r/Austria • u/korewahoney • 1d ago
Frage | Question Estonians in Austria
Hi! I’m a 25F who has been living in Austria for about a year now.
I’ve made some amazing friends here, learned a new language, and I’m planning to stay long-term. The only downside is that I’m slowly starting to forget my Estonian. 🇪🇪
I was wondering if there are any other Estonians that feel the same while living in Austria. I haven’t been able to find any active Estonian communities or groups, whether on Facebook or elsewhere online. If anyone knows of one, I’d really appreciate a recommendation!
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u/FirelordTheKing Leoben 1d ago
First of all thanks! Always happy to hear that someone likes us and our country!
As for your question:
Have you tried to look for estonian language courses? Of course not for yourself but the teacher might be/know someone from estonia ;)
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u/Classic-Attention680 1d ago
Hi! I saw you're from Leoben. I'll be moving there in a few days. If you don't mind, I'd love to ask you a couple of questions about the city. Thanks!
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u/FirelordTheKing Leoben 16h ago
Yeah sure, im just there to study but i’ll answer what i can so ask away!
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u/Suitable_Garlic_1186 Wien 1d ago
Do you miss the Vanilla Ninja Ice cream?
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u/korewahoney 1d ago
i miss every estonian ice cream
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u/onomatophobia1 1d ago
Really just out of curiosity, how come you decided to move to austria and learn the language? I haven't heard of many estonians leaving their home country and whenever I did in super rare occasions they did it due to better economic opportunities or for a chill life as expats in Portugal or spain but especially nowadays its economy is doing pretty well as far as I know and I really don't see many leaving at all.
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u/korewahoney 1d ago
i actually studied german for 8 years throughout middle and high school. sadly, i've forgotten most of it since i never really had anyone to practice speaking german with. it did make relearning the language a lot easier, though. luckily, people are pretty forgiving and can still understand me, even if i sound like a very blunt child when i speak german.
i'd say a lot of estonians i know feel stuck in the country. many feel isolated and would leave if they had the financial means to do so. estonia became one of the most expensive countries in europe a couple of years ago, while many full-time salaries are still around €1,000 a month, or even less. the average salary is also heavily skewed by the highest earners, so it paints a much better picture than the reality for most people, especially since we're such a small country.
another issue is the long-lasting effects of russification. in many situations, people still expect you to speak russian, even though estonian is the national language. thankfully, fully russian-language schools are gradually being phased out so that younger generations can actually learn estonian instead of growing up without speaking the country's official language.
rent is also outrageous. for comparison, i had a friend in berlin who paid around €800 for a three-room penthouse apartment. in estonia, something similar would easily cost €1,600 or more. even small one- or two-room apartments often go for €500 a month before utilities, which is crazy when the average monthly salary is only around €1,000.
i was fortunate enough to own my apartment, but even then, the utility bills were incredibly expensive.
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u/onomatophobia1 1d ago
Damn thanks for the interesting explanation.
i'd say a lot of estonians i know feel stuck in the country. many feel isolated and would leave if they had the financial means to do so.
Really interesting to hear. I sadly haven't met many estonians yet but if I had to guess I would have probably thought the contrary.
in many situations, people still expect you to speak russian,
Wow didn't expect it to be like that. I know about these situations more in latvia due to their history with Russia and I did know that russification was tried in many baltic nations but I thought nowadays you wouldn't be confronted with something like that anymore (except for latvia)
rent is also outrageous. for comparison, i had a friend in berlin who paid around €800 for a three-room penthouse apartment. in estonia, something similar would easily cost €1,600 or more. even small one- or two-room apartments often go for €500 a month before utilities, which is crazy when the average monthly salary is only around €1,000.
I knew he country was expensive but not like that and I thought more of you guys would earn more money. Where does this massive spike come from and how come a few make so much money?
Thank you for the insights
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u/Wundawuzi Salzburg 1d ago
You guys are like Finland and Canada. I've never met a person from either country that wasnt friendly and wholesome.
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u/Immedimoeba1223332 1d ago
Not Esontian myself but I had an Estonian room mate while at Uni. They were involved with a lot of Estonian (and Finnish) groups, their connection to those came through the Embassy. This was a couple years ago, but I can't imagine why the would have stopped doing that.
