Bavarian ("Boarisch") is the language spoken in Southeast Germany and Austria. It is usually refered to as a dialect. (There is the saying: A dialect is a language without an army (e.g. not being a own country).) It is spoken in most parts of Bavaria, which is the southeastern state ("Bundesland") in Germany. In Austria a quite similiar language is spoken (mainly the "a" sound differs). Bavarian and German are fairly similar. All people in Bavaria understand high-German/standart German and most of them can speak it more or less as well. But people with German mothertongue who haven't been to Bavaria before, might not understand Bavarian!
Not everywhere in Bavaria the exact same Bavarian is spoken. Local differences exist and are partly quite big. But nevertheless the they all share a common base. The bavarian used for this course is Niederboarisch, which is the Bavarian dialect spoken in Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria, east of Munich). But most of the words and pronounciations are the same as in Oberboarisch and the people in Munich are definitely going to understand you, and you them!

This course consists so far of 20 units (not all of them online yet - but eventually) and is supposed to have about 30 units.

Have fun and good luck!

last update: 20. Januar 2012