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In learning German, most resources I rely on teach "Hochdeutsch," or High German. From what I've been told, while it's essentially a very formal form of German, it's very different from what normal people speak.

For example, I always learned the word name as the feminine Name, so the sentence "I like your name" might translate to Ich mag dein Name, however from what I understand a native German would be more likely to say Ich mag dein Nam.

What's the relationship/difference between Hochdeutsch and the German spoken by actual Germans?

TheEnvironmentalist
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    Attention! »Hochdeutsch« has two different meanings: German has lots of dialects. The dialects in the lower regions in the north of the German spoken region are grouped together under the name »Niederdeutsch«. In contrast to this the dialects spoken in the higher regions (in the mountains) in the south are called »Hochdeutsch« or »Oberdeutsch«. But »Hochdeutsch« can also mean »Standarddeutsch«, i.e. the standardized and therefore »official« German as opposite of dialects. As I understand your Question you use »Hochdeutsch« in the meaning of »Standard German«. – Hubert Schölnast Jan 03 '17 at 07:30
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    (continued) But in Englisch »High German« is mainly used for the Bavarian dialects spoken in Bavaria and Austria. The standardized German that is spoken in TV and Radio and printed in books and newspapers is »Standard German« in English. So please edit your posting to clarify your question. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochdeutsch Also read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_German – Hubert Schölnast Jan 03 '17 at 07:33
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    See these related Q&A here: http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/1279/wof%c3%bcr-steht-hoch-im-begriff-hochdeutsch and http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/904/is-there-an-equivalent-prestige-dialect-of-german-in-the-same-way-received-pronu – Takkat Jan 03 '17 at 08:16
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    It would translate to Ich mag deinen Namen. (and that is how it is used, leaving local dialects aside.) – lejonet Jan 03 '17 at 08:45
  • I would say that for all of today's practical uses it suffices to distinguish between "hochdeutsch" - The language you watch TV news in - and "everything else that sounds German". Also note that "actual Germans" you refer to in your question might vary widely between regions in Germany (and other German-speaking countries). – tofro Jan 03 '17 at 09:40
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    To avoid confusion, in my view, it is best to use the two terms "Hochsprache" and "Hochdeutsch" , and not to use "Hochdeutsch" for both meanings. – Beta Jan 03 '17 at 09:47
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    Your example is wrong, as Name is masculine. You may want to correct this, so that answers can concentrate on the relevant part. – Carsten S Jan 03 '17 at 10:02
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    @TheEnvironmentalist still not right. You declined it as if Name was feminine. – c.p. Jan 03 '17 at 10:39
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    Who says "Ich mag dein Nam"? I don't know any person. This might be a certain dialect, but that's not what most people say. – Em1 Jan 03 '17 at 10:42
  • @Em1: I think you are right. I don't know any German dialect that uses the personal pronoun »ich« but omits the »en« of »Namen« (»Name« is in accusative case, so has to end with »en« in std. German). In Bavarian dialects it might be »I mog dein Nom« where both vowels noted as »o« here are half between »a« and »o« and therefore might be written as »a« too. But here »i« is used as personal pronoun, not »ich«. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think in regions where you use »ich« (not »i«), you don't omit the ending »en«. So »Ich mag dein' Namen« seems plausible to me, but not »Ich mag dein Nam«. – Hubert Schölnast Jan 03 '17 at 11:09
  • @Em1, I think in casual speech the difference between deinen and dein can be very subtle. And the schwa(?) in Namen can also almost disappear, leaving you with Nam'n. But I d not know if this is what the OP is talking about. – Carsten S Jan 03 '17 at 11:10
  • @CarstenS I should've been more specific. I'm only concerned with "Nam". While it's grammatically correct to say "deinen", it's usage is more and more declining. I myself omit it occasionally, and so do many Germans. However, "Nam" is certainly wrong (except perhaps for some dialects, probably Southern Germany) – Em1 Jan 03 '17 at 11:13
  • @Em1, I agree, I just wanted to point out that the way I pronounce Namen when I speak sloppily may be hard to distinguish from Nam. And I am quite sure that I never say dein instead of deinen, but I am increasingly unsure that the difference is perceivable to anyone. – Carsten S Jan 03 '17 at 16:35
  • @HubertSchölnast I’m not sure about the Bavarian dialects spoken in Austria, but the ones I know would use Nama (the second a being a shwa) due to the accusative case. – Jan Jan 03 '17 at 20:42
  • @Jan: I was born in Graz, lived in Styria (never forget the t!) for 30 years (25 years in Graz, 5 years between Leoben and Bruck/Mur), moved then to Vienna, where I lived all together for 20 years (in four different districts) and since one year I live in St. Pölten, capital of Lower Austria. I also have relatives living in Styria at the border to Burgenland, and I have friends in Linz and Salzburg. I think I know the dialects spoken in the middle and east regions of Austria very well, and I can't remember to have heard there anything like »nama« ever. – Hubert Schölnast Jan 04 '17 at 08:17
  • (continued) What you might have heard are people like our former minister of defence, Gerald Klug, who became famous for his pronouncing of »Soldatna«. Listen (just 15 Seconds): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wenrVEOsDkI This is not a dialect. This is a disorder, and our former minister was suffering from it, and I also have heard some other people in Austria speaking this way. But again: This is an individual speech disorder, not a dialect. – Hubert Schölnast Jan 04 '17 at 08:20
  • @HubertSchölnast (I glaub, inzwischen kenn i dei Geschichte ;)) Es geht schon hart in Richtung off-topic, aber bei uns (westliches Oberbayern) wird Name (Nominativ und Akkusativ, wenn i drüber nachdenk) als [​ˈ​namɐ] ausgesprochen – der Schlusslaut ist der gleiche wie bei Verben im Infinitiv (z.B. kennen [​ˈ​kɛnɐ]). Ich gesteh aber gerne, dass ich außer ein paar Kontakten nach Tirol Österreichisch kaum kenne. »Soldatna«, wie in deinem Video, hab i ned im Kopf gehabt. – Jan Jan 04 '17 at 22:08

