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The German language has a colorful and exciting history, spanning from the Holy Roman Empire to the present day. Although there exists less dialectal variety in today's German, prior to the Middle Ages there were quite a few different forms of the language. These included Old High German, Middle High German and Early Modern High German. It was only at the start of the 19th and 20th centuries that Standard German began to take hold.
Old High German is documented as early as the 6th century, though more coherent forms of it emerge during the 8th and 9th centuries. During the 6th century, there was a separation from Old Saxon, which helped to produce Old High German. It is actually quite amazing that Old High German was able to unify as a common language because Germany, at that time, was split into a number of different states. The only reason a standard language was used during a period when so many different states existed was because writers wanted to produce works that could be understood by everyone. Middle High German was spoken between 1050 and 1350, though there exists some scholarship that used Middle High German for much longer than 1350. Those familiar with Martin Luther's translations of the Bible during the 1500s are already familiar with Early New High German. It was a combination of Eastern Upper and Eastern Central German dialects.
The emergence of standard German was slow, and was only used as a written language until the 1800s. Pronunciation varied dramatically from region to region because there was no guide for pronunciation. People would simply attempt to pronounce the words in whatever way they deemed best. It wasn't until 1901, at the 2nd Orthographical Conference, that an obligatory guide for general German pronunciation was adopted.
Today, German is closely related to English and Dutch and is one of the major languages spoken in the world. Because Europe is so diverse, many smaller countries maintain their own languages while adopting more widely spoken languages in order to communicate with the outside world. German has been adopted by many of these countries, such as Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Belgium and even Italy. There are also recognized minorities who speak German in Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Russia, Romania, Poland, Namibia, Slovakia, Vatican City and Trentino, Italy.
It is actually quite remarkable to look at the percentage of the population that speak German in places outside of Germany. In Austria, 89% of the population uses German as its first language and an astonishing 65% of Switzerland's population relies on German to communicate on a daily bases. Because of German immigration, German speaking communities are also known to exist in some of the most unusual places, including Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and South Africa, just to name a few. The United States also has its share of German speakers. The most recent census approximates 5 million people. Brazil is right behind with an astounding 3 million.
German is considered a pluricentric language because there are regional varieties. Those who are unfamiliar with the German language and its history often times confuse these regional varieties for local dialects, when in fact regional varieties are very distinct. A perfect example of this would be in Switzerland and Austria. Although these two countries speak German, it is considered Swiss Standard German and Austrian Standard German and the two languages differ tremendously in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation and orthography.
While one would think that German would be the official language of Germany, that isn't the case. In fact, the only place where German is the official language is in Liechtenstein. German is given official status in Germany, though it shares the title with Danish, Frisian, Romany and Sorbian.
Spanish and French may take first and second place for most taught foreign language, but German comes in a close third. With approximately 95 million people speaking German in Europe, it is one of the most spoken first languages in the European Union.