Languages of Germany

Languages of Germany
Official languages German (95%)
Regional languages Low Rhenish; Limburgish; Luxembourgish; Alemannic; Bavarian; Danish; Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian; North Frisian, Saterland Frisian; Romani, Low German
Main immigrant languages Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Dutch, Italian, Greek, Romanian, Tamil, Spanish; and others
see also:immigration to Germany
Main foreign languages English (56%)
French (15%)
Russian (5%)
Sign languages German Sign Language
Common keyboard layouts
Source ebs_243_en.pdf (europa.eu)

The official language of Germany is Standard German, with over 95 percent of the country speaking Standard German or German dialects as their first language.[1] This figure includes speakers of Northern Low Saxon, a recognized minority or regional language that is not considered separately from Standard German in statistics. Recognized minority languages have official status as well, usually in their respective regions.

The census 2011 and the West-German census 1987 did not inquire about language. Since the 2017 micro census, a survey conducted with a sampling fraction of 1% of the persons and households in Germany that supplies basic socio-demographic data and facilitates the ongoing monitoring of the labour market, a question asking "Which language is being spoken predominantly in your household?" was added[2], eighty years since the 1939 Census asked for the Mother tongue of the population.[3]

Minority languages

Recognised minority languages:[1][4]

Immigrant languages

Immigrant languages spoken by sizable communities of first and second-generation (dominant origin of the speakers in brackets):

Second languages

Most Germans learn English as their first foreign language at school. Sometimes French or Latin are taught first, but usually English is, with French and Latin as common second or third foreign languages. Russian, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Dutch, classical Greek, and other languages are also offered in schools, often depending on the school's geographic location.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "BBC - Languages across Europe". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Mikrozensus 2017 Fragebogen" (PDF). Statistisches Bumdesamt: 46. 2017.
  3. ↑ Adler, Astrid (2018). "Germany's micro census of 2017: The return of the language question" (PDF). Institut Für Deutsche Sprache.
  4. ↑ National Minorities in Germany. BMI. 2010. p. 44."Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2014-06-23. .
  5. ↑ "Tamil Diaspora - Germany - ஜெர்மனி". Tamilnation.co. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.