Post: #1

I've been taking german classes since a few months and am at a conversational level now.
Reason why, Germany is probably the most advanced country in my field of work and all technologies come from there.

I was wondering what are the biggest cultural differences between Austria and Germany, for girls (differences between austrian and german girls), biggest differences for guys (what is acceptable in austria vs gemany, who is more liberal, who is colder..).

Historically why didn't Austria became part of the German state?

Where do the swiss stand?

Post: #2

Off the top of my head, I can recall that Austria became separate and more powerful than the rest of the German states (Holy Roman Empire) starting around the 1400's or so. Keep in mind that "Germany" as we know it today does not exist until the mid-1800's; and the Austrian empire is in full swing under the Habsburgs by the time that happens. The unified Germany comes into existence after a long period (starting in the 1600's) in which the state of Prussia finally rises to being the most powerful of the German states. Bismarck and company were the ones that actually got the ball rolling on a definitive Deutschland, although more liberal groups had been clamoring for a unified Germany before the 1871 (like the burschenschaften and 1848 revolutionaries). I can't speak for cultural differences.

I know little about Switzerland but I do remember the cantons fighting a war against Austria during the Renaissance period to gain supremacy.

Post: #3

The most disappointing thing will be that all Germans speak English "very well" and will want to impress this on you. They will hear your accent and even if you ask a question in German, 30% of the time they will answer in English. You will wonder why you even take the time to learn the language.

For pure language acquisition you will want to go to Germany because most people will speak Hochdeutsch. Austrian German will be more difficult to understand, especially for someone at your level. They speak with a very strong dialect, similar to Bavarian. Swiss German is the most extreme, and native German speakers really have to concentrate to figure out what Swiss Germans are saying.

Culturally, Austria and Germany are very similar. Austria is more alpine, has a more Catholic feel to it (even though it's just as godless as anywhere else in Western Europe), and Austrians are not afraid of national pride or speaking well about their country. The Austrians still resent losing Südtirol to the Italians in WWI. The Germans are not very patriotic and still carry the historical baggage of WWII on their shoulders and the only time you will see the German flag is at a soccer game. Germany as a whole is pretty liberal. Southern Germany is more conservative (but still liberal), and Austria is about on par with southern Germany. In both Germany and Austria the people are cold. Not unfriendly, just cold.

For your question about being united as one state, you could phrase it the other way...why didn't Germany become a part of Austria? For most of Germany's history it has been a collection of semi-independent states, and each area had its own dialect. Certain states were more powerful than others. The Habsburgs in Austria were certainly powerful, and they built an empire to the east and south and took in many different cultures and languages (they were blocked from expansion to the north by competing powers). The Germans had a couple powerful states, but ultimately it was the Prussians who united Germany and put an end to Austrian dreams of taking over Bavaria. The Prussians were not well liked in the border regions of the west, and in the south the people were culturally closer to the Austrians than the Prussians.

The Treaty of Versailles specifically forbade the unification of Germany and Austria to prevent postwar Germany from becoming too powerful.

In the early 1930s Austria was ruled by a fascist dictator named Dollfuss who outlawed the Nazi party and tried to prevent the Germans from taking over. He was assassinated in a Nazi coup, but at this point in time Austria was a buffer state for the Italians and Mussolini did not trust Hitler, and Mussolini mobilized the Italian Army on the Austrian border and threatened to invade if the Germans tried to annex Austria (just imagine how history would have been different if Germany and Italy would have gone to war in 1934 over Austria). The Germans stood down and after that Hitler started to try and win over his "frenemy" Mussolini with promises of empire and territory gains. The next time the Germans tried to take over Austria the Italians did not stand in their way.

After WWII Austria was occupied by the Allied Powers and was split into occupation zones. The Societs weren't really interested in holding Austria (not a lot of resources, not a lot of industry, not many people, lots of mountains). As a condition of Soviet withdrawl, the Austrians had to remain neutral and never be unified with Germany.

On a lighter note, the Austrians like to joke they are better than the Germans-
Österreich...das bessere Deutschland.

Post: #4

I found the Austrians to be a bit warmer than the Germans. Which isn't saying much. It must be the Catholic tradition, as opposed to the dour Protestantism of the Hochdeutsch.

(06-11-2016 08:34 PM)frozen-ace Wrote:  The most disappointing thing will be that all Germans speak English "very well" and will want to impress this on you. They will hear your accent and even if you ask a question in German, 30% of the time they will answer in English. You will wonder why you even take the time to learn the language.

I found German English-language ability to be wildly overrated. Fluency was nowhere near as ubiquitous nor perfect as Scandinavia or even the Netherlands. Doesn't stop them from insisting on practising though.

Even in cities, it's not uncommon to find Germans who speak English very badly or not all. I took a blablacar towards Frankfurt whose driver struggled to understand my even rudimentary sentences in English. He tried to chip in with the little English he knew though, giving how halting my German was.

Post: #5

Austria is closer to Italy culturally. Better food + architecture + close to alps. German cities are all destroyed and the women are masculine. Go the Austria.

Post: #6

I assume the previous post is irony; frozen-ace however is spot on, except for the language part were JWLZG is right. Yes, most of us have no trouble understanding and writing English, but speaking levels vary greatly. Last time I went home I was actually a bit shocked how poor some of my friend's English is when they are forced to speak it. Interesting side fact for some of you: One reason why the Scandinavians and Dutch speak far better English than Germans is that TV programmes and movies don't get translated, as opposed to the German-speaking countries.

As a rule of thumb, the further south you go, the friendlier it is. I'm from the North East and was surprised how nice the people treated me when I first went to Bavaria. Germany's South is also the powerhouse of the country, so under these premises I'd probably go there if I were in the OS' situation.

