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German language

*** Shopping-Tip: German language
{{Infobox Language |name=German |nativename=Deutsch |familycolor=Indo-European |pronunciation=/dÉ”Ê?tʃ/ |states=Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Italy, France, Luxembourg, and 37 other countries. |region=Western Europe |speakers=Native speakers: 110 million
Second language: 120 million |rank=11 |fam1=Indo-European languages Indo-European |fam2=Germanic languages Germanic |fam3=West Germanic languages West Germanic |fam4=High Germanic languages High Germanic |script=Latin alphabet (German alphabet German variant) |nation=Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, European Union. Regional or local official language in: Denmark, Italy, Poland, (Official language of Namibia until 1990). |iso1=de|iso2b=ger|iso2t=deu|iso3=deu|sil=GER}} '''German''' (''{{Audio|de-Deutsch.ogg|Deutsch}}'') is a member of the West Germanic languages western group of the Germanic languages Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Spoken by more than 120 million people in 38 countries of the world, German is — like English and French — a pluricentric language with Germany, Austria and Switzerland as the three main centers of usage. Worldwide, German accounts for the most written translations into and from a language. Furthermore it belongs to the three most learned and to the ten most spoken languages worldwide (according to the Guinness Book of Records).

Geographic distribution
Image:Map_German_World.png 400px|right|Some major German-speaking communities German is spoken primarily in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, in two-thirds of Switzerland, in two-thirds of the South Tyrol province of Italy (in German, ''Südtirol''), in the small German speaking community in Belgium East Cantons of Belgium, and in some border villages of the South Jutland County (in German, ''Nordschleswig'', in Danish, ''Sønderjylland'') of Denmark. In Luxembourg (in German, ''Luxemburg''), as well as in the French ''régions'' of Alsace (in German, ''Elsass'') and parts of Lorraine (région) Lorraine (in German, ''Lothringen''), the native populations speak several German dialects, and some people also master standard German (especially in Luxembourg), although in Alsace and Lorraine French language French has for the most part replaced the local German dialects in the last 40 years. Some German speaking communities still survive in parts of Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and above all Russia, Kazakhstan and Poland, although massive relocations to Germany in the late 1940s and 1990s have depopulated most of these communities. Outside of Europe and the former Soviet Union, the largest German speaking communities are to be found in the United States U.S., Brazil and in Argentina where millions of Germans migrated in the last 200 years; but the great majority of their descendants no longer speak German. Additionally, German speaking communities are to be found in the former German colony of Namibia, as well as in the other countries of German emigration such as Canada, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Venezuela (where Alemán Coloneiro developed), South Africa, Thailand, and Australia. See also Plautdietsch. In the USA, the largest concentrations of German speakers are in Pennsylvania (Amish, Hutterites and some Mennonites speak Pennsylvania German and Hutterite German), Texas (Texas German), Kansas (Mennonites and Volga Germans), North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin and Indiana. Early twentieth century immigration was often to St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis, Chicago, New York, and Cincinnati. Most of the post Second World War wave are in the New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago urban areas, and in Florida. In Brazil the largest concentrations of German speakers are in Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch was developed), Santa Catarina (state) Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Espírito Santo. Generally, German immigrant communities in the USA have lost their mother tongue more quickly than those who moved to South America, possibly due to the fact that for German speakers, English is easier to learn than Portuguese or Spanish. In Canada there are people of German ancestry throughout the country and especially in the west as well as in Ontario. There is a large and vibrant community in the city of Kitchener, Ontario. German is the main language of about 100 million people in Europe (as of 2004), or 13.3% of all Europeans, being the second most spoken native language in Europe after Russian language Russian, above French language French (66.5 million speakers in 2004) and English language English (64.2 million speakers in 2004). German is the third most taught foreign language worldwide, also in the United States USA (after Spanish language Spanish and French); it is the second most known foreign language in the European Union EU (after English; see [http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf]) It is one of the official languages of the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the EU, along with English and French.

History
{{main|History of the German language}} The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration period, separating South Germanic dialects from common West Germanic. The earliest testimonies of Old High German are from scattered Elder Futhark inscriptions, especially in Alemannic, from the 6th century, the earliest glosses (''Abrogans'') date to the 8th century 8th and the oldest coherent texts (the ''Hildebrandslied'', the ''Muspilli'' and the Merseburg Incantations) to the 9th century. Old Saxon at this time belongs to the North Sea Germanic cultural sphere, and Low German should fall under German rather than Anglo-Frisian influence during the Holy Roman Empire. As Germany was divided into many different states, the only force working for a unification or standard language standardisation of German during a period of several hundred years was the general preference of writers trying to write in a way that could be understood in the largest possible area. When Martin Luther translated the Bible (the New Testament in 1522 and the Old Testament, published in parts and completed in 1534) he based his translation mainly on this already developed language, which was the most widely understood language at this time. This language was based on Eastern Upper and Eastern Central German dialects and preserved much of the grammatical system of Middle High German (unlike the spoken German dialects in Central and Upper Germany that already at that time began to lose the genitive case and the preterit tense). In the beginning, copies of the Bible had a long list for each region, which translated words unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics rejected Luther's translation in the beginning and tried to create their own Catholic standard (''gemeines Deutsch'') — which, however, only differed from 'Protestant German' in some minor details. It took until the middle of the 18th century to create a standard that was widely accepted, thus ending the period of Early New High German. German used to be the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. It indicated that the speaker was a merchant, an urbanite, not their nationality. Some cities, such as Prague (German: ''Prag'') and Budapest (Buda, German: ''Ofen''), were gradually Germanization Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain. Others, such as Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg''), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. A few cities such as Milan (German: ''Mailand'') remained primarily non-German. However, most cities were primarily German during this time, such as Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Zagreb (German: ''Agram''), and Ljubljana (German: ''Laibach''), though they were surrounded by territory that spoke other languages. Image:Deutsche Mundarten.PNG 31 December.html" title="Meaning of 400px 400px|right|thumb|Distribution of native speakers of a continental West Germanic language/dialect on [[31 December 1937.html" title="Meaning of right|thumb|Distribution of native speakers of a continental West Germanic language/dialect on [[31 December">400px|right|thumb|Distribution of native speakers of a continental West Germanic language/dialect on [[31 December 1937">right|thumb|Distribution of native speakers of a continental West Germanic language/dialect on [[31 December">400px|right|thumb|Distribution of native speakers of a continental West Germanic language/dialect on [[31 December 1937 Image:Heutige deutsche Mundarten.PNG 400px|right|thumb|Today's distribution of native speakers of German dialects, in central Europe Until about 1800, standard German was almost only a written language. At this time, people in urban northern Germany, who spoke dialects very different from Standard German, learnt it almost like a foreign language and tried to pronounce it as close to the spelling as possible. Prescriptive pronunciation guides used to consider northern German pronunciation to be the standard. However, the actual pronunciation of standard German varies from region to region. Media and written works are almost all produced in standard German (often called ''Hochdeutsch'' in German) which is understood in all areas where German is spoken, except by pre-school children in areas which speak only dialect, for example Switzerland. However, in this age of television, even they now usually learn to understand Standard German before school age. The first dictionary of the Brothers Grimm, the 16 parts of which were issued between 1852 and 1860, remains the most comprehensive guide to the words of the German language. In 1860, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the ''Duden Handbook''. In 1901, this was declared the standard definition of the German language. Official revisions of some of these rules were not issued until 1998, when the German spelling reform of 1996 was officially promulgated by governmental representatives of all German-speaking countries. Since the reform, German spelling has been in an eight-year transitional period where the reformed spelling is taught in most schools, while traditional and reformed spelling co-exist in the media. See German spelling reform of 1996 for an overview of the heated public debate concerning the reform.

Classification and related languages
Image:FrancLowUpperHigh.PNG High German consonant shift.html" title="Meaning of right right|thumb|300px|By the [[High German consonant shift, the Dutch-German dialect continuum is divided into Low Franconian Franconian / Low Frankish (Brown), Upper German (blue) and Central German (green), and the Low German (yellow). The main isoglosses, the Benrath and Speyer lines are marked in red..html" title="Meaning of thumb|300px|By the [[High German consonant shift">right|thumb|300px|By the [[High German consonant shift, the Dutch-German dialect continuum is divided into Low Franconian Franconian / Low Frankish (Brown), Upper German (blue) and Central German (green), and the Low German (yellow). The main isoglosses, the Benrath and Speyer lines are marked in red.">thumb|300px|By the [[High German consonant shift">right|thumb|300px|By the [[High German consonant shift, the Dutch-German dialect continuum is divided into Low Franconian Franconian / Low Frankish (Brown), Upper German (blue) and Central German (green), and the Low German (yellow). The main isoglosses, the Benrath and Speyer lines are marked in red. Image:DutchGerman.PNG Dutch language right|thumb|300px|The German and [[Dutch language|Dutch standard language language border..html" title="Meaning of Dutch.html" title="Meaning of right|thumb|300px|The German and [[Dutch language|Dutch">right|thumb|300px|The German and [[Dutch language|Dutch standard language language border.">Dutch.html" title="Meaning of right|thumb|300px|The German and [[Dutch language|Dutch">right|thumb|300px|The German and [[Dutch language|Dutch standard language language border. German is a member of the West Germanic language western branch of the Germanic languages Germanic family of languages, which in turn is part of the Indo-European language family.

