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My answer puzzled her: "No, I am from Austria. But my accent naturally sounds like German because in Austria and Germany people speak the same language!" At first she didn't understand. She asked: "But isn't that the same? Germany and Austria?" I said "no" and explained to her: Austria is south of Germany, but not a part of it. There are, of course, things we have got in common with Germany, but these are probably fewer than one might think. Firstly, there is the border between Germany and Austria because Austria is one of Germany's neighbor states. Moreover, Austria's and Germany's history is closely linked; both countries look back on fateful events such as Wold War II. Before this war started, Austria was annexed by Germany. But since 1955, when our politicians signed a treaty, the "Staatsvertrag", Austria has been an independent state again. Today every German and Austrian knows and stresses that Germany and Austria are two different nations.That is why there will always be some disputes, for instance, when discussing whether Johann Wolfgang Goethe was German or Austrian, Beethoven was born here or there, Schuhmann was from Vienna or not. Clichés exist or are, at least, propagated to distinguish Austrians and Germans. Germans are said to be correct, tidy, fast-speaking people, traveling around the world with sun-burnt faces, big cameras around their neck, drinking a lot of bear and eating sausages. Austrians, on the other hand, are considered slow, and described as placing great importance in coziness, eating fat food like 'Schnitzel', drinking Austrian wine, riding on white horses called Lipizzaners and singing beautifully like the famous Viennese boy choir, the 'Saengerknaben'.
Clichés or not, Austrians value their specifically Austrian culture highly and stress their own achievements. We are proud of our history, the magnificent buildings built when Austria was still a monarchy, the world-famous musicians, our traditions and customs.And we are proud of our language. Yes, you are right, it is the same language like in Germany; but just as there are differences between British English and American, there are also differences between Austrian and German German. Not only the pronuncation of the words, the melody, pitch and stress as well as the speed of talking differ, there is also very different vocabulary in use. You probably would not believe it, but there really are dictionaries available for "Austrian" and you can buy Austrian-German dictionaries.
One of the words you'd find in those dictionaries is "Servus", which means "good bye" in Austria; in Germany, by contrast, you'd say "Tschuess". And saying "servus" I got off the bus at the next stop. |
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