Languages of Germany

Neither the 1987 West German census nor the 2011 census inquired about language. Starting with the 2017 microcensus (a survey with a sampling fraction of 1% of the persons and households in Germany that supplies basic sociodemographic data and facilitates ongoing monitoring of the labor market), a question asking, "Which language is spoken predominantly in your household?" was added,{{Cite journal|date=2017|title=Mikrozensus 2017 Fragebogen|url=https://www.stla.sachsen.de/download/Erhebungsboegen/2A_MZ_EHB_VJ.pdf|journal=Statistisches Bundesamt|page=46}} nearly eighty years since the 1939 Census asked for the mother tongue of the population.{{Cite journal|last=Adler|first=Astrid|date=2018|title=Germany's micro census of 2017: The return of the language question.|url=https://ids-pub.bsz-bw.de/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/7857/file/Adler_Germanys_micro_census_2017_The_return_of_the_language_question_2018.pdf|journal=Institut für Deutsche Sprache}}

According to a 2020 Pew Research survey, the most commonly spoken languages at home were:{{cite web |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/06/speaking-the-national-language-at-home-is-less-common-in-some-european-countries/ |title=Pew Research- Languages spoken at home |publisher=Pew Research |access-date=18 October 2020 }}

• German (90% of households)
• Turkish (2% of households)
• Arabic (1% of households)
• Other (6% of households)

The questionnaire did not distinguish Standard German from German dialects.[https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/FT_01.06.20_languages_topline.pdf Topline questionnaire], Pew Research Center, Spring 2019, Global Attitudes Survey, January 6, 2020 Release]

[[File:German dialect continuum in 1900 (according to Wiesinger & König).png|thumb|left|German dialect area around 1900, defined as all West Germanic varieties using Standard German as their literary language:W. Heeringa: Measuring Dialect Pronunciation Differences using Levenshtein Distance. University of Groningen, 2009, pp. 232–234.Peter Wiesinger: Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte. In: Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke, Herbert Ernst Wiegand (Hrsg.): Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung, 2. Halbband. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1983, ISBN 3-11-009571-8, pp. 807–900.Werner König: dtv-Atlas Deutsche Sprache. 19. Auflage. dtv, München 2019, ISBN 978-3-423-03025-0, pp. 230.C. Giesbers: Dialecten op de grens van twee talen. Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2008, pp. 233.

{{legend|#8c506e|Low Franconian}}

{{legend|#df772a|Frisian}}

{{legend|#3e9abc|Low Saxon or Low German}}

{{legend|#f5ef47|Middle German}}

{{legend|#ecca09|High German}}]]

{{Main|German dialects}}

The German language area is characterized by a range of different dialects. There is a written and spoken standard language but there are also large differences in the usage of the standard and the local dialects. The flight and expulsion of Germans broke down the isolation of dialect areas. In 1959, 20% of West Germans were expellees or refugees.{{Cite journal |last=Leopold |first=Werner F. |date=January 1959 |title=The Decline of German Dialects |journal=WORD |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=130–153 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1959.11659689 |issn=0043-7956|doi-access=free }} The colloquial speech is a compromise between Standard German and the dialect. Northern Germany (the Low German area) is characterized by a loss of dialects: standard German is the vernacular, with very few regional features even in informal situations.{{Cite book |editor-last1=Tore |editor-first1=Kristiansen|editor-last2=Coupland|editor-first2=Nikola|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1204794772 |title=Standard Languages and Language Standards in a Changing Europe |isbn=978-82-7099-659-9 |oclc=1204794772|chapter=Language variation and (de-)standardisation processes in Germany|pages=83–90|author-first1=Philipp|author-last1=Stoeckle|author-first2=Christoph|author-last2=Hare Svenstrup|year=2011 |publisher=Novus Press }} In Central Germany (the Middle German area) there is a tendency towards dialect loss. In Southern Germany (the Upper German area) dialects are still in use. Dialects are declining in all regions except for Bavaria. In 2008, 45% of Bavarians claimed to use only Bavarian in everyday communication.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/721195501 |title=Handbook of language and ethnic identity, 2 : the success-failure continuum in language and ethnic identity efforts |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Joshua A. Fishman, Ofelia García|chapter= Bavarian: Successful Dialect or Failed Language? |first=Anthony R.|last=Rowley|isbn=978-0-19-983799-1 |location=Oxford |oclc=721195501|pages=209–308}}

Recognized minority languages include:{{cite web|url=http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Broschueren/2010/nat_minderheiten.pdf?__blob%3DpublicationFile |title=National Minorities in Germany|publisher=BMI|date=May 2010|page=44|access-date=2014-06-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421151141/http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Broschueren/2010/nat_minderheiten.pdf?__blob=publicationFile |archive-date=2013-04-21 }}.