Neighboring languages
In these modern days Germany is surrounded by language borders, in the north by the Frisian language Frisian and Danish language Danish; in the east Polish language Polish, Sorbian language Sorbian, Czech language Czech, Slovak language Slovak, and Hungarian language Hungarian; in the south Slovenian language Slovenian, Italian language Italian, Friulian language Friulian, Ladin language Ladin, and Romansh language Romansh; in the west French language French and Dutch language Dutch. Except for Frisian and Dutch, none of these languages are West Germanic, and so they are clearly distinct from German. Frisian, after Scots, the closest related living language to English; and Dutch, the closest related living language to German are generally considered not to be mutual intelligibility mutually intelligible with German. Although a dialect continuum still exists at certain places along the Dutch-German language border this is fading away because of standardisation in both countries, as can be seen in the pictures to the right in which the dialectal borders and the standard borders can be seen. While German is grammatically quite similar to Dutch in many ways, it is very different in speech. Speakers of one, especially Germans, require practice to effectively understand a speaker of the other. Compare, for example: :''De kleinste kameleon is volwassen 2 cm groot, de grootste kan wel 80 cm lang worden.'' (Dutch) :''Das kleinste Chamäleon ist ausgewachsen 2 cm groß, das größte kann gut 80 cm lang werden.'' (German) : (English: "The smallest chameleon is fully grown 2 cm long, the longest can easily attain 80 cm.") Dutch speakers are generally able to read German, and German speakers who can speak Low German or English are generally able to read Dutch, but have problems understanding the spoken language. Germans who speak High German, or, even better, Low German, can cope with Dutch much better than people from Southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria who have grown up with the Alemannic or Bavarian dialects.

Official status
Image:D-A-CH Flag.svg Sprachraum.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|left|230px|DACH-flag, flag of the three dominant states in the German ''[[Sprachraum''..html" title="Meaning of left|230px|DACH-flag, flag of the three dominant states in the German ''[[Sprachraum">thumb|left|230px|DACH-flag, flag of the three dominant states in the German ''[[Sprachraum''.">left|230px|DACH-flag, flag of the three dominant states in the German ''[[Sprachraum">thumb|left|230px|DACH-flag, flag of the three dominant states in the German ''[[Sprachraum''. Standard German is the only official language in Germany, Liechtenstein, and Austria; it shares official status in Switzerland (with French (language) French, Italian (language) Italian and Romansh), and Luxembourg (with French (language) French and Luxembourgish language Luxembourgish). It is used as a local official language in German-speaking regions of Belgium, Italy, Denmark, and Poland. It is one of the 20 official languages of the European Union. It is also a minority language in Poland, Canada, France, Russia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Togo, Cameroon, the United States USA, Namibia, Brazil, Paraguay, Hungary, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Croatia, Ukraine, Argentina, and Australia. German was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, but first Russian language Russian and now English language English have assumed much of this role. However, German remains one of the most popular foreign languages taught world-wide, and is more popular than French as a foreign language in Europe. 8% of citizens of the EU-15 countries say they can converse in German, in addition to the 24% who speak German as a mother tongue.[http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/index_en.html] This is assisted by the availability of German TV by cable or satellite, where series like Star Trek are shown Dubbing (filmmaking) dubbed into German. German is also the second language of the Internet. More than 8% of websites are written in German, English language English 50%, French language French 6%, Japanese language Japanese 5%, Spanish language Spanish 3% and Portuguese Language Portuguese 2%.

Dialects
''Main article German dialects'' ''Related article: Low Franconian languages Dutch dialects''

German and Germanic
The term "''German''" in ''German dialects'' is not to be mistaken by "''Standard German''". '''German''', in this context refers to the ancestor of all continental West Germanic languages (excluding Frisian), it is just coincidence that "Standard German" and '''German''' in the sense as described above share the same name. A little known fact by most non-linguists is that not High German (and its Upper and Central dialects) but Low German dialects and the Dutch language are the closest related languages to this 'German' language as they did not participate in the High German consonant shift. "Germanic" is used, to help non-linguists grasp this tricky concept. Not that the term is false in any sense though. High and Low German languages are the only Germanic language capable to be indentified as such. 'German' as explained previously could also be described as "The ancestor of all West Germanic languages excluding the Anglo-Frisian group".

Dialects in Germany
The variation among the German dialects is considerable, with only the neighbouring dialects being mutually understandable. Some dialects are not understandable for someone who knows standard German. However, all German dialects belong to the dialect continuum of High German and Low German (Platt) languages. In the past (roughly till the end of the second world war) there was a dialect continuum of all the continental West Germanic languages because nearly any pair of neighbouring dialects were perfectly mutually intelligible. Image:GermanicDialectAreas.PNG 400px|right|thumb|Distribution of the native speakers of major continental West Germanic dialects today The dialect continuum of the continental West Germanic languages is typically divided into Low Germanic languages and High Germanic languages.

Low Germanic / Low German
'''Low Germanic''' is defined as the varieties that were not affected by the High German consonant shift. They consist of two subgroups, Low Franconian language Low Franconian and Low German. Low Franconian includes Dutch language Dutch and Afrikaans, spoken primarily in the Netherlands, Belgium, Surinam and South Africa; Low German includes dialects spoken primarily in the German Northern European Lowlands Lowlands and in the eastern Netherlands. The Low German varieties (spoken on German territory) are considered dialects of the German language by some, but a separate language by others; the Low Franconian varieties are not considered a part of the German language (see #Neighboring languages above for a detailed 'discussion' of the distinction between German and Dutch).

