Would anyone care to comment...

...on the following description of the Dutch language which I read in the novel THE EMPEROR'S COLOURED COAT by John Biggins? It's the second part of a lively, adventure-filled trilogy, the fictional memoirs of an Austro-Hungarian naval officer before, during and after the First World War.

In one part of the book Otto Prohaska is rescued by a Dutch ship in the Indian Ocean, and when he hears the captain speaking Dutch he describes it thus:

"To the Austrian ear it sounded like someone speaking medieval German while trying to dislodge a fish bone stuck in his throat."

Why particularly "to the Austrian ear?"

I should point out that Prohaska is supposed to be an ethnic Czech, a polyglot who grows up speaking Czech, Polish and Viennese German, who is forced to study Latin for many years, who acquires English at an early age from a British governess, who achieves high-level Italian, as well as some French, at the naval academy, and who learns to speak Serbo-Croatian with a Dalmatian accent while serving on Austro-Hungarian naval vessels.

"To the Austrian ear it sounded like someone speaking medieval German while trying to dislodge a fish bone stuck in his throat."

That's an interesting description.
Dutch sounds like they're trying to clear their throats, while speaking, which is similar to what's said in the quote.
That's a bit sensitive and I'm aware it's subject to criticism, but I've heard, Dutch people are used to it.

Yeah, I've heard how that language is spoken in the Netherlands and in Flanders, as well as its softer, simpler, less guttural variant in South Africa.

I'm still curious about the implication of the comment "to the Austrian ear". I took that to mean the character in the novel thought German spoken by northerners was somewhat closer to the Dutch (and therefore less attractive). But I can't be sure if that was really the intended inference.

Also, I was wrong to say the Otto Prohaska series was a trilogy. There are in fact four novels.

"'to the Austro-Hungarian ear', which sounds rather clumsy,"

It maybe does, but not necessarily. It's the difference between Hungarian and German (Austrian) that would make it irrelevant.
For comparison, Serbo-Croatian wouldn't sound clumsy at all, but in this case Serbian and Croatian are practically one language.

If I was writing a novel about an Australian character listening to another language I might well write: to the Australian ear it sounded like...(whatever). Since the character is meant to be an 'Austro-Hungarian naval officer' I think it's reasonable to say "to the Austrian ear...." rather than 'to the Austro-Hungarian ear', which sounds rather clumsy, and since Dutch and German are so much related, the Austrian part has more relevance than his Hungarian or Czech background.

Yes, I don't think there's anything more significant here than the author trying to work his colourful description of the Dutch language into the story.

"Dutch is not so much a language as a disease of the throat."

(Mark Twain)