Editing German language (section)

==Standard German==

''See Also [[Standard German]]''

[[File:German standard varieties.png|thumb|350px|The national and regional standard varieties of the Geman language.<ref>Ulrich Ammon, Hans Bickel, Jakob Ebner, et al.: Variantenwörterbuch des Deutschen. Die Standardsprache in Österreich, der Schweiz und Deutschland sowie in Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Ostbelgien und Südtirol. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2004.</ref>]]
Standard German 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 However, there are places where the traditional regional dialects have been replaced by standard German; this is the case in vast stretches of [[Northern Germany]], but also in major cities in other parts of the country.

Standard German differs regionally, between German-speaking countries, in [[vocabulary]] and some instances of [[pronunciation]], and even [[grammar]] and [[orthography]]. This variation must not be confused with the variation of local dialects. Even though the regional varieties of standard German are only 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 dialectal 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 largely restricted to the written language. Therefore, this situation has been called a ''medial [[diglossia]]''. [[Swiss Standard German]] is used in the Swiss, [[Austrian Standard German]] officially in the Austrian education system.

===Official status===
Standard German is the only [[official language]] in Liechtenstein; it shares official status in [[Germany]] (with [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Frisian languages|Frisian]] and [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]] as minority languages), in Austria (with [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], and [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]), Switzerland (with [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Romansh language|Romansh]]), Belgium (with [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ([[Flemish language|Flemish]]) and French) and Luxembourg (with French and [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]]). It is used as a local official language in Italy ([[Province of Bolzano-Bozen]]), as well as in the cities of [[Sopron]] (Hungary), Krahule ([[Slovakia]]) and several cities in Romania. It is the official language (with Italian) of the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] [[Swiss Guard]].

German has an officially recognized status as regional or auxiliary language in Denmark{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} ([[South Jutland]] region), Italy (Gressoney valley), Namibia, [[Poland]] ([[Bilingual communes in Poland|Opole]] region), and Russia{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} (Asowo and Halbstadt).

German is one of the 23 official [[languages of the European Union]]. It is the language with the largest number of native speakers in the [[European Union]], and, just behind English and ahead of French, the second-most spoken language in Europe.

===German as a foreign language===

''See Also [[German as a foreign language]]''

[[File:Knowledge of German EU map.svg|left|thumb|290px|Knowledge of the German language in [[Europe]].]]
[[File:German foreign language EU.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Knowledge of German as a [[foreign language]] ([[second language]] in [[Luxembourg]]) in the [[EU]] member states (+[[Croatia]] and [[Turkey]]), in per cent of the adult population (+15), 2005.]]
[[File:German dialectal map.PNG|right|thumb|250px|By the [[High German consonant shift]], the map of German [[dialect]]s is divided into [[Upper German]] (green), [[Central German]] (blue), and the [[Low German]] (yellow). The main isoglosses and the [[Benrath line|Benrath]] and [[Speyer line]]s are marked black.]]
[[File:Continental West Germanic languages.png|250px|right|thumb|Distribution of the native speakers of major continental West-Germanic dialectal varieties.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}]]

German is the third-most taught [[foreign language]] in the English-speaking world, after French and Spanish.

German is the main language of about 90–95 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 (66.5 million speakers in 2004) and English (64.2 million speakers in 2004). It is therefore the most spoken first language in the EU. It is the second most known foreign language in the EU.<ref>After English; {{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf|title=Europeans and Language|publisher=[[European Commission]]|format=PDF|year=2005|accessdate=2007-12-08}}</ref> It is one of the official languages of the European Union, and one of the three [[working language]]s of [[European Commission|the European Commission]], along with English and French.  Thirty-two percent of citizens of the EU-15 countries say they can converse in German (either as a mother tongue or as a second or foreign language).<ref>{{cite web|url= http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/languages/index_en.html|title=Languages in Europe|publisher=[[European Commission]]|year=2007|accessdate=2008-02-12}}</ref> This is assisted by the widespread availability of German TV by cable or satellite.

German was once, and still remains to some extent, a [[lingua franca]] in Central, Eastern, and [[Northern Europe]]