The German Language is spoken by 98 million people as a first language, and by over 121 million people in total. It is the official language of Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein, and is one of the three official languages of Switzerland. It is also one of the main languages spoken in Luxembourg. Language family German belongs to the same language family as English.
Dialects There are a number of German dialects.
Many Germans also speak a regional dialect, distinguished from Hochdeutsch by the absence of the second consonantal shift introduced in the 8th and 9th centuries. These varieties are collectively known as Plattdeutsch or Low German. Almost all Plattdeutsch speakers are also fluent in Hochdeutsch. Other significant dialects spoken by German populations are Allemannisch, Saxon, Swabian and Bavarian. German grammar is extremely methodical and employs a strict word order to minimize syntactical ambiguities.