Germany vs Austria: Christop Waltz on the difference between Austrians and Germans

I know that you are there are your from Austria and there are like many Americans unfortunately I don't know enough about the rest of the world and I'm familiar with familiar with Germany but I don't know the the difference say but in the culture between say Austrians and Germans can you enlighten us so the difference between the Austrians and Germans is like the difference between a battleship and a waltz a battleship and a wall that's about the difference between really yeah so there's really not a lot of similarities is what you're saying how are the Austrians different I mean I know there's the the Germans there's the cliche which is they have no sense of humor duty that's not a cliche it's just 100% true well it's it's it's sort of you know Germans I hope I'm not go out on television yeah the Germans might hear about it you know they won't hear about this please speak freely it's just thank you it's just weird it's just awesome please speak thank you I think Germans always go far for a head-on collision you know in it's it's never it's it doesn't it rarely has sort of brace and melody and rhythm it's just that there's no say exactly what they mean exactly everything else is is dubious and slimy and yeah I'm behind they dubious and slimy so yeah I don't want to guess just comes out and says that but you Austrians then have a sense of humor there well it's it's the Austrians tend to make their lives easier so first of all they are very polite and second they don't mean it so and and it's just you know a mode of communication and exchange and yes in between you have a sip so um you know what can go very nice why myrish I understand exactly well know the same way we are very nice but we don't mean it no absolutely but but but you know Ireland has nine literature Nobel Prize winners in nine yeah I mean that says something for communication in a culture yes and and that the difference between in all seriousness if that's appropriate at all now I will cut this part out um the difference between the Austrians and Germans is very much like English and Irish right very much right there's the there's there's more of a sense of the silly and the absurd you you're very you're fluent in many I believe three languages yeah well that's okay yes you should be proud of that so you go to a different country even if you know the language you can say or you think you know the language you can say things that are inappropriate absolutely but I can do that anyway I could do that you don't need that is what you're saying yeah I don't need a language for that yeah

Channel: undefined

Views: 8,775,107

Rating: 4.7853155 out of 5

Keywords: christoph waltz, Germany (Country), Austria (Country), Germans (Ethnicity), Austrians (Ethnicity), comparison, difference

Id: 3r61EcyegBM

Length: 3min 19sec (199 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 29 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/Steppdeckenwolf]

He has a German father and I think also German citizenship. So although he grew up in Austria and usually refers to himself as Austrian, I think the jabs should not be taken completely seriously.

Loved: First, they're polite. Second, they don't mean it.

[u/[deleted]]

This was a bit of a mess. I really want to like Christoph Waltz but I just can't. His acting is engaging but each interview I see with him just seems to be rude.

I'd genuinely like to know the differences between Austrians and Germans, aside from dialect and geography. I'm sure there are many, but I haven't been to Austria.

[u/jetelklee]

For some reason I think he's become an arrogant prick these days. I mean, the tone in his voice, the constant cocksure remarks about everything in existence... I don't know... I get his popularity and I do like his acting, but sometimes he strikes me as Tarantino's exotic plaything unfit for smooth public exposure or... genuinely friendly dinner conversations.

[u/[deleted]]

Typical Austrian-German rivalry.

[u/SpiderFnJerusalem]

He's right. Austrians really are dubious and slimy. :D

Nah, let's be honest here he has a point though he sure likes to exagerate a lot. Kind of the act he tries to keep up wherever he goes.

[u/Quetzacoatl85]

Austrian here. ;)

Just do add to the discussion... in my opinion, differences between Austrians and Germans are marginal, and if history had played out differently, we might be even one country now. On the other hand, some of our customs and behaviors can differ a bit, but I'd say it's more of a continuum running from north to south rather than a straight line. Personally, I've always felt quite close to the Bavarian population of Germany (traditional dresses, the dialect, more "gemütlich" and not as "efficient" as the stereotype would make you believe, no Santa Claus but Christkind); and since Germans themselves sometimes say that Bavaria is a country on its own because they are so different from the rest, Austrians by extension must be a bit different too.

Let's take the directness as an example - when I was younger, I always read about the German stereotype of being very direct and in-your-face honest, and was extending and trying to check for that stereotype in Austria too (thinking that there's no difference between A and G), but also wondering how that could be true, since saying things indirectly, politely can be a thing as big in Vienna as it is in the southern US. Honestly, I was doubting US guidebooks and asking myself, how can we be MORE indirect? When I lived with some German roommates, finally I got it - yes, there are some differences. Especially in discussions, where I would have said "I think we might should try a different approach", they went something like "No, that's not possible, and you are wrong". Ohmygodsorude. But yeah, just one of those small differences; and not rude but just what you're used to of course, there's rude and nice people everywhere. Another one: Food. More Baltic and Italian influence down here. And, the biggest one: Humor. The Austrian one is much more understatement and tongue-in-cheek than the German one, which I have to admit I often find quite unsophisticated and in-your-face (I mean, come one... Mittermeier?!)

But apart from those little differences, the rest of our values, our culture, most of our history, we really are quite the same. In the end, I like one characterization I read in a travel guidebook best, because it's true also geographically: Austrians are just Italians that believe that they're Germans. ;)

[u/McDoof]

Was that (extremely clumsy) "battleship and a waltz" line a direct translation from something comparable in German?

What a dumb thing to say even if he believes it...