German Language:
German (Deutsch), is a West Germanic language that is chiefly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most spoken language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and in the German-speaking Community of Belgium and Liechtenstein. It is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language of the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The German language is more like different dialects in the West Germanic language branch, including Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Frisian dialects, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. It additionally contains close jargon similitudes with Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, despite the fact that they have a place with the North Germanic gathering. German is the second most generally communicated in Germanic language, after English.
It is the first language of almost 100 million individuals worldwide and the most generally spoken first language in the European Union. German is the third most regular unknown dialect in the EU after English and French and is, accordingly, the second biggest language in the EU as far as all out speakers. German is also the second most widely taught foreign language in the EU after English in primary school (but third after English and French in lower secondary education), the fourth most common non-English language in the US (after Spanish, French, and American Sign Language), the second most common scientific language and the third most common language on websites after English and Russian. The German-speaking region ranks fifth in terms of the annual publication of new books, with a tenth of all books (including e-books) worldwide being published in German. In the UK, German and French are the most sought-after foreign languages for business (49% and 50% of businesses respectively identify these two languages as the most useful).
German is a bended language with four cases for things, pronouns, and descriptive words nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, three sexual orientations (male, female, nonpartisan), two numbers (particular, plural), and solid and powerless action words. It derives most of its vocabulary from the Old Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.
Standard German
Old High German, a gathering of vernaculars for which there was no standard artistic language, was spoken in the southern German high countries until around 1100. During the Middle High German period (after 1100), a standard language arose in the southernmost part of the German-speaking area, based on the Upper German dialects (Alemannic and Bavarian). Center High German was the language of the broad writing that contains the epic Nibelungenlied from the mid thirteenth century.
Modern Standard High German comes from the Middle High German dialects and is spoken in the central and southern highlands of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It is also used in the Low German language area as the language of administration, higher education, literature, and the mass media. Standard High German is based on the Central German dialect that Martin Luther used in his 16th-century translation of the Bible but is not identical to it.
Low German (Low German or Low German)
Low German without a uniform current artistic standard is the communicated in the language of the north German marshes.It created from the Old Saxon and Middle Low German discourse of the residents of the Hanseatic League. The language provided many loanwords to the Scandinavian languages, but with the decline of the league, Low German also declined.
Although the numerous Low German dialects are still spoken in homes in Northern Germany and little literature is written in them, there is no standard Low German literature or administrative language.
Other Main Dialects
The Germanic vernaculars, which created in the southwestern piece of the Germanic-talking region, contrast significantly in sound framework and language structure from Standard High German.These lingos are spoken in Switzerland, Western Austria, Swabia, Liechtenstein, and Alsace in France. Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazi (Jews whose precursors lived in Germany during the European Middle Ages), additionally created from High German.
5 Interesting Facts About The German Language
5 things you don’t Know about the German language
How many people speak German? What is the meaning of “standard German”? What number of words do we use in the German language? Also, what do “bogus companions” have to do with learning German? you will get the answers to all these questions here:
1. Use
German is spoken by more than 120 million individuals in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and parts of Belgium, northern Italy, and eastern France. It is a key language in the European Union and in the new economies of Central and Eastern Europe. Indeed, even abroad, the German language is by all accounts in incredible interest. According to the ZAF (Center for Education and Training), in 2015 around 15.4 million people attended German courses in schools, universities, or language institutes; half a million more students than 5 years ago.
In addition, is German one of the ten most popular languages? in the world and that’s why we got an entry in the Guinness Book of Records from 2006.
2. German has almost become the main language of the USA
For more than 200 years there has been a legend that German has almost become the official language of the United States. But is that true? As with any legend, there is some truth in it. In 1794, a group of German immigrants submitted a petition to the US House of Representatives in Virginia calling for a German translation of the legal texts. The motion was rejected by 42 votes to 41. This caused frustration among the immigrants who formed the basis for the legend. The so-called “Mühlenberg legend” also became increasingly popular in the next generation. Rumor has it that a vote was taken in Pennsylvania in 1828 on whether German should be introduced as a second official language alongside English. Allegedly only one vote prevented the application from being applied, and that vote came from the ethnic German parliamentary speaker “Mühlenberg”.
