text: My Victoria BC born son had to pass the 3 part test in "Austrian" German to get official status as a "regular student". I asked a Swiss born German as mother tongue speaker about variations in "German" last month. She said that there are very strong regional differences across Europe, just as there are with local French dialects around la francophonie.
  
  Have you never seen an East Coast Canadian English or Southern USA English dialect speakers on English language  TV shown with open subtitles because the producers feel that some English speaking viewers might not be able to parse their version of spoken English?
  
  "Spanish" speaking Latin Americans speak distinctive versions of the language. They sometimes view castellano spanish speakers as snobs putting on airs.