226 CultureShock! Austria
primarily from neighbouring countries. The language is a
cache of terms from Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Yiddish and
even medieval Teutonic. For example, the word Beisel, which
refers to a bar, is derived from the Hebrew bayith, meaning
house. In fact, Viennese theatre and literature are where the
Viennese dialect shines through. Many operettas by Viennese
composers such as Strauss and Lehár also make use of the
dialect spoken by the common man. It takes a special ear
and frame of mind to understand what is being said.
Here is an example of a Wiener Deutsch (Viennese German)
sentence, broken up into phrases. The proper German
equivalents are given in the next column and the English
translation follows. See if you can make it out:Viennese German
Kuaz und Guad von Herbert Pirker
Denkmoeschuz-wikl
Min schenbrunna bod
Haums wos beinaund
De aan woens oreissn
De aundan woens eahoetn
Brenna wü kana
S denkmoeaumd
Benimmd siLearning German will help make day to day errands much easier.