High Germanic / High German
'''High Germanic''' is divided into Central German and Upper German language Upper German. Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle Franconian, Rhine Franconian, Hessian language Hessian, Thuringian language Thuringian and Upper Saxon dialect Upper Saxon. It is spoken in the southeastern Netherlands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of France, and in Germany approximately between the River Main and the southern edge of the Lowlands. Modern Standard German is mostly based on Central German, but it should be noted that the usual German term for modern Standard German is ''Hochdeutsch'', that is, ''High German''. The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken in Luxembourg have been officially standardized and institutionalized and are therefore usually considered a separate language known as Luxembourgish language Luxembourgish. Upper German dialects include Alemannic German Alemannic (for instance Swiss German), Swabian German Swabian, East Franconian German East Franconian, and Austro-Bavarian language Austro-Bavarian. They are spoken in parts of the Alsace, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy. The High German varieties spoken by Ashkenazi Jews (mostly in the former Soviet Union) have several unique features, and are usually considered as a separate language, Yiddish. It is the only Germanic language that does not use the Latin alphabet as its official script standard script. The dialects of German which are or were primarily spoken in colonies or communities founded by German speaking people resemble the dialects of the regions the founders came from. For example, Pennsylvania German language Pennsylvania German resembles dialects of the Rhenish Palatinate Palatinate, and Hutterite German resembles dialects of Carinthia (state) Carinthia, while Venezuelan ''Alemán Coloniero'' is a Low Alemannic variant. In Brazil the largest concentrations of German speakers (German Brazilians) are in Rio Grande do Sul, where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch was developed, especially in the areas of Santa Catarina (state) Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Espírito Santo. In the United States, the teaching of the German language to latter-age students has given rise to a pidgin variant which combines the German language with the grammar and spelling rules of the English language. It is often understandable by either party. The speakers of this language often refer to it as ''Amerikanisch'' or ''Amerikanischdeutsch'', although it is known in English as American German.However, this is a pidgin, not a dialect.

Standard German
{{main|Standard German}} In German linguistics, only the traditional regional varieties are called dialects, not the different varieties of standard German. Standard German has originated not as a traditional dialect of a specific region, but as a written language. However, there are places where the traditional regional dialects have been replaced by standard German (especially in major cities of Germany, and to some extent in Vienna). Standard German differs regionally, especially between German-speaking countries, especially in vocabulary, but also in some instances of pronunciation and even grammar. This variation must not be confused with the variation of local dialects. Even though the regional varieties of standard German are to a certain degree influenced by the local dialects, they are very distinct. German is thus considered a pluricentric language. In most regions, the speakers use a continuum of mixtures from more dialectical varieties to more standard varieties according to situation. In the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, mixtures of dialect and standard are very seldom used, and the use of standard German is almost entirely restricted to the written language. Therefore, this situation has been called a ''medial diglossia''. Standard German is rarely spoken, for instance when speaking with people who do not understand the Swiss German dialects at all, and it is expected to be used in school.

Grammar
''Main article: German grammar'' German is an inflected language.

Noun inflection
German nouns inflect into: * one of four declension classes * one of three grammatical gender genders: masculine, feminine, or neutral. Word endings indicate some grammatical genders; others are arbitrary and must be memorised. * two numbers: singular and plural * four cases: nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative case. Although German is usually cited as an outstanding example of a highly inflected language, it should be noted that the degree of inflection is considerably less than in Old German, or in Icelandic today. The three genders have collapsed in the plural, which now behaves, grammatically, somewhat as a fourth gender. With four cases and three genders plus plural there are 16 distinct possible combinations of case and gender/number, but presently there are only six forms of the definite article used for the 16 possibilities. Inflection for case on the noun itself is required in the singular for strong masculine and neuter nouns in the genitive and sometimes in the dative. This dative ending is considered somewhat old-fashioned in many contexts and often dropped, but it is still used in sayings and in formal speech or written language. Weak masculine nouns share a common case ending for genitive, dative and accusative in the singular. Feminines are not declined in the singular. The plural does have an inflection for the dative. In total, six inflectional endings (not counting plural markers) exist in German: ''-s, -es, -n, -en, -ns, -e'' In the German orthography, nouns and most words with the syntactical function of nouns are capitalized, which makes it quite easy for readers to find out what function a word has within the sentence. On the other hand, things get more difficult for the writer. This spelling convention is almost unique to German today (shared perhaps only by the closely related Luxembourgish language), although it was historically common in other languages (e.g., Danish language Danish), too. Like most Germanic languages, German forms left-branching noun compound (linguistics) compounds, where the first noun modifies the category given by the second, for example: ''Hundehütte'' (eng. ''doghouse''). Unlike English, where newer compounds or combinations of longer nouns are often written in ''open'' form with separating spaces, German (like the other German languages) always uses the ''closed'' form without spaces, for example: Baumhaus (eng. ''tree house''). Like English, German allows arbitrarily long compounds, but these are rare. (''See also'' English compounds.) The longest official German word is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz. There is even a child's game played in kindergartens and primary schools where a child begins the spelling of a word (which is not told) by naming the first letter. The next one tells the next letter, the third one tells the third and so on. The game is over when the a child can not think of another letter to be added to the word (see Ghost (game) Ghost).

