The Education Ministry of Austria is determined to preserve the country’s own version of the German Language. The ministry believes the Austrian German is being greatly influenced by the mainland German through the films and television shows.
For this reason, the education ministry launched a campaign last week to preserve Austria’s own form of German. A booklet with 64 pages was distributed to schools in an effort to inform students of this drive. The brochure encourages students to use the Austrian German language and the teachers to use specific Austrian words over their German version. It also aims to promote a better understanding of how language is used today.
This campaign came as a result of a recent research done by the University of Vienna. The study showed that more than half of Austrian teachers believed that certain German forms of vocabulary and grammar are more correct than the Austrian version.
The research also found that more words from mainland Germany were being used in schools by teachers and students. For instance, eight out of 10 students aged between 14 and 18 years old were using “tschuss” for goodbye while every third teacher used “junge” instead of “bub” to refer to a boy.
Austrians and Germans share the same language but Austria has its own phrases and words different from those used in Germany. In 1995 when Austria joined the European Union (EU), it also insisted that its German version be given a protected status.