3. The German vocabulary
The German language consists of around 5.3 million words - and the trend is increasing. About a third of these words have been added in the last 100 years. This means that the German language contains eight times as many words as the English language. In everyday conversation, we use far fewer words: only 12,000-16,000 words, including around 3,500 foreign words. The “Duden”, a popular reference work for grammar and spelling in the German language, contains 135,000 words. Due to the possibility of creating words by combining individual words into one word, the German language is considered a particularly rich language. For example conscientious objectors (EN: conscientious objectors) or “organization opening game”.
4. False friends
German and English have more in common than you might think. Words like “Kindergarten” or “Strudel” mean the same thing in English and German. But there are some words that are a little tricky. These words are called false friends: words that are similar in German and English but mean something different. Here are some examples:
- The word: Kind
English meaning: nice, sweet
German meaning with a capital letter at the beginning: Kind
- The word: still
English meaning: anyway
German meaning: still
- The word: spring
English meaning: a time of year/season
German meaning: to jump
So be careful, because so-called “wrong friends” can quickly lead you on the wrong track and you and the person you are talking to can talk about very different things.
5. “STANDARD GERMAN” doesn’t really exist
Often the students ask us what the term “Standard German” really means. The answer is very simple because Standard German is in fact just another word for Standard German and that’s what we teach at the ActiLingua Academy. Standard German or Standard German is a mixture of Middle German and Upper German and most Austrian dialects are based on it. Even if many Austrians insist on speaking their own language, there are hardly any differences between “Austrian” and “German” German. Although there are some words on which we do not yet fully agree, like Paradise (DE: tomato) or whipped cream (DE: whipped cream), we always get along.
Some Basic German Language Words
Colours:
1. Yellow - Gelb
2. Orange - Orange
3. Red - Rot
4. Purple - Lila
5. Blue - Blau
6. Green - Grun
7. Brown - Braun
8. Pink - Rosa
9. Black - Schwarz
-
The banana is yellow
Die banana ist Gelb -
The flower is orange
Die Blume ist orange -
The apple is red
Der Apfel ist rot -
The scarf is purple
Der Schal ist Lila -
The sky is blue
Der Himmel ist Blau -
The leaf is green
Das Blatt ist Grun -
The cat is black
Die Katze is Schwarz
Numbers:
a. One - Eins
b. Two - Zwei
c. Three - Drei
d. Four - Vier
e. Five - Funf
f. Six - Sechs
g. Seven - Sieben
h. Eight - Acht
i. Nine - Neun
Vogel - birds
Hunde - dogs
Elefanten - Elephant
Tiere - animals
-
Ein, nein … zwei, nein, es sind drei Vogel!
One, no … two, no, there are three animals -
Ich sehe sieben Tiere: vier Vogel und drei Hunde
I can see seven animals: Four birds and three dogs -
Eine Elefanten Herde
A herd of elephants -
Vierzig Ezel
40 donkeys -
Funfzig Enten
50 Ducks
The Alphabets
A to K
A bis K
The letter A (Der Buchstabe A)
A, a
das Auto, die Autos
the car, cars
The letter B (Der Buchstabe B)
B, b
die, Blume, die Blumen
the flower, flowers
The letter C (Der Buchstabe C)
C, c
die Chemikalie, die Chemikalen
the chemical, chemicals
‘Hello, My name is Julia’
how will you say it in German?
Well, in German you will say it like this:
Hallo, Mein Name ist Julia
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What do you call Good Morning in German?
Good Morning is called “Guten Morgen”.
2. Is German a Romance language?
No, German is not a Romance language. The Romance languages are Spanish, French, and Italian as they are largely derived from Latin. German is not. In other words, a language is a Romance language if it is associated with romance.
3. How many words in German?
German is considered the language of science and its beauty lies in its words. It is estimated that the German language consists of a total of 300,000 words, with the largest German dictionary having over 135,000 words.
4. Is German a Latin language?
German is the second most generally communicated language after English. It determines most of its jargon from the antiquated Germanic part of the Indo-European language family. Some of the words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and modern English.
5. How do you say “how are you” in German?
How are you called “Wie gehts”.
6. What is “Happy Birthday” in German?
The happy birthday is called “alles Gute zum Geburtstag”.
7. Who invented the German language?
One of the very first recordings of the German language dates back to the 1st century BC. when the Romans came into contact with inhabitants of the Rhine-Danube region during their occupation.The advanced German we realize today is probably going to be unrecognizable from the language the Romans initially noticed.