OUR STORY
Our story
My name is Graham Crewe. I moved to Austria with my wife in 2006 having taught business in the UK for a number of years. In 2007, Facebook launched groups so I thought I'd try to set one up. Rather randomly I chose to create one called English Speakers in Salzburg. I've never liked the word "expat" which is why I fortuitously chose the phrase "English Speakers": This opened the group out to anyone in Salzburg who spoke English and not just English native speakers.
Over the next few years the group grew without me doing anything. Suddenly I realised that there were 400 members and I thought I ought to take responsibility.
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That group has now grown to around 15,000 members. In May 2020 we launched English Speakers in Austria which today has over 34,000 members. We have Facebook groups in all provinces as well as niche groups such as our LGBTIQA+ group, and groups for hiking, cycling, parents and musicians. In total our community has well over 50,000 members.
Of course I couldn't possibly manage this growth alone. A huge amount of work takes place in the background such as approving/rejecting new members, approving posts, removing content which goes against our rules and posting useful information as well as a lot of discussion, problem solving and planning. None of this would be possible without a dedicated team of over 40 volunteers who I am hugely indebted to. You will find a number of them listed under Team in the menu.
Our Ethos
We aim to be very friendly and helpful - not in an over-the-top way but genuinely so.
It's always been very important to us that this community is for people living in or moving to Austria who want to communicate in English - it is not an exclusive haven for native speakers. Nobody will criticise or judge your English. We will appreciate that you have tried. To this end we ensure that our admin team is as diverse as possible, including having non-native English speakers on board.
We hope that members both give and take from the group: this means taking the trouble to answer other people's questions as well as asking your own - or advertising your own business.
Our goal is to be THE place to go for relevant and up-to-date local information, to discuss local events, or just to have a chat with local people who feel your pain!
Curious to know more?
Kiwi influencer in Austria, Jonny Balchin, interviewed Graham for his Austrian Kiwi (formerly known as "Winging It") podcast in August 2021.