thumb|right|300px|Knowledge of German as a [[foreign language (
second language in
Luxembourg) in the
EU member states (+
Croatia and
Turkey), in per cent of the adult population (+15), 2005.]]
The
German language (both as an official language and as a minority language) is spoken in a number of countries and territories in
West and
Central Europe (
). To cover this speech area they are often referred to as the
German speaking countries, the
German speaking area, or equivalently
German-speaking Europe (the few overseas territories which speak German are not commonly included in the concept).
German is the main language of about 90–95 million people in Europe (as of 2004), or 13.3% of all Europeans, being the second most spoken native language in Europe after
Russian, above
French (66.5 million speakers in 2004) and
English (64.2 million speakers in 2004).
The European countries with German-speaking majorities are
Germany (95%, 78.3 million),
Austria (89%, 7.4 million),
Switzerland (65%, 4.6 million) ("
D-A-CH"),
Luxembourg (0.48 million) and
Liechtenstein (0.03 million).
D-A-CH
D-A-CH or
DACH is an
acronym used to represent the dominant states of the
German language Sprachraum. It is based on the official automobile license plate abbreviations for:
"Dach" is also the German word for "roof", and is used in linguistics in the term
Dachsprache, which standard German arguably is in relation to some outlying dialects of German, especially in Switzerland and Austria.
The term is sometimes extended to
D-A-CH-Li or
DACHL to include
Liechtenstein.
DACH is also the name of an
Interreg IIIA project, which focuses on crossborder cooperation in planning.
Official status
thumb|right|200px|German language as the official-auxiliary language in 22 municipality on Polish part of Silesia. Communes where German is an official auxiliary language are in orange. whilst those in yellow are permitted to give German that status.
- German is the country's only official language:
- German is the majority language, and shares official status with other languages:
- *Germany (besides locally Sorbian, Frisian, and Danish)
- *Austria (besides locally Slovene, Croatian, and Hungarian)
- German is a minority language with official status:
- *Belgium (besides Dutch and French)
- German language has official status only in part of the country/territory:
- German language is recognized as a minority language:
German speaking minorities without official status
- High numbers of German speaking minorities, but no official recognition:
- German speaking minorities, but no official status:
Owing to tourism and second-home colonies some areas around the
Mediterranean Sea (like the
Balearic Islands) have small German-speaking communities.
German as a foreign language
German was once the
lingua franca of Central, Eastern and
Northern Europe and remains one of the most popular foreign languages in Europe and it is the second most popular after English. Thirty-two percent of citizens of the EU-15 countries say they can converse in German (either as a mother tongue or as a second/foreign language). This is assisted by the widespread availability of German TV by cable or satellite. German competence is highest in the
Netherlands,
Denmark; and in
Slovenia. Relatively high German competence is also found in
Sweden,
Belgium, the
Czech Republic,
Slovakia,
Hungary,
Poland,
Croatia (historical connections) and
Bosnia and Herzegovina (more than 400.000 people in the country speak German, as they were refuges during 1992-1995 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and over 300.000 Bosnians that temporarily work in these countries now).
German is the third most taught
foreign language worldwide, including the United States; it is the second most known foreign language in the
EU. It is one of the official
languages of the European Union, and one of the three
working languages of
the European Commission, along with English and French.
The learning of German as a foreign language is promoted by the , which works to promote German language and culture worldwide. In association with the Goethe Institute, the German foreign broadcasting service, offers a range of and radio broadcasts produced with non-native German speakers in mind.
Culture
German-speaking people include composers (e.g.
Bach,
Mozart,
Beethoven,
Mendelssohn,
Mahler or
Schönberg), lyrical
poetry and
literature (e.g.
Walter von der Vogelweide,
Goethe, the
Brothers Grimm,
Schiller,
Heine,
Brecht or
Thomas Mann as well as important works written by authors as the
Nibelungenlied or
Ludwigslied) and
scientific philosophy (e.g.
Albertus Magnus,
Kant,
Hegel,
Schopenhauer,
Nietzsche,
Heidegger,
Wittgenstein or
Adorno).
These cultures are quite diverse as a result of the varied history of the German speaking people. The German speaking world has consisted of independent principalities (e.g.,
Liechtenstein), of larger confederations, (e.g., the
Holy Roman Empire,
Prussia or the
Confederation of the Rhine), of political units (e.g.,
Bohemia), or of
political states (e.g., Germany, Austria; etc.).
See also
