Dear Nicky,
Dialect tells us the complete information of relational databse which is returning metadata by the JdbcDreiver.
this property use to map data base according to the driver which we are using in application
for example if u are using Oracle data base then u need to mention the bellow dialect
Oracle (any version) - org.hibernate.dialect.OracleDialect
Like this so many dialect provided by the hibernate according to ur required databse For Example:
DB2 - org.hibernate.dialect.DB2Dialect
HypersonicSQL - org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect
Informix - org.hibernate.dialect.InformixDialect
Ingres - org.hibernate.dialect.IngresDialect
Interbase - org.hibernate.dialect.InterbaseDialect
Pointbase - org.hibernate.dialect.PointbaseDialect
PostgreSQL - org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect
Mckoi SQL - org.hibernate.dialect.MckoiDialect
Microsoft SQL Server - org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServerDialect
MySQL - org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect
Oracle (any version) - org.hibernate.dialect.OracleDialect
Oracle 9 - org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle9Dialect
Progress - org.hibernate.dialect.ProgressDialect
FrontBase - org.hibernate.dialect.FrontbaseDialect
SAP DB - org.hibernate.dialect.SAPDBDialect
Sybase - org.hibernate.dialect.SybaseDialect
Basicaly it depends upon which dfriver u are using according to driver you need to mention dialect property
Rgds,
gyan