Simple greetings and courtesies rr acks r ba towe You should definitely know the following Bavarian greetings and courtesies so you can appropriately respond to them and will not be regarded as an unfriendly “Saupreiss” (see Trink ma no a Mass (Let’s below). But beware: Native often use rather rough ex- drink another pressions and many beginners mistake that for rudeness which mass of beer)! is not always the case. So just stay calm and you can’t go wrong. Bavarian must be studied.

Bavarian German English

Griaß di God Grüß Gott, guten Hello Tag Wiederschaun, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye Pfiat di God Tschüss , Servas Hallo, Tschüss Hello / Goodbye Bavarian for Habedehr(e), gfraid Hat mich gefreut, My pleasure! me freut mich Beginners – Dangschee Danke schön, vielen Thank you Dank Learning Bavarian Wos mägst? Wie bitte? Würdest Excuse me? Would du das bitte wie- you please repeat made easy derholen? that? Host mi?! Hast du jetzt Did you endlich begriffen? understand? (rhetorische Frage mit Nachdruck) Every year anew, Bavarian fests are opened with a loud “O’zapft Hock di her da! Setz dich ruhig zu Sit down with us is!“ (“It has been tapped!“). And “Schleich di!“ is not a polite uns request to quietly leave but means to get going as fast as possi- ble. Following is a small but very useful Bavarian Translator that Do legst di nieda! Donnerwetter (Aus- Wow! For crying out might be of great help to you when you’re in . druck des Erstau- loud! nens) Characteristics of the and phonetics An Guadn Guten Appetit Enjoy your meal There are many Bavarian dialects. Following are the most impor- tant basic rules to make pronouncing Bavarian words correctly Bassd scho passt schon, in It’s ok. But beware: easy for beginners: Ordnung (Vorsicht: Also used as “kiss manchmal auch my butt” 1. An “a” can be pronounced in two different ways. There is „Leck mich am an a that sounds in Bavarian like an o, and one that is pro- Allerwertesten“) nounced clearly and unstressed. The Bavarian word “do“ Ha? Wie bitte? Was? Excuse me? What? is pronounced “da” in High German and means “here” or “there.” The sentence “Do kim i her” = “That’s where I come Sei ma ned bäs Nimm es mir nicht Don’t hold it against from.” However, the article “der” (the) or “ein” (a/an) is pro- übel, sei mir nicht me nounced clear and soundless in Bavarian. “Wos für a Depp!” böse means “What an idiot!” or “da Bruader” for “the brother.” I moan scho aa! Ich bin der gleichen I agree with you Meinung 2. The phonetic sound sequence “ie” or “il” is pronounced “ui” in Bavaria. The small word “viel” (many) thus turns into “vui” Ja mei Je nach Tonlage Oh my God (may or “hilf” (help) into “huif.” Ausruf des Des- show disinterest, interesses, des astonishment or 3. If a “ue” appears in a word, the Bavarian pronounces it Erstaunens oder care) sequentially as “u” and “I.” Thus, “füllen” (filling) becomes der Anteilnahme “fuin,” and “Gefühl” (emotion/feeling) turns into “Gfuih” and Mia wurscht! Mir doch egal, inter- I don’t care so on and so forth. essiert mich nicht 4. The consonant “l” at the end of a word is mostly silent, i.e. Woas i ned Weiß ich nicht I don’t know is not pronounced. Therefore, “schnell” (fast) turns into

Photo Credit: Marco2811 | by-studio – stock.adobe.com Marco2811 Credit: Photo “schney” and “mal” (once) into “moi.” Continued on page 12

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