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Wo Spricht Man Deutsch (Where is German spoken)? Posted by on Apr 9, 2010 in Uncategorized

German is spoken by an estimated 126 Million people. The vast Mehrheit (majority) is found in Deutschland (Germany), with about 82 million German-speakers. Diese Zahl (this number) leaves us with 44 million other people. Wo wohnen die anderen (where do the others live)?

Österreich (Austeria) should be the first Land (country) to come to mind. After all, how could we forget such wonderful songs like “Favorite Things” from the musical “The Sound of Music?  Austria is Germany’s Nachbar (neighbor) to the south and has a Bevölkerung (population) of about 8 million leute (people).  Austria has a very mountainous landscape about the Gröβe (size) of Main. Wien (Vienna) is die Hauptstadt (the capital).

In der Schweiz, people speak four different Sprachen (languages). Sixty-five percent of the seven million people in Switzerland speak German and the rest speak French, Italian, or Rhaeto-Romansh.

After Switzerland, comes Liechtenstein, the small country from which its name is derived. The capital, Vaduz, is the largest city and has less than 5,000 inhabitants. It has neither a Flughafen (airport) nor a Bahnhof (train station). But, what it does have is the German-language Zeitung (newspaper), the Liechtenstein Vaterland (fatherland).

And lastly, there is the country of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is situated on Germany’s western border. French is used for street and place names, as well as for amtlich (official) business; however, most citizens speak a dialect of German called Letztebuergesch in day-to-day life. Luxembourg is considered a German-speaking country, along with Austeria, Germany, and Switzerland. Most of the newspapers are veröffentlichte (published) in German. The Luxemburger Wort is one example.

There is a small population in the towns of Eupen and Sankt, Belgium, where German is still used. The total population in this region is less than 100,000 people.  There are small pockets, or regions –former Germanic areas—in Eastern Europe where German is still spoken on the street.  One can find these regions in Poland, Romania and Russia. Furthermore, there are a few people who speak German in the areas where Germany had colonized in Africa—mostly Nambia.

The estimated number of native German speakers in the world is between 99 and 100 million. If you added speakers of German, who it as a second language, the number would rise to 126 million. German language (spoken by native speakers) ranks tenth place, China is number one, and English is in third place, next to Spanish’s second.

Die Mehrheit-the majority

Deutschland-Germany

Diese Zahl-this Number

Wo-where

wohnen-to live (domicile)

die-(the) feminine definitive article

Österreich-Austria

Das Land-the country

Die Nachbar-neighbor

Die Bevölkerung-population

Die Leute-the people

Die Gröβe-the size

Wien-Vienna

Die Hauptstadt-the capital

In der Schweiz-in Switzerland

Die Schweiz-Switzerland

Die Sprachen-the languages

Der Flughafen-the airport

Der Bahnhof-the train station

Die Zeitung-the newspaper

Der Vaterland-the fatherland

Das Wort-the Word

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Comments:

  1. -Pablo-:

    Diese stupid way of mixing Sprachen has me so völlig nuts, dass ich barely was understand kann.

  2. Alison:

    German is also spoken in the north of Italy in the Suedtirol region – I was quite surprised the first time I went there. However I suppose this accounts for only a small number of native speakers.

  3. Adam:

    What’s that about Liechtenstein’s name? The name Switzerland comes from the name Liechtenstein? Also Austria doesn’t have an e.

  4. stephanie:

    Great post! You should also checkout http://blog.mygermancity.com/

  5. keshandouzi:

    think it should not be ,,Die Nachbar-neighbor” but Der Nachbar

  6. fatah abdulkarim:

    what is the secret of germans success ? in all fileds of life for ex industry, economy , all science and technology is it heredity or perseverance
    or some thing else that i dont know

  7. Phil Hyde:

    This site has at least two errors in the flashcards = die Sprache, the language, is misspelled die Sprachen (plural), and die Zeitung is misspelled as die Zeitsung. There’s also a typo in the prelim reading where Austria is misspelled Austeria.