Editing German language (section)

===Past===
See [[ 2nd Orthographic Conference  (German)|Antiqua-Fraktur dispute|German orthography reform of 1944|German orthography reform of 1996]]
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 [[Penmanship|handwriting]] (for example [[Kurrent]] and [[Sütterlin]]). These variants of the Latin alphabet are very different from the serif or [[Sans-serif|sans serif]] [[Antiqua (typeface class)|Antiqua]] typefaces used today, and particularly the handwritten forms are difficult for the untrained to read. The printed forms however were claimed by some to be actually more readable when used for printing [[Germanic language]]s.<ref>Adolf Reinecke, ''Die deutsche Buchstabenschrift: ihre Entstehung und Entwicklung, ihre Zweckmäßigkeit und völkische Bedeutung'', Leipzig, Hasert, 1910</ref>  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. The Fraktur script remains present in everyday life through road signs, pub signs, beer brands and other forms of advertisement, where it is used to convey a certain rusticality and oldness.

A proper use of the [[long s]], (''langes s''), [[Long s|ſ]], is essential to write German text in [[Fraktur (script)|Fraktur]] typefaces. Many [[Antiqua script|Antiqua]] typefaces include the [[long s]], also. A specific set of rules applies for the use of long s in German text, but it is rarely used in Antiqua typesetting, recently. Any lower case "s" at the beginning of a syllable would be a long s, as opposed to a terminal s or short s (the more common variation of the letter s), which marks the end of a syllable; for example, in differentiating between the words ''Wachſtube'' (=guard-house) and ''Wachstube'' (=tube of floor polish). One can decide which "s" to use by appropriate hyphenation, easily ("Wach-ſtube" vs. "Wachs-tube"). The long s only appears in [[lower case]].