How different is Austrian German compared to German variant?

Karl Kraus once wrote: "What differentiates Germans and Austrians is their common language." As others have noted, it's similar. read more

There is no “German” variant of the language, but a variety of German dialects. To my experience, also Austrian German differs considerably within the Austrian states. Thus, speaking German in Salzburg is rather different from speaking in Vienna. But there is a German language called Hochdeutsch which helps in both countries. read more

This is both true of Germany and Austria. The Standard German language used in Austria and Germany differ to some degree, but not so much as the Standard English of Britain and the USA differ from each other. There are differences in vocabulary, very little in grammar, and the accent is different. read more

In the variant of German that is spoken in Germany, the words stehen (to stand) and gestehen (to confess) are identical in the present perfect: habe gestanden. The Austrian variant avoids this potential ambiguity (bin gestanden from stehen, habe gestanden from gestehen). read more