Posted by L.E.H on 6:02 PM

In Austria, you speak German (just in-case you didn't know) and there is nothing harder to do than to try to speak to a local. Everywhere you go you can only understand a little bit (unless you learn German in school). For example, you go to the Spar, my favorite food store in Vienna, and you want to buy some ground beef (Faschiertes). Here's the steps you would go through, or at least I go through:

1: Try to figure out which type of ground beef you actually want to buy.
2: Try to think of what to say to the person behind the counter.
3: Try to say what you thought of earlier without trying to sound like a total idiot.
4: He/She will most likely reply "Ja, gut." which mean "Yes, Good."
5: When he/she asks you a question such as "Alles?" which means "Is that everything you would like to order?" you will try to reply you're best OR if your desperate enough, you will have to say "Ich spreche nicht Deutsch." which means "I don't speak any German."
6: She will probably answer you with a "Das ist schrecklich." which means "That is BAD." and return to her work.
7: You most likely feel embarrassed and leave quickly (I have experience with this :p).

Those 7 steps is what happens to me a lot (notice how I underlined try). Although my German is coming along quite nicely, I still feel pretty uncomfortable after having that experience. That is what us ex-pats have to deal with. I have to say though, most people in Austria are always willing to help. If you ask them a question in English, they usually answer to the best of their extent. Overall, I like the German language, unlike the French language (which I unfortunately have to take as a class in school).

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