aokoye wrote:No, that isn't correct. What I heard was Wienerisch, Berliner Dialekt, and Hianzisch. Also I'm not sure what you're definition of a "real dialect" is, but I suspect we probably have different definitions. Either that or you just weren't believing me - or both.
There are definitions for dialects, accents, and idiolects that are used in linguistics. Those definitions are what I'm referring to when I say "dialect/dialekt" save for my refering to "sprechen im dialekt" as that is an example of people not knowing the definition of dialect and not realizing that all languages are made up of dialects. That we all speak in at least one dialect (though I suspect the norm is that one is bidialectal), that we all speak in accents, and that we all have an idiolect (though I don't think most people know that term, which is fair). There are accurate linguistic definitions for all of those in the first page of
this PDF.
I do believe you what you wrote, but I don't believe you heard actual Berlin or Vienna dialect. What you call "Wienerisch" is probably a watered down version of what used to be the actual dialect. I know this definition of "dialect" doesn't conform with modern sociolinguistics, but that's not what I'm referring to anyway. In German, "der Dialekt" is traditionally something quite different than a sociolect or idiolect. Anyway, I don't want to go into this too deep but rather answer the question what I meant with "real" dialects.
As I said, the fact that you heard Wienerisch even on TV and in news broadcasts is the best proof that you didn't hear Wienerisch at all. You heard Austrian Standard German, in order to avoid the term "Hochdeutsch" here. If you'd heard actual Wiener Dialekt, you'd have had the same experience as with Hianzisch. You wouldn't have understood it.
What people call "German dialects" these days aren't the real, hardcore dialects anymore. Mostly, they consist of Standard German with a regional accent and some regional vocabulary. The "real" dialects have gone extinct for the greatest part. There are some people that still can speak Plattdeutsch, Moselfränkisch, Schwäbisch, Bairisch, Wienerisch, Tirolerisch, or Schwizerdütsch, but those are mostly elderly people. Well, in Southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, there's still more dialect than in the north, but that doesn't need to concern us right now.
Anyway, I come from a German region called Sauerland. When old people speak actual Sauerländer Platt, I can hardly understand them. They'd say things like: "Willze'n kitzken Platt met mäi kuiern?", meaning "Willst du mit mir ein bisschen Platt reden?". In my father's dialect, who comes from the isle of Rügen, that would be: "Wisse'n bädden Platt mit mi schnacken?". Looks a bit closer to Hochdeutsch, but is still quite opaque.
However, no one really talks this way any more. In the Sauerland as well as on the isle of Rügen, people speak Hochdeutsch these days with a regional accent. The same is true for Wienerisch. People may say things like: "Mogst a Flascherl Ween?" when meaning "Möchtest du ein Fläschchen Wein?", but this is still pretty mild dialect. When people speak "real" dialect, which is what Hianzisch probably was, you simply can't understand them any more.
One last anecdote, a Swiss friend of mine was once told how cute her "Schwizerdütsch" was. Her answer was: "But I'm speaking Hochdeutsch right now!" This exemplifies the difference between regional accent and actual dialect quite well. For her German friend, her Swiss-flavoured Standard German was "Schwizerdütsch", while for herself her real Zürich dialect was Schwizerdütsch. That's the difference in a nutshell.
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile! Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.