What language was the grandma speaking?
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cgrill8 — 10 years ago(December 21, 2015 11:44 AM)
She was speaking German, and the Dad and Max could both understand her. Now I sort of find that odd, how Max could understand her and not speak German I mean I took 2 years of German in high school. I was NOT fluent in German but was able to say a few short sentences, at least introduce myself, ask a few questions, knew my numbers, but that was about it! When I used to work in a call center and actually had a German woman on the phone (her English was fine), but when Ich sprechen ein wenig Duetch whoa! She went so fast, it flew over my head! On paper is one thing (and somewhat easier taking your time) but actually hearing it, is ANOTHER! And tough to translate in your head when you're not dealing nor reading it everyday so if Max could understand Omi the he should have slipped up saying at least something SIMPLE in German if he was that good. Because when you hear it and think it, it's hard NOT to speak it (even when you're German is bad or wrong!) Das ist richtig!
Froliche Weinachten!
3rd generation American from a long line of Gottscheers it was Drandul, dude! -
Arvin-G-Borkar — 10 years ago(December 21, 2015 02:01 PM)
Then again, I think people are speculating a bit too much. These were actors overall. All the actors would have no idea what she was saying, only they acted like it and every time a line was said in German (if any of the actors said anything), it was because it was in the script, not because they actually knew how to speak it.
Better watch out, better start crying. Better hurry up, run and hide. Krampus is coming to town! >:) -
bluemagicmist — 10 years ago(March 03, 2016 07:21 PM)
Now I sort of find that odd, how Max could understand her and not speak German .
so if Max could understand Omi the he should have slipped up saying at least something SIMPLE in German if he was that good. Because when you hear it and think it, it's hard NOT to speak it
Not true in my case. I was exposed to Hungarian on a daily basis from age 9. I could understand nearly everything that was spoken by the time I was 10/11, I could say simple phrases, but I always replied in English.
The mind does a quick translate,lol.
How can you slip up when it's not your primary language? scratches head -
danloki — 10 years ago(March 19, 2016 10:51 AM)
Now I sort of find that odd, how Max could understand her and not speak German
Maybe it was as simple as this - so the non German members of the audience knew what they were talking about. I thought it was done really well. Obviously the director didnt want to use subtitles, and the way it was done makes you feel like the family members who couldnt understand her.
Max and Omi were the highlights for me. That was a lovely relationship. -
KingCobra686 — 9 years ago(May 11, 2016 06:20 PM)
Being able to speak German requires remembering a lot of grammar and vocabulary. Being able to understand German doesnt require as strong of an understanding. If youre only somewhat fluent in a language, you probably won't be albe to recall the translation of a lot of words, but you might be able to translate them easily when you hear them.
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cgrill8 — 9 years ago(May 12, 2016 09:09 AM)
I dunno I learned a little German in high schooland when I came upon a very excited customer who spoke German she went NUTS! And started speaking German 90 to nothing and I couldn't understand a single word, even when I asked her to slow down! What little I know I can speak it better than I can understand it by hearing now simple conversationalist speaking German is really all we learned in school and even then I didn't get a 'full' grasp on it about the only thing I remember are VERY short (not even) sentences, numbers, and days of the week! So I'm not fluent at ALL. But I guess everyone's 'knack' of learning is different. Like Japanese, I hear it's easier to speak it and hear it, than learning all the Katakana, Haragana? and Kanji which is a LOT more than just 26 alphabet letters
3rd generation American from a long line of Gottscheers it was Drandul, dude! -
KingCobra686 — 9 years ago(May 12, 2016 04:34 PM)
Well the speed of their speech will certainly make things harder.
I took some German in high school as well, and I was able to understand some of what Omi said. When she responded with "naturlich" to say "naturally", I could remember what that meant in English, but I certainly wouldnt be able to remember what "naturally" was in German on my own. -
cgrill8 — 9 years ago(May 13, 2016 09:38 AM)
Funny thing was, she didn't care I barely understood her, she just felt good speaking her native tongue for a change on the phone so got over excited (I think), but yeah, Lich is our LY so the one word I remember is wirlich /veer-lich/ which simply means 'really'. Naturlich was fairly easy to understand too. Luckily the woman playing Omi had good diction direction from her acting classes. Diction is so important in any media. I was on the radio for a while, and you DO find yourself trying to speak clearer and less in your natural dialect when you're on the air. And some people over do it speaking clear while trying to keep their dialect. Oh my, and me in my Southern dialect trying to speak German my friend who IS fluent in German would just laugh at me trying to speak German! He was correcting me left and right
I didn't care. Though our dialect CAN change depending on who your circle of friends are and how long you spend time with them. We went to Missouri when I was like, 8? Prior to my surgery, and we were there for a good week one winter visiting cousins, and my dad said we came back, and I spoke with a very clean accent and my Southern accent actually was GONE for a while way back then. I had no idea. Yet I go to Canada and a cute girl I was talking with pin pointed where I live to the CITY! That was scary, and I didn't care, it was still a turn on! 
But I come from the 'older' era when we joked about people's dialect and how people talked. My grandfather did it all the time, and his dad would even joke how the Austrians would talk at the commissary it's just natural to make fun of how other people talk. We all do it. It's not 'politically correct' anymore, and I cannot stand that crap I mean, if you can make fun of someone's accent, you should also be able to take someone making fun of you. Simple as that and we did. It was all good. It was just for fun, and not meant to be hurtful or harmful. We all have different dialect and accents. And it should be FUN to speak like someone else. It used to be high compliment to speak in another accent. Now it's supposedly hurtful whatever. Everyone can mimic a fake German accent or Italian accent if they want, but we can't pretend to speak deep South dialect without nearly being handcuffed by the speech police. Whatever
3rd generation American from a long line of Gottscheers it was Drandul, dude! -
Arvin-G-Borkar — 10 years ago(December 22, 2015 07:13 AM)
You would be surprised that even people in Austria may know more English than Austrian German. By her age, it is plausible; however, they are actors too~
Better watch out, better start crying. Better hurry up, run and hide. Krampus is coming to town! >:) -
niosudigs — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 04:33 AM)
i would be really surprised, because i am austrian and we're not nearly as good in english as the scandinavians.
and the accents are still quite strong in austrian german. strong enough to not be understodd by germans if we want to
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surject — 9 years ago(April 26, 2016 10:55 PM)
I'm not lying, that is never standard german. She had a strong accent
Standard German in the english version of the movie => Aunt Dorothy: "English, I knew it"
German with a very strong accent in the german version of the movie => Aunt Dorothy: "Akzentfrei, sie kann's ja doch" (accent-free, she can do it)
Long story short: She was dubbed in the german version of the movie to give a meaning to the scene when she told her tale in a language everyone understood. -
bastico — 10 years ago(March 03, 2016 04:30 PM)
She is an Austrian actress from Vienna and speaks that kind of Austrian dialect that they speak in Vienna. Trust me, I am from Austria.
It's like you'd say someone from New York speaks pretty much standard English. What defines the standard?