Sport: Laufen = running. These days people talk of "Laufen" more than "Joggen", I feel. Wer joggt heutzutage noch? Gehen ist tatsächlich auch ein Sport. Und er sieht bizarr aus! As I read, Gehen is racewalking in English. Aside from sport: As for Franconia, laufen and gehen can be used synonymously, or laufen can also mean to run. If you're out of breath and say "ich bin gelaufen", you obviously mean the latter. I am not aware of any local differences with the two expressions. animals: Hm, I might say "der Bär ging langsam durch den Fluss". I would say gehen is fine if an animal is walking...

Hi Daniel, that's actually a really good question and not very easy to answer. The meaning of "laufen" und "gehen" partly depends on the local dialect. In Austria, 'laufen' means 'to run' or 'to walk fast', whereas 'gehen' just means 'to walk' or 'to go'. It's the same in some parts of Germany. In other parts of Germany the two words are used as synonyms though and just mean 'to walk' while 'gehen' can still also mean 'to go'. So if you say "Ich laufe zum Supermarkt.' Most Germans (I believe) will understand: I'm walking to the supermarket. Austrians and some Germans will unterstand: I'm running to the supermarket. If you say 'Ich gehe zum Supermarkt', it can either mean 'I'm walking to the supermarket' or 'I'm going to the supermarket' (which includes the possibility that you go there by car). You can use both 'gehen' and 'laufen' for people. When talking about animals I'd use 'laufen'. 'Das Pferd geht über die Weide' is also possibly but sounds weird.