dialect
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dialect
A regional or local variant of a language that differs from the standard language in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
Obwohl er seit zwanzig Jahren in Hamburg lebt, hört man seinen bayerischen Dialekt immer noch deutlich.
Although he has lived in Hamburg for twenty years, you can still clearly hear his Bavarian dialect.
When you notice a person's dialect, you often use the construction 'jemandem den Dialekt anmerken' (to notice someone's dialect) or 'bei jemandem den Dialekt hören' (to hear someone's dialect).
Man merkt ihr den Dialekt kaum noch an.
You can hardly notice her dialect anymore.
In connection with regional language variants, 'Dialekt' (dialect) is often used with the verbs 'sprechen' (to speak) or 'haben' (to have). You can also say that someone speaks 'im Dialekt' (in dialect).
Mein Großvater spricht einen starken schwäbischen Dialekt.
My grandfather speaks a strong Swabian dialect.
To describe the strength of a regional coloring, adjectives like 'stark' (strong), 'leicht' (slight), 'deutlich' (clear), or 'kaum hörbar' (barely audible) are combined with 'Dialekt' (dialect).
Sie hat nur noch einen leichten Dialekt, den man kaum hört.
She only has a slight dialect now, which you can hardly hear.
You can often recognize the figurative meaning by additions like 'persönlich' (personal) or 'ganz eigen' (very own). Here it is not about a region, but about a person's individual way of expressing themselves.
Ihre direkte Art ist einfach ihr persönlicher Dialekt, sie meint es nicht böse.
Her direct manner is simply her personal dialect; she doesn't mean anything bad by it.
language
'die Sprache' and 'der Dialekt' both have to do with how a group of people speaks. 'Sprache' means the whole system, for example German, Turkish, or French. 'Dialekt' means a regional form of a language, for example a particular pronunciation or special words in one area. Learners may confuse the words because both can feel like a distinct way of speaking. In practical terms: one language can have many dialects.
Im Gespräch verstehe ich seinen Dialekt nicht immer sofort.
In conversation, I do not always understand his dialect right away.
Deutsch ist die Sprache, die wir im Kurs lernen.
German is the language we are learning in the course.