English in German Speaking Austria

There is always the possibility of confusion when traveling to a country that speaks a different language.  Most of my experiences with problems because of language were because I did not speak German.  Whether that means not being able to read a menu, understand a sign, or answer a strangers question it did make life a little bit harder.  Thankfully though, despite many Austrians prefacing talking in English that they did not speak very good English, most Viennese spoke excellent English.  Because of this I had very little problem getting around although there were of course times when language was an issue.  There was one instance in which a language misunderstanding caused a lot of confusion and quite a bit of amusement and I thought it was a great example of what it means to be an English speaker in a German speaking country.

One day I was with three other students at the cafe at the Kunsthistorisches enjoying an absolutely fabulous lunch.  The setting was obviously beautiful and the waiter was one of the best I had had while in Austria.  He was nice, friendly, and very helpful.  Our food was delicious and, in true European style, we were able to sit and talk for an hour after we finished while we enjoyed our coffee.  When it came time to pay Karl offered to pay the whole bill with his card since he did not have any cash on him and the rest of us would just pay him back.  So, after we asked for the bill Karl handed the waiter his card to pay.  The waiter asked if we would like to leave a tip so Karl turned to us and said "Nine?" and we all agreed and responded "Yes, nine."  After this the waiter looked extremely affronted from several seconds but then his face cleared and he asked "Nine euro?"  Karl told him yes and the waiter went off to go run the card.  We all were wondering why the waiter had looked so put out when we gave him a nine euro tip.  To us it seemed like plenty, especially in a country that does not normally tip as heavily as Americans do.  When we started walking down the stair Karl just started randomly laughing.  When we asked him why he said.  "The waiter thought we were saying no tip.  He thought we all looked around at each other and said No? No tip sounds good."  At that, the rest of us started to laugh as well.

Although this was only a one small instance of miscommunication but I thought it was funny and a good representation of how even the most basic words can get you in to trouble.