About German

(From: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3qtmEyNII)

Willkommen

The German Team heisst euch willkommen. We are happy to help you navigate the exciting world of German language and culture as well as give you insights into German-speaking cultures. Our website will introduce you to some important aspects of German language and culture and to our program.

Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen

They who do not know foreign languages do not know anything about their own.

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kunst and Alterthum)

What is German?

German is an Indo-European language.

The oldest forms of the German Language (Old High German, Althochdeutsch) developed between the 8^th and the 10^th century. This language is related to Old English, Old Norse and Old Friesian and is present in charms, poems, royal chronicles and oaths. Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch) is the language used between the 11^th and the 14^th century, in religious texts, minstrel lyric, love poetry and epic texts. The early high German (Frühhochdeutsch) was used in Easter plays and legal texts and circulated between the 15^th and 16^th century. New High German (Neuhochdeutsch), which develops from the 17^th century onwards is the language of Baroque texts, Romantic texts as well as realist texts. High German (Hochdeutsch) is the standard German spoken nowadays but we also have some varieties spoken in other German-speaking countries such as Switzerland (Swiss German= Schwiizerdütsch), Austria (Austrian German= Österreichisches Deutsch), Bavarian German (Bayerisch) and the Upper Saxon Dialect (Sächsisch), to name just a few.

Below is a map of the various inter-relations between German and other Germanic languages in Europe.