bluedanube apartments: Dialect vs Accent

Guys, the festive season is almost over, so it's high time to report about some trivia.

I've just came over a nice discussion about dialects ... or is it accents?

Well, how would you call it, if someone speaks obviously German, but changes the pronounciacion of words that much, that it's quite difficult to follow. And uses different words at all. Is this dialect or just a strong accent?

I remember when living in London, it was quite interesting to listen to the different kinds of "English".

The Received Pronounciation (RP) varies from Cockney quite a lot, a Liverpudlian is sometimes quite difficult to understand, as well as someone from the northern countries.

And don't forget Wales, where Welsh English is spoken, which again differs from the Welsh language!
And the wonderful Scottish accent! What a pleasure, when you finally grasp the words!
And let's not forget about all the celtic parts that made it into English ...

Oh, last but not least Anglish .... I'd rather say Germanglish - yes, this is a mix between English and German words! Like "Rucksack" or "Misch-Masch" or "Zeitgeist".

But back to the difference between German and Austrian language and Viennese dialect!

You are right, basically it's the same language. But there are a lot of words which are completely different.

Interestingly the Austrian language and its dialects has adopted lots of words from Italian, French, Slavic and Yiddish. And these words were the basics for the later dialect. Like "Trottoir" (Gehsteig-pavement) or "Lavoir" (große schüssel-big bowl) or "Kombinege"(Unterkleid-lingerie) - funny even the Brits need to borrow a french word!

These examples have almost died out - means, you will only hear them spoken by people 40+. Seems that dialect changes .....
No wonder, 44% of all pupils in Austria do not have German as their mother tongue.
Maybe that's not so bad at all, as dialect and language and accent are therefore in a constant progress!

Did you know that in Vienna there were 3 different dialects: the "Schönbrunner-ish", the "Floridsdorfer-ish" and the "Meidlinger L", as people pronounced the L in a very specific way.

Now back to the vocabulary list - Viennese-German

Sackerl - Tüte .................... plastic bag
Gackerl - Hundekot ............dog-poo
Semmerl - Brötchen ........... roll
Schwammerl - Pilz ............. mushroom
Sessel - Stuhl ..................... chair
Polster - Kissen ................. pillow
Jause - Pausenbrot ............. tea time
Fetzen - Tuch .................... shred, rug, cloth
Gwand - Kleidung ..............clothing
Kieberer - Polizist .............. police
Ohrwaschl - Ohr ............... ear
Blunzn - Blutwurst ............. black pudding
Watschn - Ohrfeige ........... slap in da face
Futzerl - kleines Stück ....... nibble
Gatsch - Brei, Schlamm ..... mash
Haxn - Bein ....................... leg
Nachtkastl -Nachttisch ....... bedside cabinet
nimmer - nicht mehr ............ no longer
Ribisel - Johannesbeere ...... red currant
Topfen - Quark ................. curd
Beisl - Wirtshaus ................ pub
a wengerl - ein bisschen ..... a bit

there are lots and lots more, but I have to hold them back for my next posts!

Maybe one final sentence, when staying at http://www.bluedanubeapartments.com/ and you wanna expierence traditional Viennese food, why not ask in a typical Viennese way:

"Wo is des nächste Beisl? Where is the local pub?

My recommendation would be : http://www.gasthof-schosztarich.at/ not even 1 minute accross the road!
Enjoy!

and

Servas! Tschüss! Byebye!