Would you live in Austria if you could?

[Melki]

I spent one full year in Vienna to improve my German, I moved there 15 years ago exactly. Beautiful city, but too conservative and xenophobic for my taste. Some people displayed aggressive reactions because they believed I was from Poland, Romania or Croatia.

The truth is that many older Austrians are bitter because they miss the times when Austria was a powerful nation. Today, Austria is an anonymous and rather insipid landlocked country, a satellite of the German big brother.

Today, if I were given the choice, I would choose to live in Germany instead, it's really a cool country compared to Österreich.

[Annie999]

I visited Vienna and I liked it, though I didn't have the chance to meet many locals. I would live there for 1 year if for example me or my bf had to travel for work and had a good income.

[Mortimer]

I spent one full year in Vienna to improve my German, I moved there 15 years ago exactly. Beautiful city, but too conservative and xenophobic for my taste. Some people displayed aggressive reactions because they believed I was from Poland, Romania or Croatia.

The truth is that many older Austrians are bitter because they miss the times when Austria was a powerful nation. Today, Austria is an anonymous and rather insipid landlocked country, a satellite of the German big brother.

Today, if I were given the choice, I would choose to live in Germany instead, it's really a cool country compared to Österreich.

Do you believe France is less xenophobic? Actually I heard from some Austrians that French are quiete xenophobic, and that difference between French and English is French make fun of you if you dont speak good french but english are proud of you if you try to speak english even if its not that good. And actually when I worked at a gas station I had customers from Australia and they said "You speak good english" Thats what the english usually would say eventhough my english wasnt that good back then.

[Melki]

Do you believe France is less xenophobic? Actually I heard from some Austrians that French are quiete xenophobic, and that difference between French and English is French make fun of you if you dont speak good french but english are proud of you if you try to speak english even if its not that good. And actually when I worked at a gas station I had customers from Australia and they said "You speak good english" Thats what the english usually would say eventhough my english wasnt that good back then.

Actually, I find the French quite intolerant and xenophobic. I wouldn't like to be an immigrant in my own country.

But what I experienced in Vienna was sometimes beyond imagination.
-A few days after my arrival, I asked a girl for directions and she ran away from me, asking me to leave her alone, it was in the middle of the afternoon, not even dark!
-Controllers in the subway brutalized me because I didn't buy any ticket.
-One day, the owner of a sausage joint refused to serve me for no reason.
Because of that, I sometimes reacted agressively, telling these people that I didn't come from France to be treated like shit.
Think that I have blue-green eyes and dark blonde hair. What would have happened if I were black?

You are half-Romani. Did you experience similar difficulties at the beginning of your stay?

[Mortimer]

Actually, I find the French quite intolerant and xenophobic. I wouldn't like to be an immigrant in my own country.

But what I experienced in Vienna was sometimes beyond imagination.
-A few days after my arrival, I asked a girl for directions and she ran away from me, asking me to leave her alone, it was in the middle of the afternoon, not even dark!
-Controllers in the subway brutalized me because I didn't buy any ticket.
-One day, the owner of a sausage joint refused to serve me for no reason.
Because of that, I sometimes reacted agressively, telling these people that I didn't come from France to be treated like shit.
Think that I have blue-green eyes and dark blonde hair. What would have happened if I were black?

You are half-Romani. Did you experience similar difficulties at the beginning of your stay?

As a kid and young man, I experienced verbal abuse/bullying by peers, they said "Im brown like shit". But now as a adult I didnt experienced any racism in a long time, and never such things what you describe. But I dont live in Vienna, Vienna is 3 million people maybe there its different, usually when I ask somebody for directions he or she is friendly, even to my mum and she is darker skinned then me and doesnt speak fluent german.

[Melki]

As a kid and young man, I experienced verbal abuse/bullying by peers, they said "Im brown like shit". But now as a adult I didnt experienced any racism in a long time, and never such things what you describe. But I dont live in Vienna, Vienna is 3 million people maybe there its different, usually when I ask somebody for directions he or she is friendly, even to my mum and she is darker skinned then me and doesnt speak fluent german.

First, I felt ashamed to speak German in public places, because I was aware that my foreign accent, my poor vocabulary and my grammar mistakes would betray me, and I was afraid of people's reactions. Therefore, instead of speaking German, I started to speak English so that Austrians could think I was a tourist. But I quickly realized I came to Austria in order to improve my German, not my English. That's why I forced myself to communicate with the Austrians in their language.

The lesson I learned from that experience is that I know what it's like to be in the shoes of an immigrant. Unlike many French people, I'm always friendly and polite with foreigners in the street. No matter if they are tourists or immigrants.

[Mortimer]

First, I fell ashamed to speak German in public places, because I was aware that my foreign accent, my poor vocabulary and my grammar mistakes would betray me, and I was afraid of people's reactions. Therefore, instead of speaking German, I started to speak English so that Austrians could think I was a tourist. But I quickly realized I came to Austria in order to improve my German, not my English. That's why I forced myself to communicate with the Austrians in their language.

The lesson I learned from that experience is that I know what it's like to be in the shoes of an immigrant. Unlike many French people, I'm always friendly and polite with foreigners in the street. No matter if they are tourists or immigrants.

I see, its shit what happened to you. Usually I know Austrians as curious and even if they dont like immigrants, they would be curious about a tourist from france or usa etc. we had a brasilian for one year in our school and he got much attention and sparked curiousity

[Wadaad]

Actually, I find the French quite intolerant and xenophobic. I wouldn't like to be an immigrant in my own country.

But what I experienced in Vienna was sometimes beyond imagination.
-A few days after my arrival, I asked a girl for directions and she ran away from me, asking me to leave her alone, it was in the middle of the afternoon, not even dark!
-Controllers in the subway brutalized me because I didn't buy any ticket.
-One day, the owner of a sausage joint refused to serve me for no reason.
Because of that, I sometimes reacted agressively, telling these people that I didn't come from France to be treated like shit.
Think that I have blue-green eyes and dark blonde hair. What would have happened if I were black?

You are half-Romani. Did you experience similar difficulties at the beginning of your stay?

I respect your countrymen for looking down on imperfect French...Speech is the ambassador of a person, and if the person choose a platform to represent himself, he must be proficient in it. If you do not discriminate against imperfect speech, the result will be what we have among English speakers today: you can practically tell a person's class and character by the vocabulary, accent and diction they use: ignorant speak ignorantly, educated speak educated.

[Svipdag]

NO.

[Dandelion]

It's tribalism. Even speaking the same language in a different accent gets you treated as an outsider. But if you're really proficient they'd respond and talk back to you. Of course, there's also the introverted aspect of strangers not being used to getting spoken to which has less to do with language.