Many people overlook German when seeking to learn a new language. They may think that too few people speak it, or that it doesn’t have an international presence. This is unfortunate, as German is an excellent language choice for numerous reasons.
German is Relatively Easy to Learn
English speakers will find that much of the German language is familiar to them. That’s because English and German are both Germanic languages, and thus have much in common. Does the phrase “Ich war hier” look familiar to “I was here?” The sentence “Mein Haus ist rot” certainly appears similar to its English translation, “My house is red.”
Languages like French, Spanish and Italian belong to the Romance language family, not to the Germanic language group, which may make them harder to learn for native English speakers.
It takes years to gain a thorough understanding of German, as is the case with all languages. Nevertheless, its shared origins with English make it one of the easier foreign languages to learn.
German is a Widely Spoken International Language
Where is German spoken, and how many people speak German? Encarta’s “Languages Spoken By More Than 10 Million People" states that German is spoken by 100,130,000 people, making it the 10th most popular language, according to Encarta. The article also mentions that German is spoken in places as diverse as Brazil, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Paraguay, Australia, South Africa, Nambia and Moldova (in addition to a number of countries in Europe). This means that the German language spans six continents!
German May be the Best Foreign Language for European Travel
Anyone traveling through Europe would benefit from learning German. Many residents of the continent consider it an important language to learn; 28% said that children should learn German as their first foreign language according to the European Commission’s "Europeans and their Languages" publication.
"Europeans and their Languages" provides more reasons to learn the language. German is one of the three most-known languages in 21 European countries, meaning one will encounter German speakers almost everywhere in Europe one travels. An amazing 59% of citizens in the European union rated their understanding of German as “good” or “very good,” more than Spanish (52%) and Russian (54%). And nearly a fifth (18%) of EU citizens speak German as their mother tongue, more than any other language.
These statistics show that German, already a notable language across multiple continents, is beneficial for anyone traveling to Europe – more so, perhaps, than French, Spanish or Italian.
German has a Large Media Presence
German is not just heard in conversation; it is read on the internet, heard in movies and studied in books. According to Unesco’s "Book Production: Number of Titles by UDC Classes" article for Europe, 74,174 books were published in Germany in 1995, more than in France, Italy, Russia and Spain, showing that an abundance of German-language books exists.
“Films Produced (Most Recent) by Country,” a Nationmaster article, points out that 121 films were released in Germany (over an unstated period), a number comparable to Russia and the United Kingdom. This, and internationally known films like “Das Boot,” “Der Neunte Tag” and “Good Bye Lenin!” shows that the German language is alive and well in the movie industry.
Also impressive is the widespread presence of German on the internet. The German Wikipedia has 924,000 or more articles, according to reported totals on July 4. Only English has a higher amount.
These numbers show that German is the best language to learn for English speakers looking to access more content and meet new people online. That’s one more reason to learn German.
A Wunderbar Language Choice for Many Reasons
German deserves consideration by anyone seeking to learn a new foreign language. It has multiple similarities to English; it has language communities as widespread as Uruguay and Nambia; it is one of the most popular languages in the European union; and it can be found in hundreds of movies, tens of thousands of books and hundreds of millions of websites. Anyone serious about expanding their range of knowledge should make learning German a priority.
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