we are celebrating Halloween, in northern Germany, the Reformation Day holiday is observed on October 31st, while in the south, All Saint's Day is celebrated on November 1st! Still, let's not forget the one thing that unifies all Germans: everyone speaks German, and it's the national language! At the same time, there are definitely regional dialects and accents that make it a little challenging to fully understand the German spoken by people from different regions. Luckily, I have to admit that when my German fails me, I can usually get by with English because there is really good English language instruction in the schools. To highlight some of the regional differences in language, a good word to start with is "hello"! Before coming to Germany, I was taught in my German classes to say Hallo (pronounced "halloh") for hello. While this usage is common all over Germany, in the North they generally say Moin ("moeen") instead. This word doesn't mean anything different; it's just another way to say hello! In the South, in Bavaria (where the castle I visited is located), people do not greet each other one with just Hallo but might also say Servus ("servoos") or Grüß Gott ("gruess got"). The second greeting (Grüß Gott) means "greetings to God" but can be used as an alternatve way to say hello.
