Learn about the German language in the Learning German topic in the Language Learning channel at Bright Hub. German, or Deutsch, is sometimes ranked the 10th most commonly used language in the world. Native to about 100 million speakers in Germany, Austria, parts of Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Belgium, it is the most commonly used language in the European Union. It is the 2nd (after English) most spoken language in Europe. In the United States, it ranks as the 5th most used language in homes other than English. In the states of North and South Dakota, it is the 2nd most commonly used language after English. It is still used as one of the common languages for publishing scientific research. It is taught around the world at Goethe Institutes. Read a review of the Rosetta Stone Online Learning German.
English is a Germanic Language, although over half the vocabulary in English comes from loan words from languages such as Latin. The Brothers Grimm, of fairy tale fame, wrote a dictionary in the 1800s which is still regarded as one of the most comprehensive German Dictionaries. Martin Luther translated the Latin Bible into a dialect of German. German is considered a pluricentric language, because there is more than one form of Standard German, rather than a single German language with many dialects- although there are also many German dialects. It is a language in transition at the moment, with reformers advocating the end of certain German alphabetic characters, such as the ß, or double s at the end of words. German is used by approximately 7% of the users of the Internet.
At Bright Hub, we teach you German vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, common words to know in travel situations, and when to use those curious letters with the umlauts. You will learn German idioms, and how proverbs with common meanings are expressed in German, as contrasted to their phrasing in English. German creates compound words without spaces, and the compounded words can expand to unusual length.
Learn the native language of Albert Einstein and J.S. Bach and order your favorite German beer with ease with this collection of helpful articles on learning German.