Verb inflection
Standard German verbs inflect into: * one of two conjugation classes, weak verb weak and strong verb strong (like English). (Note: in fact there is a third class, called "gemischte Verben", which can be either weak ("active meaning") or strong ("passive meaning"). There are about 200 strong or irregular verbs.) * three persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd. * two numbers: singular and plural * three Grammatical mood moods: Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative * two Grammatical voice genera verbi: active and passive; the passive being composed and dividable into static and dynamic. * two non-composed tenses (Present, Preterite) and four composed tenses (Perfect, Plusquamperfect, Future I, Future II) * no distinction between grammatical aspects (in English, perfect and progressive; in Polish between completed and incompleted form; in Turkish between first-hand and second-hand information) There are also many ways to expand, and sometimes radically change, the meaning of a base verb through several prefixes. Examples: haften=to stick, verhaften=to imprison; kaufen=to buy, verkaufen=to sell; hören=to hear, aufhören=to cease. The word order is much more flexible than in English. The word order can be changed for subtle changes of a sentence's meaning. In normal positive sentences the verb always has position 2, in questions it has position 1. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, although there are significant minorities of words derived from Latin, French language French, and most recently English language English (which is known as Germish).

Writing system
''Main article: German alphabet''. German is written using the Latin alphabet. In addition to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with Umlaut, namely ''ä'', ''ö'' and ''ü'', as well as a special symbol for "ss", the Eszett or Scharfes-S (sharp "s") ''ß''. In traditional German spelling, ''ß'' replaces inseparable "ss" before consonants, word-, or partial-word-endings, while it appears only after long vowels or diphthongs in German spelling reform of 1996 reform spelling, that is, in places, where it originally replaced ''sz''. ''ß'' is not used at all in Switzerland. Until the early 20th century, German was mostly printed in blackletter typefaces (mostly in fraktur (typeface) Fraktur, but also in Schwabacher) and written in corresponding handwriting (for example Kurrent and Sütterlin). These variants of the Latin alphabet are very different from the serif or sans serif antiqua typefaces used today, and particularly the handwritten forms are difficult for the untrained to read. The printed forms however are claimed by some to be actually more readable when used for printing Germanic languages. The Nazis initially promoted Fraktur and Schwabacher since they were considered Aryan, although they later abolished them in 1941 by claiming that these letters were Jewish.

Phonology
''Main article: German phonology'' (pronunciation, historical sound changes).

Cognates with English
There are many German words that are cognate to English language English words. Most of them are easily identifiable and have almost the same meaning. {| class="wikitable" |- bgcolor=#FFDEAD ! '''German''' ! Meaning of German word ! English cognate |- |best- || best || best |- |Bett || bed || bed |- |- |Bier || beer || beer |- |Bub (''regional'') || boy || boy |- |essen || to eat || to eat |- |Finger || finger || finger |- |haben || to have || to have |- |Haus || house || house |- |Katze || cat || cat |- |Laus || louse || louse |- |Läuse || lice || lice |- |Butter || butter || butter |- |Milch || milk || milk |- |lachen || to laugh || to laugh |- |Maus || mouse || mouse |- |Mäuse || mice || mice |- |Nacht || night || night |- |Pfeife || pipe || pipe, fife |- |Schiff || ship || ship |- |singen, sang, gesungen || sing, sang, sung || sing, sang, sung |- |sinken, sank, gesunken || sink, sank, sunken || sink, sank, sunk |- |fallen, fiel, gefallen || fall, fell, fallen || fall, fell, fallen |- |hören || to hear || hear |- |schwimmen || to swim || swim |- |Tag || day || day |- |Wetter || weather || weather |- |Wille || will (''noun'')|| will |- |Sommer || summer || summer |- |Winter || winter || winter |} When these cognates have slightly different consonants, this is often due to the High German consonant shift. There are cognates whose meanings in either language have changed through the centuries. It is sometimes difficult for both English and German speakers to discern the relationship. On the other hand, once the definitions are made clear, then the logical relation becomes obvious. {| class="wikitable" |- bgcolor=#FFDEAD ! '''German''' ! Meaning of German word ! English cognate ! Comment |- |Baum || tree || beam || Both derive from Old High German ''boum'' meaning "tree". It is the English one which, in Anglo-Saxon and Old English, has radically changed its meaning several times. |- |bekommen || to get || to become || |- |drehen || to turn || to throw || |- |ernten || to harvest || to earn || |- |fechten || to fence (''sport'') || to fight || |- |Gift || poison || gift || |- |Hund || dog || hound || |- |kaufen || to buy || cheap, chapman || |- |Knabe (''formal'')|| boy || knave || |- |Knecht || servant || knight || |- |Kopf || head || cup || Latin ''cuppa'' 'bowl'; cf. French ''tête'', from Latin ''testa'' 'shell/bowl' |- |nehmen || take || numb || sensation has been "taken away"; cf. German ''benommen'', 'dazed' |- |raten || to guess, to advise || to read || |- |ritzen || to scratch || to write || |- |Schmerz || pain || smart || |- |rächen || to take revenge || to wreak (havoc) || |- |Tisch || table || dish, desk || Latin ''discus'' |- |Wald || forest || weald || |- |werden || to become || weird || see wyrd |- |werfen || throw || to warp || |- |Zeit || time || tide || the root is re-used in German ''Gezeiten'' as ''Tiden'' ('tides') |} German and English also share many borrowings from other languages, especially Latin, French language French and Greek language Greek. Most of these word have the same meaning, while a few have subtle differences in meaning. As many of these words have been borrowed by numerous languages, not only German and English, they are called ''internationalism (linguistics) internationalisms'' in German linguistics. {| class="wikitable" |- bgcolor=#FFDEAD ! '''German''' ! Meaning of German word ! language of origin |- |Armee || army || French |- |Arrangement || arrangement || French |- |Chance || opportunity || French |- |Courage || courage || French |- |Chuzpe || chutzpah || Yiddish |- |Disposition || disposition || Latin |- |Feuilleton || feuilleton || French |- |Futur || future tense || Latin |- |Genre || genre || French |- |Mikroskop || microscope || Greek |- |Partei || political party || French |- |Position || position || Latin |- |positiv || positive || Latin |- |Prestige || prestige || French |- |Psychologie || psychology || Greek |- |Religion || religion || Latin |- |Tabu || taboo || Tongan |- |Zigarre || cigar || Spanish |- |Zucker || sugar || Sanskrit, via Arabic |}

