page_title: German language
section_title: Europe and Asia
hierarchical_section_title: German language / Geographic distribution / Europe and Asia
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Mehrheitsverteilung der Sprachgruppen in den Gemeinden Südtirols (communes) nach der letzten Volkszählung von 2011. Grün: deutsch (103 Gemeinden) Blau: ladinisch (8 Gemeinden) Rot: italienisch (5 Gemeinden) English: Majority languages in the South Tyrolean municipalities (communes) according to the last census of 2011. Green: German (103 municipalities) Blue: Ladin (8 municipalities) Red: Italian (5 municipalities) Italiano: Distribuzione dei maggiori gruppi linguistici nei comuni della Provincia autonoma di Bolzano secondo l'ultimo censimento del 2011. Verde: Tedesco (103 comuni) Blu: Ladino (8 comuni) Rosso: Italiano (5 comuni)
context_page_description: German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol in Italy, the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The German language is most similar to other languages within the West Germanic language branch, including Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although they belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.
  One of the major languages of the world, German is a native language to almost 100 million people worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. German is the third most commonly spoken foreign language in the EU after English and French, making it the second biggest language in the EU in terms of overall speakers.
caption:   (Bavarian) German is the most spoken language in the northernmost Italian province of Bolzano (South Tyrol). The capital of Bolzano and some southern suburbs are, however, predominantly  Italian-speaking.
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