• Romani (0.8%)
• Danish (0.06%)
• North Frisian (0.01%) and Saterland Frisian
• Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian (0.01%)

States of Germany preserve primary competence in minority language policies leading to certain variations in the level of protection of minority languages around the country.{{cite book | editor1=Gerhard W. Mayer |editor2=Paul F. Langer |author=Mirko Savković |year=2022 |chapter=Inclusivity Principle in the CoE ECRLM Committee of Experts' Evaluations and Recommendations for Danube Countries |title=Cultural Communities and Minorities in the Danube Region |publisher= European Danube Academy |location = Ulm, Germany |page=199-230 |ISBN=978-3-86281-178-6 }} While German Federal Government, unwilling to intrude on state rights, maintain position that no specific nationwide law on minority languages is needed, the Committee of Experts on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages believes that federal law may lead to positive harmonization. Germany ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on 16 September 1998 for the following languages in respect of specific Länder:{{cite web |url= https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148/signatures?p_auth=9E1g9uJz |title= Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 148 |first= |date=5 March 2021|website=|publisher = Council of Europe|access-date=5 March 2021|quote= }}

• Romani (across Germany)
• Danish (in Schleswig-Holstein)
• Low German (part III in Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein); (part II in Brandenburg, Northrhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt)
• North Frisian (in Schleswig-Holstein)
• Saterland Frisian (in Lower Saxony)
• Upper Sorbian (in the Free State of Saxony)
• Lower Sorbian (in Brandenburg)

Germany has a large immigrant population, accounting for about one-fifth to one-fourth of the country’s total population.{{Cite web |title=17.3% of Germany's population has immigrated since 1950 |url=https://www.destatis.de/EN/Press/2023/03/PE23_080_12.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=Federal Statistical Office |language=en}} Besides German and English, many immigrant languages are spoken due to historical migration waves. These figures are based on data from the 2023 microcensus conducted by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany.{{Cite journal |date= |title=Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit – Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund – Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2023 – |url=https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/_publikationen-innen-migrationshintergrund.html |journal=Statistisches Bundesamt |page=}} Based on language family and population, these languages are:

Afro-Asiatic language Family

• Arabic: Approximately 1,462,000 speakers.

Austroasiatic Language Family

• Vietnamese: Approximately 160,000 speakers.

Dravidian Language Family

• Tamil

Indo-European language Family

• Russian: Approximately 1,895,000 speakers.
• Polish: Approximately 1,024,000 speakers.
• English: Approximately 1,010,000 speakers.
• Romanian: Approximately 762,000 speakers.
• Ukrainian: Approximately 604,000 speakers.
• Albanian: Approximately 597,000 speakers.
• Kurdish: Approximately 574,000 speakers.
• Italian: Approximately 536,000 speakers.
• Persian: Approximately 448,000 speakers.
• Croatian: Approximately 410,000 speakers.
• Spanish: Approximately 336,000 speakers.
• Greek: Approximately 301,000 speakers.
• Serbian: Approximately 294,000 speakers.
• Bosnian: Approximately 256,000 speakers.
• Bulgarian: Approximately 232,000 speakers.
• French: Approximately 192,000 speakers.
• Portuguese: Approximately 166,000 speakers.
• Macedonian: Approximately 102,000 speakers.
• Dutch: Approximately 102,000 speakers.
• Urdu: Approximately 97,000 speakers.
• Hindi: Approximately 80,000 speakers.
• Pashto: Approximately 48,000 speakers.
• Lithuanian

Sino-Tibetan Language Family

• Chinese: Approximately 166,000 speakers.

Turkic language Family

• Turkish: Approximately 2,128,000 speakers.

Uralic Language Family

• Hungarian: Approximately 217,000 speakers.

At least 81% of the German primary and secondary students were learning English as their first foreign language in 2017. However, German schoolchildren generally do not speak English as proficiently as their Scandinavian counterparts{{cite web |last1=Hanke |first1=Katja |title=Fremdsprachen in deutschen Schulen und Kindergärten |url=https://www.goethe.de/lhr/prj/d30/dos/wis/de6400582.htm |website=Goethe Institut |trans-title= Foreign languages in German schools and kindergartens| publisher=Goethe Institut Online |access-date=4 September 2019}} and, in some cases, French or Latin are taught first.{{citationneeded|date=October 2023}}

According to a 2020 analysis conducted by Pew Research Center using 2017 data from Eurostat, the most popular non-English foreign languages learned in German primary and secondary schools were French (15%), Spanish (5%) and Russian (1%), with others garnering less than 1% each.{{cite web |last1=Devlin |first1=Kat |title=Most European students learn English in school |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/04/09/most-european-students-learn-english-in-school/ |website=Pew Research Center |access-date=2 October 2023 |date=9 April 2020}} During the existence of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany, 1949–1990), the most common second language taught there was Russian, while English and French were the preferred second languages taught in schools in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).{{cite magazine |last1=Livingston |first1=Robert Gerald |title=East Germany between Moscow and Bonn |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/1972-01-01/east-germany-between-moscow-and-bonn |website=Foreign Affairs |date=28 January 2009 |access-date=4 September 2019}}

Several bilingual kindergartens and schools exist in Germany offering education in German and English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Turkish, and other languages.{{cite web |title=Informationen zu unserem bilingualen Zweig |url=https://schule-laemmersieth.hamburg.de/zweisprachiger-unterricht-iki-dilli-egitim/ |website=Schuele Lammersieth |access-date=4 September 2019}}

• German language in the Basic Law

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |title=Nationales und internationales Minderheitenrecht |url=https://www.bmi.bund.de/DE/themen/heimat-integration/gesellschaftlicher-zusammenhalt/minderheiten/minderheitenrecht/minderheitenrecht-artikel.html |website=Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat |language=de-DE}}

{{Languages of Germany}}

{{Languages of Europe}}

{{Minority languages of Europe}}

Category:German language

Category:Culture of Germany