German language

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For other uses, see Deutsch (disambiguation) and German (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Germanic languages.

German (20)

Deutsch

Pronunciation [dɔʏtʃ]

Native to Primarily German-speaking Europe, also in the

worldwide German-speaking diaspora

Region German speaking countries

Native speakers 90 million (2010)[1] to 95 million (2014)[2]

L2 speakers: 10–15 million (2014)[2][3]

Language Indo-European
family
 Germanic
 West Germanic
 High German
 German (20)

Early forms Old High German

 Middle High German

 Early New High German

Standard forms German Standard German

Swiss Standard German
Austrian Standard German

Writing system Latin (German alphabet)

German Braille

Signed forms Signed German, LBG

(Lautsprachbegleitende / Lautbegleitende
Gebärden)

Official status
Official
6 countries[show]
language in

3 dependencies[show]

Several international institutions

Recognised
13 countries
minority
(minority/cultural/national language)[show]
language in

Regulated by No official regulation

(German orthography regulated by the Council for
German Orthography[4]).

Language codes

ISO 639-1 de

ISO 639-2 ger (B)

deu (T)

ISO 639-3 Variously:

deu – German
gmh – Middle High German
goh – Old High German
gct – Colonia Tovar German
bar – Bavarian
cim – Cimbrian
geh – Hutterite German
ksh – Kölsch
nds – Low German[a]
sli – Lower Silesian
ltz – Luxembourgish[b]
vmf – Mainfränkisch
mhn – Mócheno
pfl – Palatinate German
pdc – Pennsylvania German
pdt – Plautdietsch[c]
swg – Swabian German
gsw – Swiss German
uln – Unserdeutsch
sxu – Upper Saxon
wae – Walser German
 wep – Westphalian
hrx – Riograndenser Hunsrückisch
yec – Yenish

Glottolog high1287 High Franconian[6]

uppe1397 Upper German[7]

Linguasphere show
further information

(Co-)Official and majority language

Co-official, but not majority language
Statutory minority/cultural language
Non-statutory minority language
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German (Deutsch [dɔʏtʃ] ( listen)) is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central
Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language
in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium,
and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. The languages which
are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language
branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish,
and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish,
although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely
spoken Germanic language, after English.
One of the major languages of the world, German is the first language of almost 100 million people
worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union.[2][8] Together
with French, German is the second most commonly spoken foreign language in the EU after English,
making it the second biggest language in the EU in terms of overall speakers.[9] German is also the
second most widely taught foreign language in the EU after English at primary school level (but third
after English and French at lower secondary level),[10] the fourth most widely taught non-English
language in the US[11] (after Spanish, French and American Sign Language), and the second most
commonly used scientific language[12] as well as the second most widely used language on websites
after English.[13] The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of
new books, with one tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in the
German language.[14] In the United Kingdom, German and French are the most-sought after foreign
languages for businesses (with 49% and 50% of businesses identifying these two languages as the
most useful, respectively).[15]
German is an inflected language with four cases for nouns, pronouns and adjectives (nominative,
accusative, genitive, dative), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), two numbers (singular,
plural), and strong and weak verbs. German derives the majority of its vocabulary from the ancient
Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. A portion of German words are derived
from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from Frenchand Modern English. With slightly
different standardized variants (German, Austrian and Swiss Standard German), German is
a pluricentric language. Like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with
many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world.[2][16] Due to the limited
intelligibility between certain varieties and Standard German, as well as the lack of an undisputed,
scientific difference between a "dialect" and a "language",[2] some German varieties or dialect groups
(e.g. Low German or Plautdietsch[5]) are alternatively referred to as "languages" and "dialects".[1