has anyone dealt with djembe-webshop.com ?

[michi]

Kind of... except that our forms of the spoken language don't differ as much, I think.

Accents ans colloquial expressions are another story, though!

Yes

Variation in German can be extreme. A person speaking Bavarian dialect will not be understood as a rule (or only poorly) by someone from north Germany, and vice versa. Linguists consider Bavarian almost a separate language. It differs considerably in both vocabulary and grammar, not just in pronunciation.

Michi.

[e2c]

Swiss German seems to be an entirely separate language - and the spelling and orthography is pretty "crazy" per German norms.

[michi]

Swiss German seems to be an entirely separate language - and the spelling and orthography is pretty "crazy" per German norms.

Depending on where in Switzerland I go, I can either just understand it, or be completely lost. And that's even though the place is only a few hundred kilometers from Munich.

Michi.

[e2c]

I believe you! When I 1st went to Zurich (many moons ago), I couldn't believe the sound of the spoken language - even though I don't really know German, I had studied a little bit and nothing the people in Zurich said bore any relationship to what I'd been taught.

But then, the French used in the area around Geneva isn't exactly standard Parisian French, either...