Culture Shock! Austria - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

The German Language 231

Quelle (source) Pronounced ‘kv’

Julia (proper name) Pronounced ‘y’ as in yule

wandern (to hike) Pronounced ‘v’ as in van

Pay special attention to umlaute, fondly known as the
‘rascalion upper double dots’. If pronounced badly, the word
is not understood. Süd (south) is like the French ‘u’ as in
‘sur’; Männer (men) uses the same vowel sound as in ‘fair’;
and schön (pretty) is like the ‘o’ in ‘some’. If you are typing a
letter and do not have umlaute on your keyboard, type an ‘e’
after the vowel; for example, instead of schön, write schoen.
Remember, the secret is to soften those vowel sounds.

ANIMAL NAMES AND THEIR CALL

One of the most interesting aspects of the language is that
animals are named according to the sound they make: Kuck-
kuck is cuckoo bird, Pfau is peacock, Uhu is owl, Kuh is cow,
Bär is bear and Krähen or KraKra is crow.

NUMBERS

Reading or writing numbers can be an extremely trying
endeavor. Either way, one must think backwards after the