German

Central Europe’s biggest native language, standardized above a deep sea of dialects by a Bible.

Core Principles & Analysis

• It has around 95 million native speakers, the most of any language within the EU.
• Luther’s Bible translation did more than any decree to forge written standard German.
• The High German consonant shift separates it from English: Apfel/apple, Wasser/water.

Specifications & Metrics

• FAMILY: Indo-European (Germanic)