Servus! That’s the informal, Bavarian way of saying hello or goodbye. And it’s relevant because today I’m bringing you a few more Bavarian phrases!

If you’re anything like me, you collect postcards from all of the places you’ve visited. Whenever you visit a touristic region with a distinct dialect, you’re likely to find postcards in that dialect. Bavaria is no exception – Bavarians are generally very proud of their dialect, so postcards like this are everywhere! But the problem is often that you won’t have a clue what they mean (unless there’s a translation – which there often isn’t). So I’ve collected all of the Bavarian postcard phrases I could find, translated them into Hochdeutsch (High German) and English, and recorded an audio for each of them, so you can hear how the Bavarian is pronounced. There is a tendency to mash several words together on these postcards into one, big word. I’ve broken those down, too. Enjoy!

1.

 

Audio Player

Ois Guade zum Gebuadsdog
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag
Best wishes on your birthday

 

2.

Audio Player

Kaafda wos schees
Kauf dir etwas schönes
Buy yourself something nice

 

3.

Audio Player

Auf jedn Foi schaust jünger aus, ois wiasd bist
Auf jeden Fall schaust du jünger aus, als wie du bist
You look younger than you are

 

4.

Audio Player

Dahoam is Dahoam
Daheim ist Daheim
Home is home

 

5.

Audio Player

Imechtnur gratuliern
Ich möchte nur gratulieren
I want to congratulate you/Congratulations

 

6.

Audio Player

Bassd scho
Passt schon
It’s all good

 

7.

Audio Player

G’jammert wird ned
Gejammert wird nicht
Don’t complain/There’s no time to complain

 

8.

Audio Player

Dassidihobdesismeiglück (dass-I-di-hob-des-is-mei-Glück)
Dass ich dich habe, das ist mein Glück
I am so lucky to have you

 

9.

Audio Player

Schee, dass’s di gibt!
Schön, dass es dich gibt!
It’s so nice you exist!

 

10.

Audio Player

I bin schdoitz auf di!
Ich bin stolz auf dich!
I am proud of you!

 

11.

Audio Player

Imogdi (I-mog-di)
Ich mag dich
I like you

 

12.

Audio Player

Ihobdigern (I-hob-di-gern)
Ich habe dich gern
I like you

 

13.

Audio Player

Woasst du überhaupt, wia gern dass I di hob?
Weißt du überhaupt, wie gern ich dich habe?
Do you even know how fond I am of you?

*

If you come across any you’d like translating, leave them in the comments and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can! And perhaps next time you’re in Bavaria and you see a Bavarian-language postcard, you’ll recognise its meaning and be inclined to buy it.