Puhoi Egerländer Dialect
Memory aids
As a start, here are some simple suggestions.Use silly pictures to help you remember
- To our ears the Puhoi Egerländer dialect for "How are you?" sounds like "Weigh gates"? The response, Good, sounds like "Goat." So, just imagine a goat weighing a huge farm gate on a kitchen scales. See it in your mind. The sillier the image, the better you will remember it. "Weigh gates?" "Goat." Got it?
Alternative methods to help you remember
- Still having trouble remembering "How are you?" Remember the second word in the dialect phrase means "go" so what you are really asking is "How are you going?" Now, in German "How are you going?" is written as "Wie geht's?" and in our Egerländer dialect as "Wöi göiht’s?" (See Kretsch's Egerländer Dictionary). The "geht's" or "göiht’s" part means "go."
- The "d-t" shift. Often the English letter d replaces the German letter t or th. For example, "day" is 'tag" in German. The d has become t. Similarly, for the word "thank" and "danke." Another example, "three" in English and "drei" in German. The letters th have become d. A similar thing seems to happen in the Puhoi Egerländer dialect.
Note. I am told that, strictly speaking, the German W should be pronounced like a V.
Note. It is no good looking up an English-German dictionary because our ancestors spoke the Egerlander dialect, not the German taught in Universities today. I suggest you look at Kretsch's Egerländer Dictionary.
I will add to this section as mnemonics come to mind or as you suggest ideas. So, mnemonics are welcomed.
Automatically play the sound clip over and over again
Repetition is a great way to learn. Don't know how to do that? See the "Having trouble" page.
The Puhoi 150th Anniversary challenge...
To remember the simple Bohemian dialect greetings and to use them with your family.