German really is a hilarious language, especially when you come from an English-speaking background. I am constantly hiding my smiles and sniggers as I listen to the chatter around me. Here’s ten of my favourites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
- Fahrt
Fahren means ‘to drive’ so there is fahrt everywhere in Austria. Driving along the autobahn will see newcomers dissolving in endless giggles over ausfahrt (exit) and einfahrt (entrance), but my favourite is gute Fahrt – which simply means ‘have a safe drive’ but is hilarious to us English speakers.
- Dick/dich
To a non-German these sound very similar. Dick means ‘thick’ and dich is a version of ‘you’. This means the latter gets used a lot. My favourite phrase would be Ich liebe dich, which when you know that ich liebe means ‘I love’, sounds a lot funnier.
- Sechs
The classic – it’s just like in New Zealand. The German number 6 is pronounced ‘sex’.
- Damit
This means ‘thereby’ or ‘so that’ but again to me it just sounds like cursing.
- Mannschaft
No! That is not what you think it is. A Mannschaft in German is simply a ‘team’.
- Fuchs/Fach
Again quite similar in sound to a non-native, Fuchs is ‘fox’ and Fach means ‘subject’ but they just sound like swearing to me!
- Bussy
For this one you have to know that a German B sounds quite similar to a P. So I think you can work it out from there. But the funniest thing is, in German this is a slang word for ‘kiss’.
- Vater
Another classic. This is the German word for ‘father’ but just sounds like someone who farts a lot.
- Schmuck
This word does not mean the dodgy guy down the road. In German, Schmuck means ‘jewellery’.
- Krapfen
And finally, this is Austria’s delicious, springy, apricot jam-filled version of a donut, but it doesn’t sound overly delicious when you hear it for the first time.
an aussie in austria 
In New Zealand “six” sounds like “sucks” to an Australian as they pronounce it like “secks”.
Yep… New Zealand accents are all a little amusing 😉