Before moving to Austria, I remember trying to learn as much German as possible. I had beginner German CDs. I used Duolingo, and I listened to songs in German. I even read books that were set in Austria.

I stuffed the German vocabulary into my head.

And then, when I arrived in Austria, I realized that “willkommen” was not “you’re welcome”. Sure, in English, we’d translate “willkommen” as “welcome.” But in Austria, you would not use it in response to “thank you.” That’s when I learned that there was such a thing as Austrian German (it’s like the difference between American English and British English).

Knowing these nuances would be helpful if you plan on Three Days in Salzburg, Austria or you hope to Eat Your Way Through Vienna.

 

Barbara’s Tiny Cheat Sheet to Austrian German

1. Greeting

The nice thing about German is that a ton of the words are very similar to English. It is totally acceptable to greet others with “hallo.” Their hello isn’t going to be as jumpy and sharp as an American hello. Think of an Austrian “hallo” as a softer, more reserved hello.
Grüß Gott is my favorite greeting, though. It means basically “may God greet you.” I never heard it spoken in Germany, but I heard it everywhere in Austria. To my ear, it sounds like I’m saying “grease got”. But, here’s an audio in how to pronounce Grüß Gott.

2. Please/Thank You/You’re welcome

Please is a simple word, but it’s used in SO many ways. “Bitte” sounds like “bit-uh” to my ear. It works as please or “you go ahead” or “please tell me what you’d like to order”. The confusing thing is that this is the word that people will respond with if you say thank you!
Thank you is “danke” or a stronger thank you is “danke schön.” I’ve linked to pronunciations rather than trying to explain how my ear hears these two!

You’re welcome doesn’t exist as far as I know. Austrians respond to thanks with “bitte” or “bitte schön“, and they even have a joke that goes along with how circular a conversation can become with “bitte”, “danke”, and “bitte” again!

3. Good-bye

I grew up watching The Sound of Music so I believed that “Auf Wiedersehen” was good-bye. And it is! It’s just the very formal version.

In Austria, the more common word for good-bye is “tschüß” or “tschüßi”. The second is used more among good friends because it’s even more casual.

 

If you visit Austria any time soon, knowing these small things will be helpful so you stick out less. But if you’re not from Austria, well, you’ll just stick out. Accept it but try to use the language.

And if you ever write a book about Austria, be sure to research the language (especially if you use it). I once read a marvelous fiction novel, but the author used “willkommen” as “you’re welcome”!