8 Comments on “HCJB begins a new series of DRM test transmissions”

1. #1 ruud
   on Nov 22nd, 2008 at 12:34

   What would be Low-German, is this simple German??

2. #2 Andy Sennitt
   on Nov 22nd, 2008 at 13:22

   From Wikipedia: Low German or Low Saxon (in Germany: Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch; in Netherlands: Nedersaksisch or Nederduuts) is any of the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in Northern Germany and eastern parts of the Netherlands.
   More information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_German

3. #3 Harald
   on Nov 22nd, 2008 at 19:47

   and it is spoken by German minority communities in parts of North, Central and South America and in parts of the ex-USSR.

4. #4 Steven Allan
   on Nov 23rd, 2008 at 01:03

   After considerable surfing, I find that although Low German means lots of things, it is recognised as a separate language spoken in localities in North Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere. However, it is broken up into numerous dialects, all of which are spoken by minorities and in view of the fact that everyone who speaks it speaks something else as well, what is the point of broadcasting in some general version of it ?

   The fact that Ruud is Dutch and did not even know what it was and that Andy lives in the Netherlands and had to look it up on Wikipedia says everything about how widespread it is not.

   We would appear to have one hour per day in a dubious minority language broadcast on a minority channel in a minority mode. I wonder how many listeners they are expecting.

5. #5 Andy Sennitt
   on Nov 23rd, 2008 at 12:26

   Well, HCJB already broadcasts in Low German, but its decision to start doing it in DRM mode in the middle of the working day in the target area is strange, to say the least. The HCJB Low German website lists a DRM transmission in Low German at 2100 UTC on 15360 kHz, but I don’t know if the new one is a replacement or an additional one. It appears that its target audience is “Russian Mennonites”, though I doubt many of them have DRM receivers I think this is more of a technical experiment than a serious attempt to get listeners. Interestingly, Ruud’s original question was “is this simple German?” Now, given that I don’t speak German but understand a little, I find that the Plattdeutsch website is a little easier to follow than other German sites I know. So the answer is probably “yes”, maybe something akin to VOA’s Special English. The website is at http://plattdeutsch.hcjb.org/

6. #6 Kai Ludwig
   on Nov 23rd, 2008 at 14:03

   Of course this DRM thing is just a technical experiment.
   The broadcasts itself started in 2002, and for the real-world audiences they are distributed in AM via the Pifo transmitters for the Americas and via Wertachtal for Europe, plus via webcast. Indeed the Russian Mennonites in North America are the primary, original target audience. Thus HCJB labels these programmes also as Plautdietsch, as this particular variant of Low German is called.
   Note how linguists not only argue whether or not Low German (indeed in High German called “Plattdeutsch”; “Niederdeutsch” is technocrat speak) is a language on its own, they also argue if the variants called Dutch Low Saxon belong to German or rather Dutch. As a matter of fact native speakers of German can understand Dutch, and Low German is somehow “in between High German and Dutch” (although linguists would presumably scream over such a description).
   It should be also mentioned that just a few decades ago those working in the education system (at least the East German one) considered it as desirable to eliminate all dialects and wanted people to speak aseptic High German only. Thus it is in my opinion quite hypocritic if their decline is now lamented from this corner.
   Another aspect: The original Brandenburg variant of Low German is more or less gone, people now speak Berlinerisch instead. Icke berlinere, wa?

7. #7 ruud
   on Nov 23rd, 2008 at 14:58

   Thanks for all the answers.
   PlattDeutch is often used by the German Landersender such as NDR3 and WDR 3, in the North this quite the same is the local language spoken in the Netherlands.
   I remember co-productions between RTV Noord (NL) and NDR 3 (Germany) in the same language which was spoken on both sides of the border.
   During the carnaval season many stand-up comedians in Germany can be seen on TV doing their show in PlattDeutch.

   Will the Germans run out for the shops to by DRM receivers to liste to the HCJB programmes in their own local language?

   I wonder if there is an international broadcaster doing programmes in Scottisch or Welsch?
   Or Frisian, which is not a dialect but a language.

8. #8 Steven Allan
   on Nov 23rd, 2008 at 15:03

   A lot of what Kai said is in agreement with my findings and the reason that Andy finds Low German easier to understand than High German is probably because it is closer to English and ABN, rather than actually being simpler.

   I also found that the words high and low refer to the height of the land, High German being spoken in the higher lands of Austria and Southern Germany and Low German being spoken in the lower lying areas of Northern Germany and the Netherlands.