All Programs
Semester High School
Year High School
Language Requirements
Applicants to the Year and Semester High School Programs in Austria are expected to enroll in an online Rosetta Stone language course and study independently prior to departure and while on program. The mandatory online course will be organized and monitored by AFS Austria who will email registration and login instructions to each student approximately 2 months prior to the start of the program.
Upon arrival in Austria, all students will be asked to pay €45 (approx $54) to cover the cost of the course. At the end of the program, AFS Austria will refund €20 (approx $24) to students who have regularly used the online course throughout their semester or year abroad. They will also provide a Certificate of Completion that indicates the language level that the student has reached, according to Rosetta Stone’s assessment. Students who do not login and use the online course on a regular basis will not be eligible for the refund nor the Certificate of Completion.
Digging Deeper
Language Resources
- Rosetta Stone: German (see Language Requirements)
- Duolingo (free language learning app)
- Memrise: German
- BBC German Language Guide
- LiveMocha
- Deutschwelle
Cultural Resources
- The Hofstede Center: Austria
- BBC: Austria
- Austrian Cultural Forum
- Culture Grams
–Username: afsusa – Password: cgrams
News and Media
- The Local (English)
- Wiener Zeitung (German)
- ORF Radio and TV (German)
- Österreich (German)
- Der Falter (German)
- Filminstitut (German)
Movies and Documentaries
- Radetzkymarsch (1965)
- Der Bockerer (1981)
- Sissi (1955)
- Indien (1993)
- The Third Man (1949)
- The Great Waltz (1938)
- The Sound of Music (1965)
- Mayerling (1968)
- Before Sunrise (1995)
- The Illusionist (2006)
- Vienna – City of Dreams (BBC)
- Echte Wiener: Die Sackbauer Saga (2008)
Books
- The Man Without Qualities
- Wittgenstein’s Nephew
- The Painted Kiss
- Embers
- Henry James’ Midnight Song
- Brother of Sleep
- The Hare with the Amber Eyes
- The Story of the Trapp Family Singers
- Beethoven: The Music and the Life
- Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture
- A Nervous Splendor
- Thunder at Twilight
- The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty
- The Austrians: A Thousand-Year Odyssey
LGBTQ
Heritage and Ethnicity Resources (Diversity)