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I see strange spelling and words in movie subtitles and books quite often. There are spellings like "ick" instead of "ich" and phrases like "Wat ist n det für n Blödsinn?". I need some online dictionary or a reference to be able to translate such things. Can you recommend some?

onerror
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    The problem is that most of these forms are somehow derived from the local dialect, so you would need a comprehensive set of books/references for all the different dialects of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the other countries where German is spoken. It’s not as easy as e.g. (England) English where the colloquial forms are more or less similar all across the country, save the occasional local influence. – Jan Dec 29 '15 at 12:45
  • Are there at least some references for Berlin colloquial forms? – onerror Dec 29 '15 at 12:47
  • Probably, but I’m not a good person to answer that ^^' – Jan Dec 29 '15 at 12:49
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    Perhaps suggestions here are helpful. – Em1 Dec 29 '15 at 14:21
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    http://www.spreetaufe.de/berlinerisch-berliner-jargon/woerterbuch-berlinisch-a-h/ – Iris Dec 29 '15 at 15:27
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    Answers to this question could also go there: http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/349/is-there-an-online-german-dialect-dictionary where a Berlin dialect dictionary is desperately missing. Ping to @Iris ;) – Takkat Dec 29 '15 at 16:11
  • yeah, but still... It's hard to believe there's no universal dictionary to cover all the cases. Take the example sentence from my original question. What is the best strategy to translate things like that? What is "n" there? Where would I find info on things like that? The list of Berlin dialect words gives you "ick" but no "n" – onerror Dec 29 '15 at 19:39
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    @onerror: All dialects use more or less regular sound shifts and shortenings. So the standard German variant is "Was ist denn das für ein Blödsinn?". The shortening of "ein/einen" to "n/nen" happens in many dialects, forms like "ick, icke" and "wat" are typcal for Berlin dialect. Try to listen to some dialects and get a feel for the sound changes. And I've never seen a dictionary for English dialects, either, I learned them by listening to them. :-) – dirkt Dec 29 '15 at 20:37
  • @Takkat, Andeutung verstanden ;) – Iris Dec 29 '15 at 22:51
  • »Ick« is not colloquial in the sense of common used across the German spoken area. It is just a word from a local dialect (I guess Berlin), and I wonder what movies are subtitles in Berlin dialect. Same for »Wat ist n det für n Blödsinn«: Nobody living in Bavaria, Austria or Switzerland would speak this way. – Hubert Schölnast Dec 31 '15 at 06:24
  • @HubertSchölnast the subtitles I found are from the movie Boxhagener Platz – onerror Dec 31 '15 at 19:15

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What you mean is the Berliner slang. I think there's no translator like Google Translator or Leo.org available, because even people who use this language often don't really know how to write the words correctly :D

But you may find the most important phrases and words here: http://www.spreetaufe.de/berlinerisch-berliner-jargon/woerterbuch-berlinisch-a-h/

Smort
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