Yes, German is spoken in Alsace, but it is not the primary daily language for most, particularly the younger generation. While French is the official language, many residents, especially older people in rural areas, speak Alsatian, a Germanic dialect closely related to Swiss-German and Alemannic, rather than standard German.
Alsatian is a Germanic dialect spoken in Alsace. Even though the French government forbade the use of Germanic languages in schools in 1945, the dialect saw something of a revival in the 1970s when a number of independent movements fought against the state's crackdown on regional languages.
Its people speak French. The city is France's seventh-largest (by population) and its second-largest river port. Strasbourg is even credited with giving France La Marseillaise. That being said, traces of Strasbourg's German past persist.
After the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War, Alsace was annexed by Germany and became a part of the 1871 unified German Empire as a formal Reichsland, or "imperial territory." After World War I the victorious Allies detached it from Germany and the province became part of the Third French Republic.
Oui, les Français utilisent l'expression « je ne sais quoi », mais elle est plus souvent utilisée comme un nom pour décrire une qualité indéfinissable ou un charme subtil, signifiant littéralement « je ne sais pas quoi ». Alors que « je ne sais pas quoi » est plus courant pour « I don't know what » (je ne sais pas quoi dire), « un je ne sais quoi » désigne cette qualité spéciale et mystérieuse.
'good' or 'nice') and its inflected form moi'n before nouns – for example moi'n dag (Low German for 'good day'). So, greeting someone with Moin means something akin to 'have a good one'. That's why you can hear Moin – or one of its variants Moin Moin, or Moinsen – at any time of day in Hamburg, even late at night.
Yes, Germans absolutely say "Guten Morgen" (Good morning) as a standard, common greeting, especially before 11 a.m., but they also use it informally by shortening it to just "Morgen," and may use it jokingly or sarcastically at other times of day. It's a fundamental German phrase for starting the day positively in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
On the other hand, Northern Germany is considered to be the region that speaks the purest Standard German, and in everyday life, little influence of dialect is heard.
According to France's Culture Ministry, there are 650,000 Alsatian dialect speakers, as well as 230,000 people who speak it occasionally. It is estimated that as much as a half of the population speaks German dialect. All also speak French, and some speak High German.
Alsatian is a Germanic language with strong influences from French, and it is considered endangered, with relatively few speakers today. That makes it all the more special — and difficult — to learn!
While many words and expressions are unique to Luxembourgish — most of its words are related to German. If you know Standard German, then it's pretty easy to recognize their corresponding form in Standard German.
"May God greet you!", or "Grüß Gott!" in German, is the unique Austrian greeting that you can learn more about in this latest episode of our series AustriANO?
In informal spoken French, we often skip pronouncing 'ne' with negated verbs. So if I was speaking in a casual context, I'd say, “Je sais pas.” To go even further, many French speakers blend the je and sais into something that might sound like “jsais pas” of even “shay pas.” This is how I say it!
Yes, Backpfeifengesicht (pronounced roughly as bahk-FY-fuhn-guh-zikh-t) is an insult, though a colloquial and humorous one, describing a face that looks like it deserves a slap or punch, used for smug, annoying, or irritating faces. It's not a vulgar swear word but rather a cheeky term highlighting someone's unpleasant expression, combining Backe (cheek) and Pfeife (whistle/slap), meaning "a face that needs a slap".
