We speak German

How many people speak German as their mother language?

Around 130 million people speak German as their mother language or as a second language. German is the most widely spoken mother language in the European Union and an official language in seven countries. In 42 countries there are more than 7.5 million people who belong to a German-speaking minority.

How many people have learned German as a foreign language?

289 million people. According to calculations by Ulrich Ammon, an expert on German language, this is how many people around the globe have learned German at some time in their lives. How well they speak it is another matter entirely. At the moment, 15.4 million people around the world are currently learning German as a foreign language: 90 percent of them are school students and 10 per cent are adults.

How many words are there in the German language?

More than you might think. The vocabulary of modern German is estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000 words. Learners of German know how quickly two nouns can be combined to create a new word. That makes counting them difficult. The Duden corpus now contains more than 20.6 million different base forms, while the current 2024 edition of the Duden spelling dictionary has around 151,000 entries. Meanwhile the average speaker uses just 12,000 to 16,000 words.

Which words occur most frequently?

“Der”, “die”, “das” – the definite article familiar to every learner of German – takes first place. These are followed by “in”, “sein” and “und.”

Which word has the most letters?

According to the Duden: “Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-Hyperaktivitätsstörung”, with 44 letters.

Why is there an International Mother Language Day?

21 February is International Mother Language Day. It was established by UNESCO in 1999 at the initiative of Bangladesh to promote linguistic diversity and multilingualism. More than 7,000 languages are spoken around the world today. According to UNESCO estimates, as many as 1,500 of them could disappear by the end of this century. 

Where can people learn German?

At one of the 154 Goethe-Instituts in 100 countries, for example, or at one of the more than 2,000 schools in 120 countries that make up the Schools: Partners for the Future (PASCH) network. Online courses are available from Deutsche Welle, the Goethe-Institut and Deutsch-Uni Online.

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