Did you know ...?

Why should I learn German?


Here are some good reasons why:


# Knowledge


  • The majority of people within the European Union speak German as their first language (significantly more than English, Spanish or French).


  • German is an important commercial language, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. According to Ethnologue, it is the 12th most widely spoken language in the world.

English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, French, Russian, Portuguese, Urdu and Indonesian occupy places 1 to 11.


  • 22 Austrians, 104 Germans and 30 Swiss received the Nobel Prize. There are some double nominations due to dual citizenship.


  • According to the figures of the Goethe Institute, every third student in Japan learns German. Great!


  • German and English belong to the West Germanic languages. That's why they have a lot in common. Many words sound very similar or are spelled similarly.


Take a look - here are some "true friends":


Deutsch English Deutsch English
das Alphabet alphabet modern modern
die Alternative alternative der Moment moment
der April april das Museum museum
der Arm arm der Name name
der August august die Nation nation
der Ball ball das Nest nest
bitter bitter neutral neutral
bringen bring normal normal
der Bus bus optimal optimal
die Chance chance packen pack
die Edition edition der Partner partner
finden find die Person person
der Finger finger der Pilot pilot
die Funktion function der Planet planet
die Generation generation der Pullover pullover
das Gold gold das Radio radio
die Hand hand relevant relevant
das Hotel hotel die Rose rose
der Hunger hunger der Sand sand
ideal ideal das Sofa sofa
die Illusion illusion das Talent talent
das Instrument instrument das Team team
intelligent intelligent der Test test
das Material material tolerant tolerant
mild mild warm warm
die Minute minute der Zoo zoo
etc.

That's already 52 words you've learned. There are many other words that are the same or very similar - so

you can see that English words help you learn German.


# Philosophy, literature and art


  • German is the language of literacy figures such as Goethe, Kafka, Nietzsche and Marx, Mann and Brecht, etc. Musical geniuses such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Schubert, Brahms, Schuhmann, Wagner and Mahler also spoke and wrote in German. World-renowned scientists, philosophers, physicians as well as psychologists such as Freud, Einstein, Heisenberg, Kant, Hegel and Heidegger came from German-speaking countries.


  • German is the second most commonly spoken language in the scientific field.

 

  • 12% of all books worldwide are published in German (in English it is 28%). Few of these are translated into English.


  • Here are some perhaps well-known actors who come from German-speaking countries: Christoph Waltz, Florence Kasumba, Franka Potente, August Diehl, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Diane Kruger, Til Schweiger, Michael Fassbender, Alexsandra Maria Lara, Iris Berben, Marlene Dietrich, Romy Schneider, etc.


# Business

 

  • After China and just behind the USA, Germany is the third largest export country in the world.


  • Germany is the economically strongest country in the EU and ranks fourth worldwide.


  • The headquarters of some leading companies such as Volkswagen, Siemens, Allianz, BMW, Merck or Daimler are in Germany.


Do you want to find out more?

What should you be able to know at which level? Find out more about the levels of the European Framework of Reference for Languages.


Read more

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