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Hochdeutsch (in its meaning Standard German) is not a very formal form of German but the written form. It's standardized by a joint commision made up by German, Austrian and Swiss officials. Local variations exist, especially Swiss German has a lot of unique expressions. German-speaking communities in Luxemburg and Belgium adopt the German standard. Liechtenstein adopts the standard in the Swiss German variety, and South Tyrol in Italy adopts the Austrian German standard.

Most people don't speak Hochdeutsch by default. Instead, they speak their local dialect and can switch to a spoken form of Hochdeutsch when they are talking to someone from a non-adjacent dialect or to foreigners. It often sounds very awkward and stiff when people do this.

There are exceptions, however: for example people from the Hannover-Braunschweig region speak a "dialect" nearly indistiguishable from Hochdeutsch. Many people in Berlin don't speak dialect either as there are a great number of speakers from other parts of Germany and people have to rely on Hochdeutsch to be understood by others. In the Hannover-Braunschweig region, the Ostfälisch dialect had died out already because of this.

Hubert Schölnast
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Janka
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  • People from Berlin, who talk Berlin dialect, are not close to Hochdeutsch... I had huge trouble to understand them, e.g. 'Jeen wa eene roochen' (Gehen wir eine Rauchen?) – Iris Jan 03 '17 at 16:19
  • Yes. The Berlin dialect is still present but it's getting less and less common because of the many people from outside who are going to Berlin. I've edited the sentence which could be misunderstood. – Janka Jan 03 '17 at 16:36
  • I do not fully agree with the reasons that you give. It is also important that the dialect in Berlin is of low prestige, which is not true in Bavaria or Swabia. I would also hypothesise that the dialect in originally Low German regions was under name greater pressure to be abandoned because of its greater distance to Standard German. – Carsten S Jan 03 '17 at 16:43
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    In many northern Low German regions, people still use dialect on a daily base. The reason it died out in the Hannover-Braunschweig region was industrialisation and the high amount of Mitteldeutsch and Oberdeutsch speakers coming from the Erzgebirge, Böhmen, Schlesien to work at the new factories in that region. Hochdeutsch was required for communication. – Janka Jan 03 '17 at 16:47
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    Danke! Immer gut, wenn hier auch Leute unterwegs sind, die tatsächlich wissen, wovon sie schreiben;) Zur heutigen Bedeutung des Niederdeutschen werde ich etwas lesen müssen. – Carsten S Jan 03 '17 at 18:19