The German Language: 8 Facts
correction: Masse = mass
Maß = dimension/measure
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In this video, we will talk about features and facts about the German Language. 105 million people speak German as their mother tongue and an additional 80 million study it or speak it as a second language. It is the most widely spoken mother tongue in the EU with 16% of the Europeans speaking it, beating out Italian, French, Spanish, and even English.
German is famous for its excessively long words with the longest word being made up of 79 letters! Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft means “association of subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services”. It must be noted that this word is not really useful; it’s more of an attempt to lengthen the word Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän which means “Danube steamship company captain”.
To continue with the previous point, the German language once had the 63-letter word Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz in its arsenal. However, this word, meaning ‘the law concerning the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and the labelling of beef’ was considered too much of a mouthful even for German bureaucrats, and the word is now obsolete. Those super long words are the result of the German extensive use of compound words, which can build on each other to create monstrosities like the one shown above.
Besides Germany, German is the official language of both Austria and Liechtenstein and one of the official languages in Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, making it the most spoken native language in the European Union.
And of course, you have so many Germans running around everywhere in the world as tourists. So if you are working in the tourism industry or simply like to travel, it can be useful to take a look at German for a fun conversation! Oh and fun fact, the Amish in the US speak an old German dialect.
The yellow coloured areas are regions where German is usually the mother tongue of the majority of people living there. Coloured in red are areas with german as a co-official language and areas coloured in blue are regions with officially recognized german minorities.
There are also german-speaking minorities all over the world, for example in Namibia, which has been a german colony until WWI, there are still thousands of descendants of german settlers that still speak german to this day.
Also, In the Brazilian ‚Estados‘ Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, there are many municipalities where german is handled as an official language.
In Switzerland, a country with 4 languages, German is the most-spoken one, but it is usually spoken with a dialect called 'Schwitzerdüütsch'. This one is one of the hardest dialects to understand for standard german speakers.
Next, there is the region of South Tyrol, which was handed over from Austria to Italy after World War 1. Most people there speak German, but also with a dialect that is hard to understand. Many Germans don't even know that this minority exists until they find out in their Winter Ski Vacations.
There is also a small area in East Belgium that was handed over from Germany to Belgium after World War I called 'Eupen-Malmedy', which is the reason why German is one of three official languages of Belgium.
Luxembourgish is actually a variety of the German Moselle Franconian Dialects spoken in the neighbouring parts of Germany.
German is also still spoken among a minority in Alsace, which has often switched sides between Germany and France in history.
German uses three genders. In many Romance languages, nouns are either masculine or feminine, which has historically caused headaches for some language learners. German is even more complicated as it has a third gender known as neuter for words that are neither masculine nor feminine. For example, “Das Mädchen” (the girl) is neuter, even though it refers to a female person.
8 German is the 12th most spoken language in the world
7 German has a unique letter “ß” called “Eszett” or “sharp S”
6 Special Grammar features of German
5 The longest German word has got 79 letters
4 English and German are closer than you might think
3 Lots of German dialect speakers have trouble understanding one another
2 In many contexts, Germans use a mixed language Phenomenon called ‘Denglish’
1 German is spoken in many more places than you might think
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Видео The German Language: 8 Facts канала grammarpirate
Maß = dimension/measure
Follow my personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabio.witt/
In this video, we will talk about features and facts about the German Language. 105 million people speak German as their mother tongue and an additional 80 million study it or speak it as a second language. It is the most widely spoken mother tongue in the EU with 16% of the Europeans speaking it, beating out Italian, French, Spanish, and even English.
German is famous for its excessively long words with the longest word being made up of 79 letters! Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft means “association of subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services”. It must be noted that this word is not really useful; it’s more of an attempt to lengthen the word Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän which means “Danube steamship company captain”.
To continue with the previous point, the German language once had the 63-letter word Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz in its arsenal. However, this word, meaning ‘the law concerning the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and the labelling of beef’ was considered too much of a mouthful even for German bureaucrats, and the word is now obsolete. Those super long words are the result of the German extensive use of compound words, which can build on each other to create monstrosities like the one shown above.
Besides Germany, German is the official language of both Austria and Liechtenstein and one of the official languages in Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, making it the most spoken native language in the European Union.
And of course, you have so many Germans running around everywhere in the world as tourists. So if you are working in the tourism industry or simply like to travel, it can be useful to take a look at German for a fun conversation! Oh and fun fact, the Amish in the US speak an old German dialect.
The yellow coloured areas are regions where German is usually the mother tongue of the majority of people living there. Coloured in red are areas with german as a co-official language and areas coloured in blue are regions with officially recognized german minorities.
There are also german-speaking minorities all over the world, for example in Namibia, which has been a german colony until WWI, there are still thousands of descendants of german settlers that still speak german to this day.
Also, In the Brazilian ‚Estados‘ Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, there are many municipalities where german is handled as an official language.
In Switzerland, a country with 4 languages, German is the most-spoken one, but it is usually spoken with a dialect called 'Schwitzerdüütsch'. This one is one of the hardest dialects to understand for standard german speakers.
Next, there is the region of South Tyrol, which was handed over from Austria to Italy after World War 1. Most people there speak German, but also with a dialect that is hard to understand. Many Germans don't even know that this minority exists until they find out in their Winter Ski Vacations.
There is also a small area in East Belgium that was handed over from Germany to Belgium after World War I called 'Eupen-Malmedy', which is the reason why German is one of three official languages of Belgium.
Luxembourgish is actually a variety of the German Moselle Franconian Dialects spoken in the neighbouring parts of Germany.
German is also still spoken among a minority in Alsace, which has often switched sides between Germany and France in history.
German uses three genders. In many Romance languages, nouns are either masculine or feminine, which has historically caused headaches for some language learners. German is even more complicated as it has a third gender known as neuter for words that are neither masculine nor feminine. For example, “Das Mädchen” (the girl) is neuter, even though it refers to a female person.
8 German is the 12th most spoken language in the world
7 German has a unique letter “ß” called “Eszett” or “sharp S”
6 Special Grammar features of German
5 The longest German word has got 79 letters
4 English and German are closer than you might think
3 Lots of German dialect speakers have trouble understanding one another
2 In many contexts, Germans use a mixed language Phenomenon called ‘Denglish’
1 German is spoken in many more places than you might think
Blog: https://grammarpirate.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grammarpirate/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grammarpirate
Twitter: https://twitter.com/grammarpirate1
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