Traveling through the mountains of western Austria has made us realize how hard it must be for an English learner to understand the locals in a place like rural Kentucky (“Yuh from Ahai?”) or the Scottish Highlands (“Yi lost yer waay wee fullaa?”): in other words, how near-to-impossible it is to understand local accents. When we first crossed the border from Germany into Austria, we had absolutely no idea what people were saying because they didn’t sound like Austrians from the big cities like Vienna. The version of German that people speak in the Austrian Alps has even less in common with the standard German we are used to. The further we ventured into the Alps, the harder it became because the local accents got thicker and thicker.
Thankfully, now that we’ve had a couple of weeks to wrap our heads around this particular variant of the German language, we’ve started to understand people much better. And we’ve come to realize the following…
Austrians in the rural west adapt German words in a way that makes them very hard for speakers of Hochdeutsch (standard German) to comprehend. They leave bits out, add bits in, and of course have a wide array of their own unique and poetic vocabulary.
Let’s starts with the bits they leave out
The Austrians we’ve met emphasize specific vowels sounds, pronouncing them differently to the way a German (or even a Viennese Austrian) would. Other than that, the general rule seems to be — don’t bother pronouncing the rest of the word. This becomes very apparent when using verbs in the past tense:
| English | standard German | west Austrian dialect |
|---|---|---|
| revealed | herausgekommen | außekumma |
| gone forth | fortgegangen | furtganga |
| occurred | vorgekommen | vurkumma |
And the bits they add…
In other instances, they like to add a vowel here and there, just to make sure pronouncing things doesn’t become too easy for foreigners:
| English | standard German | west Austrian dialect |
|---|---|---|
| to do | tun | tuan |
| big beer | ein Mass | e Moass |
| yes | ja | joa |
Austrian wordplay
You can see that we have our work cut out for us when it comes to deciphering what these enthusiastic mountain folk are on about. We have, however, been making progress and we’re happy to report that this definitely gets easier with time. If you already have some basic German, your ear will quickly begin to pick up on familiar words that have been morphed by the Austrian accent. Most Austrians also speak standard German, and, if asked, are happy to translate. Despite the initial challenge, it has been a joy to learn Austrian German because the dialect has something very playful and endearing about it. Here are a few of my favorite whimsical-sounding words that we’ve picked up en route:
Zuckergoscherl
literally: “sugar mouth”
meaning: sweetheart
Kanöforön
literally: “canal trout”
meaning: rat
an Stern reissn
literally: “to rip on a star”
meaning: to trip over
Bardwisch
literally: “beard-wipe”
meaning: small broom
More useful examples of the west Austrian dialect
| English | standard German | west Austrian dialect |
|---|---|---|
| Hi | Grüß Dich! | Griaß di! |
| Skiing | Ski fahren | Schifoarn |
| Cheese | Käse | Kaas |
| Alps | Alpen | Oipn |
| Thunderstorm | Gewitter | Dunnawetter |
| biking | Radfahren | Radfoarn |
| Cows | Kühe | Kia |
| Shot (of alcohol) | ein Schnaps | a Stamperl |
| to be drunk | betrunken sein | an Rausch hobn |
| ½ liter of beer | ein großes Bier | a Hoibe (ein halbes Bier) |
| 1/3 liter beer | ein kleines Bier | a Seidl |
Follow the rest of Pia and Jimmy’s adventures on the road from Berlin to Venice:
And catch up on their bicycle tour across South America: