THE GERMAN LANGUAGE

I discussed the tension between Germans and Turks residing in Germany in the last post, which was caused by racism and language barriers. In the first portion of this post, I will discuss the origins of Germanic languages, German characteristics, nations where this language is spoken, and my own thoughts on this important European language.

ORIGIN OF THE  GERMANIC LANGUAGES 

The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family that is spoken natively by around 515 million people, mostly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. With roughly 360–400 million native speakers, English is the most widely spoken Germanic language, followed by German (100 million speakers), Dutch (24 million), and Afrikaans (7.1 million). Yiddish, which was spoken by about 13 million Jews in Europe before to World War II, presently has approximately 1.5 million proficient speakers. Since the Middle Ages, these languages have been heavily impacted by Low German, whose terms account for around 30–60% of their vocabulary. Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German is one of the few remaining North Germanic languages.
Other extinct languages in the East Germanic branch include Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic. Proto-Germanic, also known as Common Germanic, is the common ancestor of all languages in this branch. It was spoken in Iron Age Scandinavia during the middle of the first millennium BC.

GERMAN LANGUAGE  SPECIFICITIES 
German is an inflected language having four cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative) for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives, three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and strong and weak verbs. German is the native language of about 90 million people globally, making it one of the languages with the most native speakers. German, along with English, Frisian, and Dutch, is a member of the Indo-European language family's West Germanic group (Netherlandic, Flemish). High German is a dialect of Middle High German that is spoken in Germany's central and southern highlands, Austria, and Switzerland. Low German, which has no single modern literary standard, is the spoken language of northern Germany's lowlands. Alemannic dialects are spoken in Switzerland, western Austria, Swabia, and Liechtenstein, as well as in  the Alsace region of France.

The most important German-speaking nations 
Despite the fact that German is spoken all across the world, it is only the official language of six nations. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland are all part of a shared territorial territory that is centered on Germany. In terms of both size and population, Germany is by far the largest of these countries. It is more than eight times the size of the next-largest country on the list, Belgium, which has a population of 11.4 million people. Although both Austria and Switzerland have populations of over 8 million people, Switzerland has four official languages, with German and Swiss German being the most generally spoken (by more than 60 percent of the population).

Austria

Austria's single official language is German, which is spoken by 98 percent of the population. Austrian German is the formal name for the official language, which is a variant of German with Austro-Bavarian characteristics. Another West Germanic language spoken in portions of Hungary and the Czech Republic is Hungarian. However, Standard German is spoken by the majority of Austrians.

Belgium

The official languages of Belgium are Dutch, French, and German. Because of the concentration of German-speaking residents along the border, it is the country's third-most-spoken language. In Belgium, there are four distinct linguistic areas, the fourth of which is a bilingual Dutch-French region centered on the capital, Brussels.

Germany

German is the official language of Germany, and 95% of the population are native speakers. About two-thirds of Germans speak at least one foreign language, and 27% can speak two. Turkish is a minority language spoken by 1.8% and Kurdish by 0.3%. English is the most commonly taught foreign language in Germany, followed by French and Latin.

Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein's native language is German, and around 86 percent of the population speaks it as a first language. The nation covers 62 square miles and has a population of only 40,000 people. Swiss German (spoken by roughly 29,000 people) and Alemannic are among the Germanic languages and dialects spoken.
Luxembourg
Luxembourgish, the native language, is the major language of the country, which shares a southern border with France. Although English is not an official language, 80 percent of the population speaks it; German and French are also frequently spoken.

Switzerland

There are 26 cantons in Switzerland, each with its own administration and official language. Swiss German is the most frequently spoken language, with French and Italian spoken by about a quarter of the population. Only 0.5 percent of the population speaks Romansh (or Rumantsch), which is localised in tiny areas in the south-east.

FUN FACT

German was once the second-most common language in the United States. In 2010, the U.S. had 331 million people and just over 1 million German speakers. Today, English ranks first with 1.5 billion learners, followed by French and Chinese. German and Spanish are neck-and-neck for fourth place at 14.5 million each.

PERSONAL OPINION ABOUT THE GERMAN LANGUAGE

Because German is so extensively spoken in Europe, studying it might be a smart idea if you're planning a vacation there. In many aspects, it resembles English, and the two languages have a common ancestor. Learning German can help you communicate with German guests and learn about the history of the English language.  

SOURCES

German Language | Origin, History, Characteristics, & Facts. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/German-language.

Harbert, W. (2007). The Germanic languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

German-Speaking Countries Around the World. (2021, September 7). Language learning with Preply Blog. https://preply.com/en/blog/german-speaking-countries/.