German language

German
Deutsch
Pronunciation	[ˈdɔʏtʃ]
Native to	primarily German-speaking Europe, also in the worldwide German diaspora
Native speakers	90 million (2010) to 95 million (2014) L2 speakers: 10–15 million (2014) as a foreign language: 75–100 million
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German German
Standard forms	German Standard German Swiss Standard German Austrian Standard German
Writing system	Latin (German alphabet) German Braille
Signed forms	Signed German, LBG (Lautsprachbegleitende / Lautbegleitende Gebärden)
Official status
Official language in	6 countries  Austria  Belgium  Germany  Liechtenstein  Luxembourg   Switzerland 3 dependencies  Italy (South Tyrol) 31 communes in Poland 9 municipalities in Brazil Several international institutions
Recognised minority language in	13 countries (minority/cultural/national language) Brazil (Espírito Santo) Bosnia and Herzegovina Czech Republic Denmark Hungary Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino, Piedmont & Valle d'Aosta) Kazakhstan Namibia Poland Romania Russia (Azov German National District) Slovakia Ukraine
Regulated by	No official regulation (German orthography regulated by the Council for German Orthography).
Language codes
ISO 639-1	de
ISO 639-2	(B)  (T)
ISO 639-3	Variously: deu – German gmh – Middle High German goh – Old High German gct – Colonia Tovar German bar – Bavarian cim – Cimbrian geh – Hutterite German ksh – Kölsch nds – Low German sli – Lower Silesian ltz – Luxembourgish vmf – Mainfränkisch mhn – Mócheno pfl – Palatinate German pdc – Pennsylvania German pdt – Plautdietsch swg – Swabian German gsw – Swiss German uln – Unserdeutsch sxu – Upper Saxon wae – Walser German wep – Westphalian hrx – Riograndenser Hunsrückisch yec – Yenish
Glottolog	high1287  (High Franconian) uppe1397  (Upper German)
Linguasphere	further information 52-AC (Continental West Germanic) > 52-ACB (Deutsch & Dutch) > 52-ACB-d (Central German incl. 52-ACB–dl & -dm Standard/Generalised High German) + 52-ACB-e & -f (Upper German & Swiss German) + 52-ACB-h (émigré German varieties incl. 52-ACB-hc Hutterite German & 52-ACB-he Pennsylvania German etc.) + 52-ACB-i (Yenish); Totalling 285 varieties: 52-ACB-daa to 52-ACB-i
(Co-)Official and majority language   Co-official, but not majority language   Statutory minority/cultural language   Non-statutory minority language
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No official regulation

German (Deutsch [ˈdɔʏtʃ]) is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and (co-) official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein; it is also an official, but not majority language of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, and English. It is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

One of the major languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. German also is the third most widely taught foreign language in both the US (after Spanish and French) and the EU (after English and French; at lower secondary level), the second most commonly used scientific language as well as the third most widely used language on websites (after English and Russian). The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in the German language.