German language

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German
Deutsch
Pronunciation [dɔʏtʃ]
Spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy (Bolzano-Bozen), Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Alsace, Lorraine, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Namibia
Region German-speaking Europe, German diaspora worldwide
Total speakers Native speakers: ca. 105 million[1][2]
Non-native speakers: ca. 80 million[1]
Ranking 10
Language family Indo-European

• Germanic
  • West Germanic
    • High German
      • German

Writing system Latin alphabet (German variant)
Official status
Official language in Austria

Belgium
Italy (Province of Bolzano-Bozen)
Germany
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Switzerland
European Union
(official and working language)

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Further official standings in: Krahule/Blaufuß, Slovakia (Official municipal language)[3]
 Namibia (National language; official language 1984–90)[4]
 Poland (Auxiliary language in 22 municipalities in Opole Voivodeship)[5]
 Vatican City (Administrative and commanding language of the Swiss Guard)[6]

Recognised minority language in Czech Republic[7]
Hungary[8]

Namibia[9]
Romania[10]
Slovakia[1][3]
Poland

Regulated by Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung
Language codes
ISO 639-1 de
ISO 639-2 ger (B)  deu (T)
ISO 639-3 variously:
deu – New High German
gmh – Middle High German
goh – Old High German
gct – Alemán Coloniero
bar – Austro-Bavarian
cim – Cimbrian
geh – Hutterite German
ksh – Kölsch
nds – Low German
sli – Lower Silesian
ltz – Luxembourgish
vmf – Main-Franconian
mhn – Mócheno
pfl – Palatinate German
pdc – Pennsylvania German
pdt – Plautdietsch
swg – Swabian German
gsw – Swiss German
uln – Unserdeutsch
sxu – Upper Saxon
wae – Walser German
wep – Westphalian

Nations where German is spoken.

     Official language      Widely spoken and understood and/or National language      Spoken in a regional level

Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

German (Deutsch, [ˈdɔʏtʃ] (help·info)) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers. Standard German is widely taught in schools, universities and Goethe Institutes worldwide.

Geographic distribution

Europe

German is spoken primarily in Germany (where it is the first language for more than 95% of the population), Austria (89%) and Switzerland (65%). German is also spoken by the majority of the populations of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

Other European German-speaking communities are found in Northern Italy (in the Province of Bolzano-Bozen and in some municipalities in other provinces), in the East Cantons of Belgium, in the French Alsace region which often was traded between Germany and France in history and in some border villages of the former South Jutland County (in German, Nordschleswig, in Danish, Sønderjylland) of Denmark.