10 interesting facts about the German language

Around 105 million people around the world speak German as their first language. In addition, a huge number of people from different countries have learned German as a foreign language. According to experts, only in the European Union about 50 million people are fluent in German.

By the way, there are many people who study German, and in Russia more than four million people are currently learning the language of Schiller and Goethe.

Linguists can attest that German is a fluid and migratory language, a flexible yet precise language that is very interesting to learn.

We bring to your attention 10 interesting facts about the German language: origin, features of vocabulary and grammar.

10 The popularity of the German language and its status

German is the most widely spoken language in the European Union. This language is the official language not only in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but also in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Italy and Belgium.

German is also one of the official languages ​​in Brussels, the administrative headquarters of the EU. In addition, it has a special status in the administration of the United Nations (UN), although it is not an official or working language there – all the same, all documents there are always translated into German.

There is a legend that German once almost became the official language in the young state – the United States. In 1775, after the end of the War of Independence, a meeting of the Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia, at which the state language of the country was determined by direct vote. And although many congressmen tried to break any threads connecting the United States with Great Britain, the English language still won – by a margin of only 1 vote.

9. Origin

Linguists claim that German belongs to the family of Indo-European languages.. In the Indo-European languages, German is considered a West German language. It is also closely related to Dutch, English, Frisian and Yiddish because these languages ​​can also be found in the West Germanic language group.

8. Problems of learning German

If you learn German as a foreign language, you will have to work hard on understanding the spelling of nouns from the very beginning. Each noun here has a grammatical gender, which can be learned from a specific table.

If a noun is accompanied by an adjective, then this adjective will necessarily be in case, in number and in grammatical gender. This phenomenon is considered one of the main characteristics of the German language and is called “the principle of congruence».

Another distinguishing feature of the German language is the ability to form and collect new words. Thus, German can form new words by combining two or more words.

Anyone learning German should also be careful when learning how to write, because German is not always written the way it sounds..

7. German Vocabulary – Numerous Influences

The vocabulary of the German language had a great influence on its development. At the beginning of its creation, German was heavily dependent on Latin.. Even today, many German words have a clear Latin origin. In addition to Latin, Greek has also left its mark on terms, politics, science and religion. German democracy can be derived, for example, from the Greek δημοκρατία.

The German language has been influenced by French since the Middle Ages. Words such as office, facade, engineer or cigarette were taken from French.

The main influence on the vocabulary of the German language in the 20th and 21st centuries is English. As with many other languages ​​of the world, English is increasingly being mixed with the language of the country in Germany.

6. Influence of German on other languages

At the beginning of the 20th century, many people emigrated from Germany. They not only carried German culture, but also the German language to other countries. That is why it is so many German words have been integrated into other languages.

For example, in the Czech Republic you will find German words like papír (paper), kachel (swing) or regal (shelf). But not only in craft, but also in everyday use, you can find German words flaska (bottle), hełm (helmet) and so on in Polish.

5. Such a different German language

Hochdeutsch is standard German, something like a language without local features. If you are going to learn German, you will definitely learn the rules and intonation of hochdeutsch.

There is also stage German. Throughout the nineteenth century, there was a great demand for theatrical art, however, due to the strong accent of the actors, their dialogues were unintelligible for the public living in another part of the country. That is why the German language was created, which was understandable throughout Germany, so that works could be freely presented anywhere.

4. Grammar specifics

The German language has its own unique writing features.. For example, there are the letters ä, ö, and ü, as well as a special letter called Eszet, whose symbol is capitalized ß.

3. There are 3 genders in German

There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neutral.. In many Romance languages, nouns are masculine or feminine. However, in German a noun can also be neutral. The gender of a word is determined purely grammatically. For example, the word “das Mädchen” is neutral, although it means a woman.

2. Germans love complex words

There are hundreds of words in German that are formed from two or more simple words. An example is the word speed limit, translated as speed limit, or Property transaction permit transfer of responsibility ordinance, which means the regulation of delegation of authority to transfer ownership.

A consequence of what was said above very long words in german. The longest in Germany and the third in the world is the word Donaudampfschifffahrtselektricitaten main depot building sub-officials, and yes, that is the only word for the Society of Junior Officials of the Construction of the Power Plant of the Danube Steamship Company.

There are many German words that have no equivalent in other languages., and therefore can be explained, but not translated literally. Some terms do not exist in any other language. For example, “Second hand embarrassment”, which translates as a feeling of shame for the actions of another person. AND Fernweh (desire to travel far) is the antonym homesickness (nostalgia for the homeland).

There are also many funny expressions in German. For example, the phrase “You have pig!“, Which means”You have a pig!”, used in relation to a person who is considered lucky.

However, perhaps the most entertaining is the way to hint to the interlocutor that he is sticking his nose into other people’s business. In such cases, the Germans simply say “That is not your beer!”which literally translates as “It’s not your beer!” It’s not rude, but it’s quite intelligible.

1. German is the second language in the world with a large number of Wikipedia articles

In terms of the number of speakers, the German language ranks 12th in the world, however, apparently, these people are very inquisitive if they show similar activity in this well-known social network.