Like English, German is a Germanic language, part of the Indo-European language family. Other languages fall into this category are Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic. (French, however, is a Romance language)

German language was formed over a very long period of time in history. Linguists had divided it into 5 different phases:

• Germanic (Germanisch: 2000 v. Chr.—650 n.Chr.);
• Old High German (Althochdeutsch: 650—1050);
• Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch: 1050—1350);
• Early New High German (Frühneuhochdeutsch: 1350—1650)
• New High German (Neuhochdeutsch: 1650—1900)
• Standard German (Gegemwartsprache: 1900—)

The word German (Deutsch) first appeared during the early middle ages. It came from a Germanic word ‘thiodisk’, which means ‘of the people’. At that time, most of the Franks spoke Latin (and later on French), while German was not yet a unified language—it referred to many different dialects in general.

In Medieval ages, many different regional dialects were spoken in Germany. Great effort was given in attempting to unify the language system, however, the unified languages were only used within a certain region, or amongst a certain group of people. For example, Low German became the official language for trading along the Baltic Sea and the North Sea during the Hanseatic League.

Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, and had greatly promoted the unification of this language. Through the religious reformation, the dialect used in Luther’s Bible was widely spread and later became the foundation of the Morden Standard German.

In 1781, John Christopher Adelung published the first German dictionary. From 1852, the Brothers Grimm started their most comprehensive dictionary, the last part of which was not issued until 1960. In 1880 Konrad Duden published his “Complete Orthographical Dictionary of the German Language” (Vollständiges Orthographisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache). After some minor amendments, in 1901, Duden’s dictionary became the official source for correct spelling and standard definition of the German language. This remains unrevised until 1998. The reform in 1998 simplified some spellings and rules in German, and improved some grammar. Only the reformed spelling is taught in school, however, the traditional spelling can still be used.

In the following countries, German is used as native language:

• Germany (82.7 million)
• Austria (8.1 million)
• Liechtenstein (32,000)

The following countries use German as one of their official languages:

• Switzerland (4.6 million)
• Luxembourg (400,000)
• Italy (200,000)
• Belgium (70,000)