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Standard German is recognized as the official language of Germany and the working language of Germany’s national government. This West Germanic language, which is also one of the official and working languages of the European Union and the most commonly spoken first language among the member countries, is spoken by over 95% of the German population. The Standard German language is closely related to Low German, English, Dutch, Frisian and Afrikaans, and its vocabulary is mainly based on the vocabulary of the Germanic branch of languages, however minorities of words are also derived from Latin, Greek, English and French. Due to the heavy influence of the Germanic people on Europe’s language development, some European languages, such as French and English, are considered to be Germanic languages.
Germany is a multilingual and multicultural society, with a long history of many different dialects and languages being spoken within the country. Besides German, approximately 67% of the country’s residents have the ability to speak at least one foreign language, with 27% of the population being able to speak two foreign languages.
Some of the minority dialects which can be heard in Germany include Low German, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Frisian, Romani and Danish. Low German – or Plattdeutsch – was historically spoken in all regions occupied by the Saxons and spread across the entire North German Plain. Today it is spoken mainly in northern Germany, by approximately 5 million native speakers. Low German is quite distinct from Standard German and more closely related to English, Dutch, and Frisian. Upper Sorbian is spoken in Germany’s historical province of Upper Lusatia (part of Saxony), while Lower Sorbian is spoken by Sorbs living in the Lower Lusatia historical province, which is today part of Brandenburg. Lower Sorbian is a Slavic minority language which is currently highly endangered. The Upper and Lower Sorbian languages are spoken by about 0.09% of Germany’s population. Frisian is a minority West Germanic language which is spoken by about 10,000 people living in Germany’s North Frisia region. Romani is spoken by about 0.08% of Germany’s population, while Danish is spoken by about 0.06% of the country’s population.
Germany is home to many immigrants from all over the world who speak their native languages inside the country. Some of the immigrant languages which can be heard in Germany include Turkish, Polish, Balkan languages, Kurdish and Russian. One of the most important foreign languages taught in schools in Germany, apart from French and Latin, is English. Depending on the geographical location, schools in Germany offer classes in languages such as Spanish, Greek, Russian, Polish and Dutch. There are also frequent discussions in Germany regarding the recognition of English as an official language, with nearly 60% of Germans being in favor of recognizing English as an official language in the European Union, according to a 2013 survey.
With over 58 million speakers, English is the de facto national language of the United Kingdom, meaning that it is not recognized as the official language by law, but simply due to the fact that the country overwhelmingly speaks the language. It wasn’t always this way, however: for a few centuries after the Norman Invasion of 1066, French was the primary language spoken by the government and the upper class, whereas English was mainly present among the lower classes. Today, over 98% of UK residents speak English, while only 31% speak at least two languages, making the UK the third least-likely European country to speak a foreign language. Despite the fact that English has a clear linguistic dominance in the UK, it is far from the only language spoken by its residents, with a number of languages and dialects having shaped the country due to its proximity to Europe and long history of colonialism. English is most strongly represented in England, despite being spoken nearly everywhere in the country, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The areas where minority languages are most likely to be encountered are Wales and northern Scotland, which have their own regional languages. Before the French or the Germanic people came to the British Isles, there were certain languages spoken by the people already, and a few of them still exist in various forms to this day. One of these is the Scots language, which is the most popular language after English, spoken by 1.5 million people in Scotland. People who speak Scots generally learned it as a second language (with the first being English), however Scots is kept as it contributes to the national identity of Scotland. After Scots, the most commonly spoken language, with 560,000 speakers, is Welsh. Welsh is the only language in the UK which has a legal status, and it is treated as equal to English in the country, meaning that it’s used by the government and all public services have signs in both languages. Only 19% of Wales’ population actually speaks Welsh, however, as compared to the 99% of those who speak English, with the number of Welsh speakers actually declining. Due to the law, however, it is unlikely that Welsh is ever going to go completely extinct. Some of the other minor indigenous languages are Angloromani, Scottish Gaelic, Shelta, Irish and Cornish.
Along with these, the UK is home to 4.2 million speakers of various immigrant languages, due to the fact that the country has been a hub of immigration in Europe for as long as it has existed, particularly for people from regions of India and Pakistan. The biggest immigrant language is Polish, however, with over half a million speakers. The reason for this is largely due to the opening of borders to Poland after the country joined the European Union in 2004. In the following years, the UK stayed very open to immigrants, leading to an influx of other languages spoken in the country. The next most-spoken immigrant languages all come from India and Pakistan: Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali and Gujarati. Again, this is mainly due to England’s strong presence in India during the 19th and 20th centuries. The other most-spoken languages in the UK after that include Arabic, French, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.
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