Languages of germany

The official language is Standard German or also known as German, around 95% of the population daily uses Standard German or some High or Low Germanic variety as their main language. These figures also include North Low Saxon, which is currently a recognized regional linguistic minority, which is not recognized in German statistics as a separate language from German despite language differences. Other regional or minority languages do have official recognition.

Official language

The German constitution does not mention any language. In 2010, a party initiative CDU to include German in the constitution did not come to any vote in the Bundestag. In the same party, Angela Merkel and her successor candidate Armin Laschet spoke out against this initiative.

At the federal level, the Federal Administrative Procedures Act (VwVfG, Article 23/1) makes German official in certain federal legal contexts.

At the federal state level, the legislation of 13 of the 16 Länder makes German official. The other 3 leave the question undefined.

In practice, within Germany, written procedures between citizens and officials usually do not allow a language other than German. However, for procedures at consulates, there are, for example, bilingual passport renewal forms with English, French or Spanish depending on the country.

Native languages

Low-Germanic Languages (Orange), Central High-Germanics (blue) and Upper High-Germanics (green) in 1937. Also included are Western Germanic varieties spoken in the Netherlands and Belgium, expressed in paleer tones.

The known autochthonous languages of Germany are the languages whose historical development occurred in territories belonging to present-day Germany. In Roman times the territory would have been populated by Celtic and Germanic peoples. The expansion of the Germanic peoples to the south, especially from the III century d. C. displaced both the continental Celts and part of the more Romanized population of central Europe. Later from the VI century d. C. Slavic peoples from the east came to occupy parts of what is now eastern Germany, specifically the Polabo and the Sorabian would date back to that most recent Slavic invasion. After the X century there were not many alterations regarding the linguistic distribution and, more modernly, the main change has been the progressive extension of standard German against regional languages that before the XIX century were clearly dominant in everyday use.

High Germanic and Low Germanic languages

Area where used to be spoken traditionally oriental Bajogermian varieties (basalemics or bass sajón).

Varieties of high central German.

Varieties of higher German.

Languages usually considered "non-standard German" They are very varied and can differ significantly from each other. They are usually divided into two large blocks:

• Under German
  • Under Western German (o) Under sajón) which includes the following varieties: under Western sajón in the areas of Münster and Osnabrück in Lower Saxony, under East German spoken in the fate of Baja Saxony (Hanóver, Brunswick, Gotinga) and in the Magdeburg Plain and finally the lower northern sajón.
  • Lower East German which includes the following varieties: brand-bourgeois (in Brandenburg, northern Saxony-Anhalt and meckle-bourgeois-pomerane in Western Mecklenburg-Pomerania.
• High German
  • High German
    • Western German High (Westmitteldeutsch), part of the Francon group, which includes the following varieties: the ripple phrancico (Ripuarisch), the French of the Moselle (Moselfränkisch), the Rhine Francium (Rheinfränkisch), the German of the Palatinate (Pfälzisch), the Hessian (Hessisch).
    • Eastern German High (Ostmitteldeutsch), which includes the following varieties: lausitzisch-neumärkisch, turingio (Thüringisch), tall sajón (sächsisch), Alto Prusiano, Alto sajón Norte, German silesio.
  • Upper German
    • High franchiseincluding the high Eastern Franconium and the high southern Franconium.
    • Germanicoincluding the following varieties: suabo (Schwäbisch), spoken in Suabia, under Germanic (Niederalemannisch), German high (Hochalemannisch).
    • Austro-Bávaro which also includes various dialectal blocks: austro-bávaro Norte (northern austro-bávaro)Nordboarisch, Nordbairisch) spoken in Alto Palatinado and the central austro-bavaro (Mittelboarisch, Mittelbairisch) spoken in Bavaria (and also in Austria).
  • Yidis German high language of the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe (Ascish communities), virtually disappeared in Germany from the Holocaust.

Recognized minority languages

The regional minority languages that have official recognition are Low German and the following:

• Sorabo (0.09%), is a Slavic language that enjoys protection in Lusace, a small region between Brandenburg and Saxony.
• Danish (0.06%), spoken by the border with Denmark in northern Schleswig-Holstein.
• Northern cold (0.01%), in some agricultural villages in Baja Saxony and in the west of Schleswig-Holstein.

Under the Constitution of Schleswig-Holstein the Friesian and Danish minority are guaranteed representation in the regional parliament and languages are protected.

Among the scattered minority autochthonous languages, not limited to a particular region, only Romani (0.08%) has any protection by Germany in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Not Yiddish, mentioned in the previous section, although it is the subject of studies at the Universities of Düsseldorf and Trier.

Disappeared languages

During Antiquity and the Middle Ages, other currently extinct languages are attested in the territory of present-day Germany. During the Roman period Germany would have been populated by Celtic and Germanic populations, in the earliest period the Celts occupied the territory between the Romans and the North Germans. The Celts were displaced or partly assimilated into the Germanic populations, thus the invasion of the Cimbri during the 2nd century BC. C. and collected in classical sources, mentions a series of proper names that can sometimes be interpreted from Celtic and others from Germanic, which is why he considers Cimbri included Celtic and Germanic contingents. These Cimbri came into conflict with the Boyians whose preferred settlement was the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, although they may have had a presence in southern Germany. The Boyos spoke a variant of Gaulish.

The Germanic peoples of North Germany were diverse and spoke different languages, the degree of intelligibility between various groups of Germans could have been high. Almost all Germanic people in Germany would have spoken varieties of two different groups, Elbe Germanic and Rhine Germanic, these two variety groups would be the origin of the Low Germanic and High Germanic languages respectively. Initially, the Germans used the runic alphabet for the first testimonies written in their languages, basically in epigraphic inscriptions and on objects. The adoption of cultural and technological elements from the south, led to a substitution of this native alphabet (possibly derived from the Etruscan alphabet) by the Latin alphabet. From the VIII century, Old High German is well attested, ancestor of modern High German varieties, and genetically related to the lombard that would be used by the Germanic nobility of Italy and Pannonia during the high Middle Ages. Between the 8th and 12th centuries, the Old Saxon ancestor of the modern Low German varieties is documented in northern Germany. Also, between the 5th and 9th centuries in western Germany the use of the Frankish or old Franconian language is documented, which was also used by the Germanic nobility of the Frankish kingdom.

West Slavic groups were also present in eastern Germany from the VI century. The invasions of the Huns and later Avars and Bulgarian Tatars caused many regions of Germany to become depopulated and many Germans moved south, the depopulated territories were repopulated by Slavic peoples from the west. Although the Slavic presence is attested in modern Sorbian, there were other varieties such as the extinct Polabo which disappeared in the middle of the XVIII century and the extinct Slovinian vanished at the beginning of the XX century.

Languages of immigration

The most recent immigration has meant that a good part of the residents in Germany speak foreign languages as a second language, particularly in the family context and in small contexts:

Language learning

Most Germans have studied English as a foreign language during their formal education. Some Germans also received French or Latin lessons. Russian, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Dutch, or Classical Greek are occasionally offered as electives in some schools (depending on geographic location).