Other than that, there are only few differences between Austria and Germany, I'd apply this for the girls too. The Swiss however have a quite different understanding of how certain things, especially politics, should work - not surprising given their unique form of democracy. General living standards are higher than in both Germany or Austria, but that comes at the price of being the most expensive country in the world along with Norway.

Post: #7

(06-12-2016 11:08 AM)churros Wrote:  Austria is closer to Bavaria culturally. Better food + architecture + close to alps. German cities are all destroyed and the women are masculine. Go the Austria.

Fixed it for you.

Post: #8

Maybe this helps you, Christoph Waltz talks about the difference between Austrians and Germans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r61EcyegBM

I'm Austrian myself and I think we tend to be a bit more laid back than Germans (similar to Bavarians I guess), which might have to do with all the mountains and beautiful nature. But keep in mind that Vienna can be quite different from the "rest of Austria". It's a very international city with a lot of immigration (about every second Viennese has got some sort of migration background) and a lot of exchange students, so there probably isn't such a thing as a foreigner effect. Still it's a very beautiful city with a lot of culture, architecture and some nice parks.
As far as the level of English is concerned, it depends both on age and educational level. Young people usually speak good English, older people only if they are well educated. Austrian dialects, which can be hard to understand, are mainly present in the countryside nowadays and young Viennese people tend to speak "Hochdeutsch".
When it comes to girls I'm not sure if there are large differences between Austria and Germany, I can only assure you that ONS and SNL are common in Viennese nightlife (although you'll often need a second date for the lay). Also keep in mind that during the summer months (July to end of September) students enjoy their holidays and the city gets a bit emptier.

Post: #9

Germany : Women are okay in looks but a bit boring and feminist, open to foreigners except arabs and turks, competition does not approach but they do not need to because they already give women what they want, good economy for now, low crime though with many migrants there it is getting higher. Big country with many cities where you can live. I liked Munich the most but you need time to crack the place.

Austria : Only been to Vienna, alot of pretty girls, local girls are okay but there are many sexy immigrant women from the balkans living there, local social circles are a bit hard to crack but this is probably because i am Serbian and we do not have a good reputation. The best thing about Vienna is that you are close to other cities with great women by train. Budapest, Belgrade, Ljubljana etc. are all close by. It would make a great base in Europe.

Switzerland : Lived here for a while. Switzerland is the best country in Europe for everything except women. Local Swiss girls are pretty but they have a major attitude and very hard to get. There are many rich and goodlooking men here with high status, i hear guys complain about Australia but they have not gamed young Swiss women. There are also female immigrants from the balkan here but it does not really make a difference. For everything else though, i would pick Switzerland over Germany and Austria.

Post: #10

Austrian women are still feminine, fun, easy going, and actually have personality. German women are mind numbingly boring and masculine. I could go in depth, but Austrian. Always Austrian lol.

Post: #11

(06-15-2016 06:03 AM)Rush87 Wrote:  Austrian women are still feminine, fun, easy going, and actually have personality. German women are mind numbingly boring and masculine. I could go in depth, but Austrian. Always Austrian lol.

The men on the ground might disagree with you. They do appear more feminine and friendlier than German women. However, when you see a bunch of Austrians on a reality show called "The Business of Love" (one of them is an alpha male boxer who has trouble getting a girl) traveling to Eastern Europe to find women, you wonder if it's truly different than the Anglosphere (maybe even harder).





The entire seasons:

http://atv.at/das-geschaeft-mit-der-liebe-staffel-1/

Post: #12

^^ i would not necessarily say that theses impressions are accurate.This show is made by ATV, a station which is known for producing the dumbest shit one can imagine and obviously they want views so you don't get to see the reality but the vision of the producers which caters to the (dumb) audience.

That said, I generally agree with Rush87, Austrian girls are way more appealing than Germans (with the exception of some bavarian girls, these can be quite cool). I really have a hard time connecting with german girls because a lot of them are so unbelievably vapid and to carry a conversation with them is often unpleasant.

Post: #13

As a German, the answer is Austria in every respect - quality of life, food, girls, cities, nature, sights. Only if you really need crazy nightlife every day you should be looking elsewhere but even then Prague is not too far away for a weekend trip.

Post: #14

The southern parts of Germany are often more close to Austria then to the northern parts of Germany be culture and mentality. Especially Bavaria. I'm from the south and find it more easy to get along in Austria then in northern Germany. There is a mentality difference between the north and the south in Germany. They say in the north they are more direct in the south more indirect. Also that the north is colder and in the south they are more charming but hard to crack. With be friendly I don't know. I meet people that say people from the south are more friendly others say the people from the south are more reserved. I just know that people from Swabia are the hardest to crack and very distant. At the end you also have to see if you go to a big city like Vienna, Munich or Nuremberg or to a smaller town. Berlin and Hamburg are also different then a small town in the north.

Post: #15

Northern German women are the most beautiful german women, I think they have some of the most beautiful women in the continent, but thats a personal taste.

Post: #16

Germans: More hipster
Austrians: More traditional

Post: #17

Austria and Bavaria > rest of Germany.

Post: #18

Just spent a week in Vienna

On Tinder I had two girls (one 6 and another 7.5) ask me out for drinks. Met up with the 7.5 because why not, got a good ONS

although, within two hours of landing in Vienna I did manage to have some random Austrian guy walk in front of me and spit in my path while saying something in German (I don't speak a word of German so I have no clue as to what he was saying) I'm a 24 y/o Jamaican-American so it probably had to do with the fact that I'm black and he mistook me for a migrant or was flat out racist.

seems like everyone under 30 was really cool