Examples of German
{| class="wikitable" |- bgcolor=#FFDEAD ! Translation ! Phrase ! IPA |- |German || ''Deutsch'' || {{IPA|/dɔɪ̯tʃ/}} |- |Hello || ''Hallo'' || {{IPA|/ˈhaloË?/}} |- |Good morning || ''Guten Morgen'' || {{IPA|/ˈguË?tÉ™n ˈmÉ”É?̯gÉ™n/}} |- |Good day || ''Guten Tag'' || {{IPA|/ˈguË?tÉ™n taË?k/}} |- |Good evening || ''Guten Abend'' || {{IPA|/ˈguË?tÉ™n ˈaË?bÉ™nt/}} |- |Good night || ''Gute Nacht'' || {{IPA|/ˈguË?tÉ™ naχt/}} |- |Good-bye || ''Auf Wiedersehen'' || {{IPA|/Ê”aʊ̯f ˈviË?dÉ?ËŒzeË?n/}} |- |Please || ''Bitte'' || {{IPA|/ˈbɪtÉ™/}} |- |You are welcome || ''Bitte'' || {{IPA|/ˈbɪtÉ™/}} |- |Thank you || ''Danke'' || {{IPA|/ˈdaÅ‹kÉ™/}} |- |That || ''Das'' || {{IPA|/das/}} |- |How much? || ''Wie viel?'' || {{IPA|/vi fiË?l/}} |- |Yes || ''Ja'' || {{IPA|/jaË?/}} |- |No || ''Nein'' || {{IPA|/naɪ̯n/}} |- |Where is the toilet? || ''Wo ist die Toilette?'' || {{IPA|/voË? ʔɪst diË? toa̯ˈlÉ›tÉ™/}} |- |Generic toast || ''Prosit''
''Prost'' || {{IPA|/ˈproË?ziË?t/}}
{{IPA|/proË?st/}} |- |Do you speak English? || ''Sprechen Sie Englisch?'' || {{IPA|/ˈʃprɛçən ziË? ˈʔɛŋlɪʃ/}} |- |I do not understand || ''Ich verstehe nicht'' || {{IPA|/ʔɪç fÉ?ˈʃteË?É™ nɪçt/}} |- |Excuse me || ''Entschuldigung'' || {{IPA|/ʔɛntˈʃʊldɪgÊŠÅ‹/}} |- |I don't know || ''Ich weiß nicht'' || {{IPA|/ʔɪç vaɪ̯s nɪçt/}} |}

