German language off culture, language

German language

The German language is spoken by around 100 million people in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, German-speaking Switzerland and also by residents of other countries. It belongs to the Germanic languages ??within the Indo-European languages. In the history of the language, a distinction is made between the epochs of Old High German, Middle High German, Early New High German, New High German and Late New High German.

In Central Europe, the German-speaking area includes the states of Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and the regions of East Belgium, German-speaking Switzerland, South Tyrol, Alsace and Lorraine, as well as smaller German-speaking islands in foreign-speaking areas. Due to emigration, German and its dialects are also spoken in other countries. The language is one of the seven most influential in the world, and German is sometimes counted among the world languages.

Along with all the other Germanic languages, German is one of those that developed from the common Indo-European proto-language from a. spun off by the first sound shift. The original Indo-European language thus became the Germanic original language, a proto-language that describes the common characteristics of very closely related Germanic languages ??or dialects.

Due to the changing political history of the German-speaking area, there are more different forms for the name of the German language in the languages ??of the world than for most other languages ??in the world. In Europe, after English and Russian, German is the most widespread foreign language, and German is also often learned in Japan. In countries like France and the USA, German is becoming less important than Spanish. In East Asia, German was used as the medical language in place of Latin in the 19th and 20th centuries.

From the middle of the 20th century, English increasingly influenced the German language in Germany. This development is often viewed with skepticism, especially when there are enough German synonyms. Critics also note that it is often pseudo-English.