My daughter and I have been visiting Vienna where they speak German. Really, it seems like a lovely language, more beautiful than I'd thought. On the other hand, when people start getting intense in their conversations, it often seems like they are angry and fighting, when they are not. I find that dichotomy very intriguing.

The announcements on their subway, which we took a lot, we never were able to understand with my terrible phrase book (that never had any word in it that I was looking for!). They constantly repeated one phrase over and over, and we didn't know what it meant; it sounded like: "oooosh tag" (with the "a" as in "far"). What does that mean, does anyone know? I am just curious.

Could it be Ausstieg (exit)?

Almost all of my knowledge of German can be summed up as

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and then comes the verb

"Tag" means day. "Guten Tag" means good day. Would that be possible?

Nice to see you again, Treppenwitz! How stupid of me not to realize it was Ausstieg. I am sure you are right.

Hi,

I am Austrian born and have been living in Vienna for several years. True is that I haven't been on the subways for years, but Ausstieg (exit) is not the word. It might be "aussteigen" (which would be "[please] exit".

The German noun Ausstieg is usually translated as 'disembarkation' and the verb austeigen (which form is also the polite plural imperative) 'disembark, deboard, offboard (US)'. They can also be translated as (to) exit. These are usually used when one gets off a train onto the platform (in German Bahnsteig or Gleis, aka US track). Getting on a train has a noun and verb, too: Einstieg and einsteigen. (Stieg et al. are related to Greek στιχος (stikhos) 'row, line (of poetry)'.)

The entrance Eingang, literally 'in-going', and exit Ausgang, 'out-going', are slightly different concepts.

[Fixed typo and misformatting.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

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I am Austrian born and have been living in Vienna for several years.

I very much enjoyed your beautiful city, Ursula. I am surprised that you don't frequent the subway because it was excellent transportation.

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The entrance Eingang, literally 'in-going', and exit Eingang, 'out-going', are slightly different concepts.

Is the exit Ausgang ???

Is the exit Ausgang ???

That it is. I corrected my mistake before the earth fell off of its axis and landed on its butt. OTOH, I got to watch a new print of a movie from the DDR, Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser (1957). The screenwriter, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, was there, and I got to shmooze with him at the benefit before the showing. This was part of a series hosted by the Goethe Institute, the MOMA (SF and NY), and the Amherst Film Dept. Good food, and a good little movie. Kind of like the East German version of Rebel Without a Cause.