Archives for December 13th, 2005

A Slovenian dialect map from 1935 by Fran Ramovš. (source)

In a recent post about dialects, AZ2SI linked to a write-up he did on Resian, "an unusual Slovenian dialect spoken by about a thousand people in the
Resia Valley of north-eastern Italy." He writes: "Because of the area’s geographic
isolation, it developed separately from Slovene and other Slavic
languages, and is therefore incredibly difficult for an average
Slovenian — not to mention another Slavic speaker — to understand."

I listened to a clip (Windows media) he posted — and sure enough, I understood virtually nothing. (I could pick out a word or two, but that was it. I think I’d have an easier time understanding Slovak or another foreign language.)

It’s always remarkable to me that Slovenia, a country the size of Massachusetts, has such an astonishingly high number of dialects stuffed into such a small place. There are 32 (main) dialects, and they’re not always mutually intelligible. If you’re a fool, like me, who is learning the language, it’s enough to make you want to slit your wrists and let eternal sleep take you to a better place. I mean, imagine learning an insanely difficult language and then going 50 kilometers away and discovering it doesn’t work anymore.

I was recently exposed to some gorenjsko (Upper Carniolan) and I had to summon all my mental powers to understand what was being said. I got it, but just barely. But if someone (anyone) turns on the dialect full-blast, I get lost. It might as well be Japanese.

I better stop now before I demoralize myself any further. But do check out the clip. It’s something else.

(Thanks AZ2SI!)