Names of the German language in other languages
Because of the turbulent history of both Germany and the German language, the names that other peoples have chosen to use to refer to it varies more than for most other languages. In general, the names for the German language can be arranged in five groups according to their origin: {| border="0" cellpadding="5" |- valign="top" | '''1.''' From the proto-Germanic word for "people", "folk": *Afrikaans language Afrikaans: ''Duits'' *Chinese language Chinese: 德語 (''déyÇ”'') or å¾·æ„?志語 (déyìzhiyÇ”) *Danish language Danish: ''tysk'' *Dutch language Dutch: ''Duits'' *Faroese language Faroese: ''týskt'' *German: ''Deutsch'' *Icelandic language Icelandic: ''þýska'' *Italian language Italian: ''tedesco'' *Medieval Latin language Latin: ''(lingua) Theodisca'' *Japanese language Japanese: ドイツ語, 独逸語 (''doitsugo'') *Korean language Korean: ë?…ì?¼ì–´, ç?¨é€¸èªž (''dogireo'') *Norwegian language Norwegian: ''tysk'' *Marathi language Marathi: ''Daitya Bhaasha'' *Romansh language Romansh: ''tudestg'' *Swedish language Swedish: ''tyska'' *Vietnamese language Vietnamese: ''tiếng Ä?ức'' *Yiddish: טײַטש (''daytsch'' or ''daytsh'') | '''2.''' From the name of the historical-geographical region Germany (Latin ''Germania''): *Albanian language Albanian: ''gjermanishte'' *Amharic: ጀርመን (''järmän'') *Armenian Language Armenian: Õ£Õ¥Ö€Õ´Õ¡Õ¶Õ¥Ö€Õ¥Õ¶ (''Germaneren'') *English language English: ''German'' *Esperanto: ''germana lingvo'' *Georgian language Georgian: გერმáƒ?ნული (''germanuli'') *Greek language Greek: ΓεÏ?μανικά (''jermaniká'') *Hebrew language Hebrew: גרמנית (''germanit'') *Hindi: जरà¥?मनी की भाशा (''jarmanÄ« kÄ« bhÄ?shÄ?'') *Irish language Irish: ''Gearmáinis'' *Malay language Malay/Indonesian language Indonesian: ''bahasa Jerman'' *Maltese language Maltese: ''Ä ermaniż'' *Romanian language Romanian: ''Germană'' *Tagalog language Tagalog: see entry for Tagalog below *Thai language Thai: ภาษาเยอรมัน (''phasa yerman'') | '''3.''' From the name of the Saxon people Saxonian tribe: *Estonian language Estonian: ''saksa'' *Finnish language Finnish: ''saksa'' |- valign="top" | '''4.''' From either the Old Slavic word for "mute" or the name of the Nemetes tribe: *Bulgarian language Bulgarian: немÑ?ки (''nemski'') *Croatian language Croatian: ''njemaÄ?ki'' *Czech language Czech: ''nÄ›mÄ?ina'' *Hungarian language Hungarian: ''német'' *Ottoman Turkish language Ottoman Turkish: ''nemçe'' *Polish language Polish: ''niemiecki'' *Romanian language Romanian: ''nemÅ£eÅŸte'' *Russian language Russian: немецкий (''nemetskiy'') *Serbian language Serbian: немачки / nemaÄ?ki *Slovak language Slovak: ''nemÄ?ina'' *Slovenian language Slovenian: ''nemÅ¡Ä?ina'' *Ukrainian language Ukrainian: німецька (''nimetska'') | '''5.''' From the name of the Alamanni Alemannian tribe: *Arabic language Arabic: ألمانية (''alimÄ?niyyah'') *Basque language Basque: ''alemanera'' *Breton language Breton: ''alamaneg'' *Catalan language Catalan: ''alemany'' *French language French: ''allemand'' *Galician language Galician: ''alemán'' *Ilokano: ''Aleman'' *Khmer language Khmer: Image:GerKh2.png 75px ({{IPA|/pÊ°iË?É™saË? aË?lÉ™mÉ’Å‹/}}) *Malagasy: ''alema'' *Occitan language Occitan: ''alemand'' *Persian language Persian: آلمانی (Âlmâni) *Portuguese language Portuguese: ''alemão'' *Spanish language Spanish: ''alemán'' *Tagalog: ''Aleman''/''Jerman'' (Latter more commonly heard in colloquial speech and increasingly on television.) *Turkish language Turkish: ''Almanca'' *Welsh language Welsh: ''Almaeneg'' | '''6.''' Possibly from the Germanic word "folk": *Latvian language Latvian: ''vÄ?cu'' *Lithuanian language Lithuanian: ''vokieÄ?ių'' |} Lao language Lao is unique in that both under the influence of English "German" (through Thai "yeraman") and French (the colonial language) "Allemand", it chose a name in between: ພາສາເຢàº?ລະມັນ (''phaxa yeylaman''), which could be ranked both under category 2 and category 5. Note: The Romanian language used to use in the past the Slavonic term "nemÅ£eÅŸte", but "Germană" is now widely used. Hungarian "német" is also a Slavonic loan-word. The Arabic name for Austria, النمسا ("an-namsa"), is derived from the Slavonic term. A possible explanation for the use of "mute" to refer to German (and also to Germans) in Slavic languages is that Germans were the first people Slavic tribes encountered, with whom they could not communicate. The corresponding experience for the Germans was with the Volcae, whose name they subsequently also applied to the Slavs, see etymology of Vlach. Hebrew language Hebrew traditionally (nowadays this is not the case) used the Biblical term Ashkenaz (Genesis 10.3) to refer to Germany, or to certain parts of it, and the Ashkenazi Jews are those who originate from Germany and Eastern Europe and formerly spoke Yiddish as their native language, derived from Middle High German.

