Learn German

It is generally accepted that learning German is essential in several fields. This is especially true in the competitive environments of international business, where the language of trade is often the language of the client. A business person's ability to communicate in the language of the customer and to behave appropriately in the accompanying social situations is essential. An understanding of foreign business practices is crucial to success in the international marketplace. By learning German, you will be able to communicate with German enterprises the world over.

According to Global Reach (2004), 6.9% of the Internet population is German. According to Netz-tipp (2002), 7.7% of Web Pages are written in German, making it second only to English. They also report that 12% of Google's users use its German interface.

Learning German improves your chances in the international job market. Today, there are a large number of German companies abroad, many foreign companies in Germany, and a large sum of companies with close business connections in the German speaking countries. They are all looking to recruit workers who have learned German to at least an intermediate level.

Although English is widely used in international communication, inter cultural competence and the ability to speak German is essential for a deeper mutual understanding and for the development of lasting relationships on both the personal level and the professional level. A working knowledge of the German language broadens both your intellectual and professional horizons, and allows you to gain access to important economic and culturally historic areas of Central Europe.

Situated in the very center of Europe, the German-speaking peoples have played a crucial role in European and world affairs for centuries. The cultural ties between the international community and German-speaking Europe span centuries.

German Language around the World

German is one of the world's major languages, and is closely related to English and Dutch. It is spoken by approximately 95 to 100 million native speakers and another 20 million non-native speakers around the world. Learn German, the second most spoken native language in Europe after Russian and is the third most taught foreign language in the world. It is also the second most known foreign language in the European Union (after English), is one of its official languages, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission. German accounts for the most written translations of any language worldwide.

The variation among the German dialects is considerable, with only the neighboring dialects being mutually intelligible. Some dialects are not even comprehensible to people who only know standard German. This being said, all German dialects still belong to the dialect continuum of High German and Low Saxon languages. In the past, there was a dialect continuum of all the continental West Germanic languages because nearly any pair of neighboring dialects was perfectly mutually intelligible.

German Language Facts

• Learn German, one of the most important languages for communication in Europe. Along with Russian, it is the most frequently spoken native language in Europe, and is one of the ten most frequently spoken languages in the World.
• Learn German, one of the primary literary languages of the world. 18% of books published worldwide are in German. More than 60,000 new books are published in Germany each year, and the language boasts the third largest number of published books in the world.
• German remains second only to English in the field of scientific publications. 40% of scientists in the USA recommend that their students learn German. In Poland and Hungary the figure is over 70%
• Learn German, the language of some of the most influential people in history such as Goethe, Nietzsche, Kafka, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Freud and Einstein.
• German and English are both Germanic languages. They began as the same language and have the same origins. They also share many words grammar characteristics.
• Learn German, a major language in the fields of business and science. Economically, Germany is the most influential country in Europe. At the same time, many German business companies have gone global in recent years, making German more and more an international business language.

View the pages below to learn about German courses in German speaking countries

The content of this page is original and is copyright of Languages in Action. It has been researched and adapted from several respected sources of German language information such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language.