Editing German language (section)

===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]]