Many questions about Cologne (KÃ¶ln), what do they speak there, is it a nice city...?

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EvCaCeLy

i know a lot of people who speak a weird dialect in cologne, but i thing the majority speaks High or standard German.

I live in Hamburg and i personally think that Hamburg is the best German city ever. We speak, of course standard German and the city is beautiful. It's bigger and more modernized than cologne.

I don't know if cologne is more appropriated for foreign students/worker not and i could not find something for you.

Did you already check that site http://www.koeln.de/en/ ?

I recommend you Hamburg^^ We are also friendly people

dotty.blue

Hey, I lived in between Cologne and Dusseldorf last year! The Dom is pretty dominating, but theres lots more to Cologne than that!!! The people are friendly, warm, have a great sense of humour and are up for a laugh! Theres also lots of students who live in Cologne! Also, it's really near Dusseldorf which is also a great city, especially for nightlife and shopping ;)

I've been to Berlin on trips but never lived there. However, Berlins an amazing place and also cheaper than cities in the west. I'm sure you'd love living there too.

Don't think you'd be missing out if you chose cologne though!!

rio-blanco

@EvCaCeLy: You can't compare Cologne and Berlin with Hamburg, that is really unfair. Hamburg belongs to the top players in EU. In comparison to Hamburg all other German cities are simply second class. Despite of this it is the typical local character of Cologne, that makes this city charming. Yes they donÂ´t have much more than the Dome and some Roman ruins nearby. But Cologne is a very liberal city with warm, hearty people. You will love it there. But do not believe, you will learn German there, even a German needs there a translator.

Berlin is the city, suffering most under the cold war. The economic stats are desasterous.

Hamburg beeing always a rich city is the winner of reunification. They say German economy will fall into resession next year but Hamburg. Our plus is not so big like in the years before, but it will be a plus. Because the economics are so splended, the Senate can spend a lot of money for culture, and therefore Hamburg is No. 1 in German city tourism. You cannot compare Hamburg to other German cities, but all of them have a special flair.

If you want to learn German, you have to go to Hannover. Due to a research of the Italian Ministery of Foreign Affairs there the best German is spoken.

Thomas t

Short Answer:

They will speak standard german.
They can speak a dialect of course, called "KÃ¶lsch" (like a, what they call beer)

You wont have problems to speak standard german in cologne.
though they have a dialect too, everybody is able to speak normal standard german, and will do that in most cases.

CheGuevara

The "Standard" German language is spoken in the area of Hannover. Everywhere else there is a dialect spoken. In some regions you don't hear much difference ( for example Bremen or Hamburg ), in some regions even native speakers sometimes can't understand the dialect ( for example Bavaria or Saxonia ). In some regions you'll also find that only some old people really speak the local dialect which sometimes even the youth doesn't understand anymore while in other regions everyone speaks the dialect.
Cologne has a strong dialect which can be hard to understand and is still spoken by many who grew up in Cologne. So for someone who learned German as a foreign language I guess it could be hard.

But Cologne is indeed a very beautiful city which is definitely worth a visit. I've found that people from Cologne are very warm, friendly, always humourous and always welcoming everyone. ( Nothing against Hamburg, but people in northern Germany sometimes seem a bit cold and unfriendly at first sight. ( ONLY at first sight )) And if you're going there to learn German they definitely not teach you the dialect, but the "standard German". And don't worry! Nobody will think it to be impolite if you say something like "sorry, I don't understand you". They'll do their best to leave away the dialect!

Zoe Dot

Koelsch

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