Languages of Austro-Hungarian Empire

[Mikula]

Following postcard was used during WWI for Austro-Hungarian soldiers in the time when was prepared new war operations.
Military censorhips rather deal the postcards with printed text I am healthy and I am alright, where the soldier wrote just adress and nothing else.
The text is in various languages of the Empire:
German
Hungarian
Czech
Polish
Ukrainian
Italian
Slovenian
Croatian
Romanian

Interesting for me is how long or short the same sentence could be in various languages.
Shortest in Italian:
Sono sano e sto bene
Longest in Hungarian:
Egészséges vagyok és jól érzem magamat

[Mikula]

Languages in Austro-Hungarian Military (K. und K. Armee)
Source

The KK Armee was a multinational and multilingual force. The official language of command was German, with basic orders being issued in that language. There were at least ten official languages recognised by the army, but to this should be added lots of local dialects; a person from Vienna would struggle to understand the Tyrolean or Transylvanian Saxon dialects despite the fact that they were both officially 'German'. Equally, in Galicia, the official languages of Polish and Ruthenian rubbed shoulders with local dialects such as Hucul, Goral, Lemko and Bojko. It should also be noted that about 90% of the rank and file could not read or write, as the most educated and wealthy were effectively exempted from conscription.

Officers usually spoke their own ethnic language and would be expected to command High German as well. The second or third language was usually Italian, although Hungarian and Czech were also widely spoken. Regimental officers were expected to learn the language of their men.

Given this multiplicity of various languages it is not surprising that the KK Armee developed its own internal patois, or rather two of them. The first was termed Klauderwelsch, a melange of languages that one writer notes 'passed for a means of communication in the Habsburg army'. This 'language' was an elastic method of communication, whose words and phrases were often peculiar to a regiment: a regiment with a lot of Poles in it would include more Polish words than a unit that was predominantly Bohemian.

The second is the notorious 'Armee-Slawisch'; Army Slavic. This is a sort of pigin-slavic patois where Czech words usually predominated. In the records of officers of the time, they are often referred to simply knowing 'slavic': there being no differentiation between an officer knowing Czech and one knowing Serbo-Croat for example. In both cases Army Slavic and Klauderwelsch could be used to converse with NCO's and the (very rare) occasions when an officer conversed with the men.

Officers conversing with each other would usually use High German, and this was also the language of record and official correspondence.

[MinervaItalica]

Officers usually spoke their own ethnic language and would be expected to command High German as well. The second or third language was usually Italian

Not surprised. Italian was among the languages of the court since HRE middle ages times. Holy Roman Emperors used to learn Latin, German and Italian first.

[Bezprym]

Funny thing. "I am fine" nearby "Don't write anything on this sheet" looks like you can't say anything at all even if you've lost your legs. Only "I am healthy".

Bad, bad times.

[Mikula]

Not surprised. Italian was among the languages of the court since HRE middle ages times. Holy Roman Emperors used to learn Latin, German and Italian first.

The text refers IMHO about situation before 1848 or maybe before 1866, prior the time when Hapsburgs lost most of their Italian territories.
Nevertheless in the K. K. Kriegsmarine was the influence of Italian language strong until the colapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
I read some book about K. K. Kriegsmarine and there were published samples of slang used by the sailors - mix of German, Italian and Croatian languages.

[Turul Karom]

It doesn't surprise me at all that the longest sentence was Hungarian.

WW1 was a waste of Hungarian lives.

[Mikula]

The text refers IMHO about situation before 1848 or maybe before 1866, prior the time when Hapsburgs lost most of their Italian territories.
Nevertheless in the K. K. Kriegsmarine was the influence of Italian language strong until the colapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
I read some book about K. K. Kriegsmarine and there were published samples of slang used by the sailors - mix of German, Italian and Croatian languages.

Here is example of pidgin used by a sailor, ethnical Hungarian, in dialogue with his colegue (ethnical Czech) he used following pidgin of German, Italian and Croatian, languages:
Što radi brate, warum nichts arbeit? Mein lieber šogor, schlecht, ich muss post machen. Zu aus keine van diese. Zu aus, wiesen sie, du nichts nur puszta, kukuruc, a ima -no - diese prasae - porco, und dort ist meine kuča.