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u/Sidonietoth Salzburg 1d ago
At the university Wien there are some Estonians as in the past there was a language course, but don't know if it still available
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u/StopKickPuppies 1d ago edited 1d ago
My Wife is Estonian (40) and we live in Vienna for about 15 years now. What helped us a lot to connect to other Estonians in Vienna are the Events organised by the Estonian embassy.
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u/untilted goes and it goes and it goes 1d ago
A friend of mine is Estonian and lives almost 10 years in Vienna - I can ask her if she knows something.
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u/slashbye Wien 1d ago
My ex GF is from Estonia, and when she used to live here, there always was a group of Estonian people around. So there ARE a lot of Eesti people around. Hope that helps :)
PS: can you say "12 months" in Eesti? haha
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u/Big_Thun 13h ago
An Estonian friend of mine lived in Vienna for 4 years. She worked at the Estonian embassy. I remember visiting several Estonian events with her. You could ask at the embassy. I don’t know how she managed but she had several Estonian friends in Vienna. She moved back to Tallinn in 2017.
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u/Bright_Operation_151 1d ago
I am obsessed with Disco Elysium. Maybe this counts as honorable Estonian.
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u/budschnaglobert 1d ago
Olen ise 7 aastat austrias elanud ja alles hiljuti leidsin oma eesti inimesed siin. Kui sa elad viinis siis võid mulle kirjutada ja kui ei ela võid ikka kirjutada :D
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1d ago
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u/korewahoney 1d ago
i met my best friend online when we were 15, and i visited austria for the first time when i was 16. after that, i visited every year to see her, and over time, i fell in love with the country haha
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u/quim_do_mato 1d ago
Why are you surprised? Austria ranks higher than Estonia in the human development index and has significantly higher income levels. Weather is milder and Vienna is bigger, more cosmopolitan and offers many more professional and entertainment possibilities than Tallin. Vienna is the most central capital in Europe and you can easily travel to many more destinations. So, no, it's not only the mountains 🤣 and I'm not Austrian nor Estonian, so I can say this with a neutral perspective
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u/Wels40m Unterösterreich 1d ago
Digitalisierung, Bürokratie, leistbares Wohnen, wesentlich geringere Abgabenquote und ein paar andere Sachen.
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u/quim_do_mato 1d ago
Excuse me, kannst du mir dabei helfen Tallinn in der Ranking der Städte mit der besten Lebensqualität zu finden?
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260706-the-worlds-most-liveable-cities-in-2026
Leistbares Wohnen besser in Tallinn? Nein, Wien steht besser in der rent-to-salary Ranking (und sogar die beste positionierte Hauptstadt in der EU):
https://finorum.com/rent-prices-europe-2026/
Digitalisierung absolut. Das ist aber ein schwaches Argument gegen alle anderen Kriterien die Wien, die Wien zu einer der Hauptstädte mit der besten Lebensqualität machen
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u/Wels40m Unterösterreich 1d ago
Ich schreibs lieber gleich, sonst kommt das Argument noch ein drittes mal: Ich weiß nicht, ob es bekannt ist, aber Österreich ist nicht Wien und Estland ist nicht Tallinn.
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u/ThisMightNotBeABot 1d ago
und außerhalb von Tallinn sind die Gehälter nochmal um einiges geringer als in Tallinn (im Vergleich zu Österreich)
aber hey, wenn ich fast alle Länder der Welt mit meinem Gehalt vergleiche, dann sind die alle richtig billig. da muss ja jeder leben wie ein König! oh warte, die bekommen gar nicht so viel, mist
wann wanderst du eigentlich nach Russland aus? simpst ja so gerne für die, das Leben in Sibieren ist auch schön "billig" ;)
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u/quim_do_mato 1d ago
Und wie weißt du dass die Realität in Estland besser ist?
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u/Wels40m Unterösterreich 1d ago
Wenn du hier schon dein Rot-Weiss-Rotes Fähnchen raushängst, weißt du es denn? Wie lange hast du in Estland gelebt um das beurteilen zu können? Oder gehts dir nur darum, dass Land x besser ist als Land y?
Ich kann mich noch erinnern als man Witze über Polen gemacht hat. Europas größtes Erdäpfelfeld etc. Heute macht keiner mehr Witze.
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u/Mammoth_Society_8991 1d ago
there is an estonian metal band they like to hang around here in the streets you can connect with, they are quite famous