Austria

To which language should you translate to localize in Austria?

The primary language used in Austria is German—or more precisely, Austrian German, which is a variety of Standard High German. It is used throughout the country in the media and other formal situations and contexts. Although it is very similar to Standard German as used in Germany, it also features quite some peculiarities regarding spelling, grammar, and vocabulary, which can be very meaningful and identity-establishing for people in this market. For localization, and depending on cost-benefit considerations, it can be beneficial for building trust and relatability on the Austrian market to take this distinction into account and opt for an actual locale-specific approach to tailor content to Austrian German. That said, most major platforms and global companies do not actually localize their content specifically for the Austrian market but rely on a unified “German” approach instead, addressing the larger DACH market (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) with one “German” voice. The Austrian audience has become used to that; hence this approach is widely accepted as well.

To which language should you translate to localize in Austria
and the DACH market?

There are many local dialects and regional language variants in the German-speaking market, which comprises a total population of 100+ million people. This broad variety is true both within Austria as well as in the larger DACH market, which consists of Germany (“Deutschland”), Austria (“Österreich”), and Switzerland (“Schweiz”). Additionally, there are German-speaking populations in the small states of Liechtenstein and Luxembourg (“Luxemburg”), and in the Italian province of South Tyrol (“Südtirol”). Context therefore matters very much: We always need to consider the specific audience to provide natural, idiomatic translations.

The safest choice for addressing the entire market is to use Standard High German, a standardized variety of German for communication in formal contexts and between different dialect areas. That said, cultural sensitivity is important, as seemingly simple choices can make quite a difference. For example, a “chair” could be a “Stuhl” for most people in Germany, whereas most Austrians would call it a “Sessel”, which in turn would be a rather specific form of chair (i.e. an armchair) for Germans. Context also matters for grammar and even spelling: A “month” would be “der Monat” (masculine) in Germany but “das Monat” (neuter) in Austria; and “street” would be spelled “Straße” in Germany and Austria but “Strasse” in Switzerland.

Official language

German (88.6%)

Actual languages

German (88.6%), Turkish (2.3%), Serbian (2.2%), Croatian (1.6%), Hungarian (0.5%), Slovenian (0.3%), Czech (0.2%), other (4.4%).

What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Austria

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

• 109/150 localize by translating into German
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both Austrian and Austrian Sign Language
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both German and Italian
• 1/150 localizes by translating into German, French and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both German and French
• 1/150 localizes by translating into German, Spanish, French, Russian, Korean and Japanese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Czech, Hungarian, Dutch, Polish and Swedish
• 1/150 localizes by translating into German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Hungarian, Polish, Thai, Ukrainian, Turkish, Romanian and Bahasa Indonesia