Learning foreign languages is a way leading to great opportunities. If you speak foreign languages you are opener for understanding other nations and cultures better. A foreign language also gives you new career opportunities.
If your decision is to learn the German language you should have some background knowledge of the country, its culture and language. Rate of literacy in Germany is 99%. 25% of the tourists in the USA are German speaking. And Germany itself is the second most popular European destination for American tourists. With 22 %, German-Americans represent the largest ethnic group in America today. Some prominent examples include Albert Einstein, Levi Strauss, Henry Kissinger, and Werner von Braun.
The German language
• is the most widely spoken native language in the EU;
• belongs to the three most learned languages in the world;
• belongs to the ten most widely spoken languages in the world;
• is among the top five most widely used languages on the Internet;
• is the official language in seven countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, as well as parts of Italy and Belgium);
• is spoken by over 100 million people world-wide (around 100 million native and 28 million second language speakers in 40 countries around the world).
Language History
German belongs to the Western group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. German diverged from other Germanic languages by a sound change called the Second Germanic Sound Shift that occurred in the 3rd-5th centuries and was probably completed by the 9th century AD. Its effect can be seen by comparing modern German words with their English counterparts, e.g., pound-Pfund, apple-Apfel, cat-Katze, heart-Herz, make-machen. The Second Sound Shift divided Germany into a smaller Northern part (without the sound shift) and a larger central and Southern part (with the sound shift). The border between the two regions approximates a line through Cologne (Köln) and Berlin. The other countries where German is spoken are all south of this line. Since the part of Germany where there was no Second Sound Shift are the North German Lowlands, their language is called Low German as distinct from High German spoken in the areas where the sound change occurred.
The German language has undergone a number of changes throughout history.
Old High German was spoken until the 10th-11th centuries. Its grammar resembled that of Latin or Slavic languages in its complexity. It is incomprehensible to readers of modern German
Middle High German was spoken until the end of the Middle Ages. It is partially comprehensible to readers of modern German.
New High German developed at the end of the Middle Ages. It is partially comprehensible to readers of modern German.
German was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe. Today, it is the second most studied language in Europe and Asia. It is the third most-commonly taught language in the USA schools and universities.
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