Mária speaking Swabian, Hungarian

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CC BY-SA 4.0

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This video was recored by Mária's grandson Márton Tóth in Perbál, Hungary, where she lives. She is a member of the Danube Swabian community, descendents of German-speaking peoples who settled southeastern Europe between the 17th and 18th centuries. Her native language, Swabian, known locally as 'Sváb', is spoken by over 800,000 people, principally in the Swabia region of southwestern Germany, as well as in parts of Hungary and Romania; it remains politically unrecognized by all three governments. A Germanic language, it is closely related to German, Bavarian, and Dutch, among others. Mária's other primary language, Hungarian, is spoken by as many as 13 million people worlwide.

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