See also
* German spelling reform of 1996 * German as a Minority Language * Ethnic German * German family name etymology * German in the United States * German placename etymology * List of German proverbs * List of German words and phrases * List of German expressions in English * German Swadesh list Swadesh list of German words * Common phrases in various languages * Germish * Umlaut, ß

External links
{{InterWiki|code=de}} {{Wikibooks|German}}
- Verein Deutsche Sprache/International German Club
- WordReference - German language forum *{{about.com|topic=German}}
- German language learning audio software
- Learn German Online with this internet German course for beginners.
- Online Learno german course Free online German tutorial at Learno.com
- Weltverband Deutschsprachiger Medien - Federation of Media in German and Yiddish language worldwide
- Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon Free online visual lexicon of the German language with authentic photos from German speaking world.
- Sprachtausch.net — German website to find someone to teach you, for example German in exchange with your language.
- Ethnologue report for German
- Internet Handbook of German Grammar
- German resources at the University of Michigan
- Deutsche Welle's Online German Courses
- 450 free Lectures in German language
- Practise German with a language exchange
- German courses in Germany
- German courses in London
- Learning German * A beginning [http://wikibooks.org/wiki/German German Language Textbook] under development at [http://wikibooks.org/ Wikibooks]
- Digital Wenker-Atlas Project publishing the 19th century ''Linguistic Atlas of the German Empire''
- List of online German-related resources
- That awful German language — A humourous essay by Mark Twain
- The Awful German Language by Mark Twain, published as appendix to "A Tramp Abroad" in 1880.
- Why learn German? A German language profile
- Why learn German? — 12 reasons to learn German
- George Weber: The World's 10 most influential languages
- Short summary on German language and varieties with a map!
- Free German Language Tutorial from ielanguages.com
- Passwort Deutsch - A German course
- A German tutorial
- Learn about the German language
- Learn German Online containing free courses
- Learn and listen to useful expressions in German Each expression is presented with an audio recording and an illustration
- Articles on learning German Also has a service whereby learners of German can send questions to a German teacher
- Bund für deutsche Schrift und Sprache (in German)
- Free German Podcasts for Learning

Dictionary and word translations

- The LEO Online Dictionary German-English-German dictionary at Leo.org
- TU Chemnitz Dictionary a 185000+ German-English Dictionary with proverbs and pronunciations
- dict.cc: User-editable German-English-German Dictionary works similar to , more than 840,000 keywords (420,000 translation pairs)
- Ilexer.org Ilexer: German-English-German Dictionary - main field textiles
- Odge.info uses dict.cc's data according to [http://odge.info/License/ license] page
- German Grammar, Online Dictionary for Spelling, Infection and Wordformation for the German Language
- GEODic German-English-Online-Dictionary
- woerterbuch.info — Free English-German Online Dictionary with over 600.000 translations
- The Digital Dictonary Projectin German - Dictionary, Corpus and Statistics
- http://www.dedict.de - English-German Online Dictionary
- http://www.spell-it.net - Free English-German Online Dictionary
- Type any text with German characters.
- http://www.pdictionary.com/german/ - The Internet Picture Dictionary: German - Free

Grammar

- Grammar of German
- German Grammar on the Web
- German Review Grammar
- German Grammar Charts {{Official EU languages}} Category:German language * Category:Languages of Germany af:Duits (taal) als:Deutsche Sprache ang:Þēodisc sprÇ£c ar:لغة ألمانية ast:Alemán be:Ð?Ñ?мецкаÑ? мова bs:NjemaÄ?ki jezik br:Alamaneg ca:Alemany cv:Ð?имĕç чĕлхи cs:NÄ›mÄ?ina cy:Almaeneg da:Tysk (sprog) de:Deutsche Sprache et:Saksa keel el:ΓεÏ?μανική γλώσσα es:Idioma alemán eo:Germana lingvo eu:Alemaniera fa:زبان آلمانی fo:Týskt mál fr:Allemand ga:Gearmáinis gl:Lingua alemá ko:ë?…ì?¼ì–´ hi:जरà¥?मन भाषा hr:NjemaÄ?ki jezik io:Germaniana linguo ilo:Pagsasao nga Aleman id:Bahasa Jerman ia:Lingua german is:Þýska it:Lingua tedesca he:גרמנית kw:Almaynek la:Lingua Theodisca lv:VÄ?cu valoda lb:Däitsch lt:VokieÄ?ių kalba li:Duits ln:Lialémani hu:Német nyelv mk:ГерманÑ?ки јазик ms:Bahasa Jerman nl:Duits ja:ドイツ語 no:Tysk sprÃ¥k nn:Tysk sprÃ¥k oc:Alemand nds:Düütsche Spraak pdc:Modern Hochdeitsch pl:JÄ™zyk niemiecki pt:Língua alemã ro:Limba germană rm:Lingua tudestga ru:Ð?емецкий Ñ?зык se:Duiskkagiella sq:Gjuha Gjermanishte scn:Lingua tudisca simple:German language sk:NemÄ?ina sl:NemÅ¡Ä?ina sr:Ð?емачки језик fi:Saksan kieli sv:Tyska tl:Wikang Aleman tt:Alman tele th:ภาษาเยอรมัน vi:Tiếng Ä?ức tr:Almanca zh:德语 see German language {{sisterlinkswp|Category:German language}} {{catmore}} Category:High Germanic languages be:КатÑ?горыÑ?:Ð?Ñ?мецкаÑ? мова cs:Kategorie:NÄ›mÄ?ina de:Kategorie:Deutsche Sprache es:Categoría:Idioma alemán fr:Catégorie:Langue allemande ja:Category:ドイツ語 ko:분류:ë?…ì?¼ì–´ nl:Categorie:Duits ru:КатегориÑ?:Ð?емецкий Ñ?зык sv:Kategori:Tyska

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