German language

The German language comprises a wide variety of German dialects spoken throughout Germany, Austria and other countries, mainly in northern Europe. Over 100 million people count some variety of German as a native language, and it remains an important second language for millions more, from Americans interested in the language as a link to their forefathers, to businesspeople, politicians and students who need to communicate with their customers, colleagues and peers.

The Rechtschreibreform of July 1996 standardised the orthography (spelling) of the official German language by the governments of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland where German is an official language. (Luxembourg did not agree to this standardisation but the autonomous province of Bozen-Südtirol in Italy and also the German speaking communes of Belgium did). [1] [2] [3] However, these moves towards standardisation are still controversial and many respected institutions, Journals and Newspapers still preserve (or have returned to) their old 'house styles' of German and German spelling. Although German spelling was already far more regular than that of English, these codified differences in some ways mirror those between American and Commonwealth varieties of English.

This dialect, among many, has considerable prestige because it is mainly used in education, business, and government: Hochdeutsch ('High German') is that encountered by most second language learners, and by native speakers in school. This is the 'standard' variety of the language, but is not usually the speech of everyday conversation in such countries as Germany, where a regional dialect is most likely to be heard. In Switzerland standard German (Standarddeutsch) is even less likely to be the preferred choice amongst native Swiss German speakers, and is largely confined to print, broadcasting and formal lectures.