Prior to writing about a topic, I like to perform keyword research to make sure that the chosen topic isn’t too esoteric. In other words, I don’t necessarily want to write about stuff that is of absolutely no interest to anyone. In this case, I learned that “facts about German Shepherds” is a more popular search than “facts about German.” So I apologize in advance, but I will be talking about the language and not the dog. Here are 10 moderately interesting facts about German.
1
German is estimated to have about 132 million speakers worldwide, making it the 12th most spoken language in the world.
2
It is an official language in six countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
3
German is considered part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Included in the same branch, among many others, are Western Germanic languages such as English and Dutch and Northern Germanic languages such as Swedish and Norwegian.
4
The hypothesized language ancestor of the Germanic languages is called Proto-Germanic. This language, reconstructed by linguists, is thought to have been spoken in Northern Europe around 500 BCE – 500 CE. In other words, German, English, Swedish, etc. were all essentially one language prior to taking their own paths over time.
5
Given the above, it’s not surprising that German words are commonly used in English. Examples include angst, bratwurst, kaput, kindergarten, lager, pretzel, sauerkraut, strudel, wanderlust, and many others.
6
While Germans build great cars, their colonization skills paled in comparison to the French and British. As such, only one African country, Namibia, has a sizable German-speaking population, with even that being considered threatened.
7
South Tyrol, an autonomous province in northern Italy (and one of the wealthiest provinces in the country), is predominantly German speaking. The region, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was annexed to Italy in 1919. As you might imagine, there have been a few hard feelings over the years.
8
South America has a rather sizable German-speaking population. In Brazil, after Portuguese, German dialects comprise the second most common first language. Around 4.5 million Brazilians speak variations of German.
9
In German, all nouns are capitalized (not just proper names). “I am a man” translates to “Ich bin ein Mann” with a capital M.
10
In many languages, nouns have gender, namely masculine or feminine. German actually has a third gender in the form of neuter. The German word for girl, Mädchen, is actually neuter. Is that really necessary?
If you’re thinking of embarking on a language learning journey, German just might be the perfect dark horse. Yeah, I know about Spanish and French. But German will let you converse in the second most spoken language in Europe (after Russian). Perhaps more importantly, you will be able to navigate Europe’s largest economy and the fourth largest economy in the world. Viel Erfolg.
8 Responses
What does viel erfolg mean? I enjoyed this post!
Thanks! Viel Erfolg means something like “Lots of success” or “I wish you much success.”
Großartige Arbeit! Learned something interesting about Namibia and Brazil as well. And seriously, Mädchen being a neuter term is so unnecessary! Its interesting to see how languages evolve…
Danke! Language study never lets us down in terms of the fascination factor!
German and Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-European language of India have identical grammar. Max Muller, a German scholar visited India to study Sanskrit. All German consulates in India are called Max Muller Bhavans. We were taught words which were similar between the two languages.
Very interesting! That’s a great reminder of how the Indo-European language family covers a pretty wide geographic range. (It’s also a great reminder of our interconnectedness.)
where does Latin, supposed to be mother of european languages fit in?
Proto-Germanic and its “offspring” mingled with Latin (spread by the Romans) and Latin’s “offspring” (i.e. the Romance languages). So even though English is Germanic, it has a lot of influence from the Romance languages. And even though French is a Romance language, the Germanic influence is pretty clear.