While some languages are named after major countries, they are not limited to those nations. For example, Spanish is not only spoken in Spain, English is not only spoken in England, and French is not only spoken in France. There are a few countries in Europe that speak German, as you may already know, but did you know there are countries in South America that also have large German speaking communities? Here are five things everyone should know about German.
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1. There Are Many German Dialects
In Germany alone, there are so many different dialects that when they did a research asking people to report what word they used for “dragonfly”, sixty words were collected from the study. The dialects in Germany are typically broken down into “High German” and “Low German”. The terms come from the geographic regions of where those dialects are typically spoken. Despite there being such a thing as “standard German”, or Hochdeutsch, which is commonly used in business and tourism, internationalization is still important for cultural reference purposes.
2. German Is Spoken in South America
German is a co-official language in certain regions of Italy, Brazil, and Poland. Other areas in which German is legally prominent though non-official due to a large German diaspora are Argentina, Australia, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Canada, and South Africa, among others.
3. German Can Be Very Descriptive
While English speakers may have noticed that German and English are similar, German takes being pragmatic to a whole new level, compounding nouns to make entirely new words. For example, there word Weltschmerz specifically describes the pain you feel for the world. Handschuhe literally means hand shoe which is how Germans say glove. Also, every noun is capitalized in German, and has a gender. Do with that as you will.
4. German in Numbers
German is the 11th most widely spoken word around the globe! In Europe, It is the most common native language due to it being either the or one of the official languages in many of the countries including Austria, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. German also holds the record for longest word in the world. The word Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz has 63 letters, and is considered too long even by German standards so is no longer used. It means, “the law concerning the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and the labelling of beef”.
5. Germany Is Known as the Land of Poets and Thinkers
Not for nothing, but think of Goethe, Kant, Marx, Humboldt, Einstein and Nietzsche. All these people are known in their own right for their great contributions to literature, philosophy, and society in general. Not to forget Bach, Beethoven, Händel, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner and R. Strauss. It would be great to be able to read the original writings of Nietzsche while listening to Bach and thinking about all the great contributions brought by not only the language, but the country itself.
There are many things about the German language that truly make it a great contribution to all aspects of society and culture. Hopefully these five facts will help you appreciate it more.
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