zürich and Luzern threw me for a loop.
After living in Regensburg for four and a half years now, when I hit a hotel in, oh I don’t know, NRW or maybe Bremen next week, and I’m surfing across the BR channel, I sigh a little inside, because well, Dahoam is dahoam.
Haha, I think Bavarian is so hard to read! I always have to read it out loud to understand it.
Ha, ha! Love the “tavern potato”. “Deaf i Dia a Busserl gem” would be good to know in case it is said to you by the drunk stanger sitting nearby. I have this problem always looking like I’m answering in the affirmative when I don’t understand a question in another language. 🙂
Heza – Electronic darts, eh? Sounds interesting…
Cliff – interesting to hear you say that. I’ve actually felt that my limited knowledge of Swiss German has helped me understand some Bavarian, especially written. The accents are quite divergent, though.
Viviane – yes, I find sounding things out helps sometimes, too. And sometimes I’m just baffled…
Lori – Me, too. I have a bad habit of nodding and smiling when I don’t understand what someone is saying to me. This is a good example of why I need to stop doing that! 😉