German language

German language is, perhaps first and foremost, the common language dialect taught in German and Austrian schools, business, and government, and which is taught in other countries as "German" — the dialect called Hochdeutsch (High German). But in fact, the German language also comprises a wide variety of German dialects spoken throughout Germany, Austria and other countries. Over 100 million people count some variety of German as a native language, and it remains an important second language for millions more, from Americans interested in the language as a link to their forefathers, to businesspeople, politicians and students who need to communicate with their customers, colleagues and peers. There is also a large corpus of writings, in German, about literature, philosophy, psychology, mathematics, and other fields, that is of interest to a wide international audience.

Hochdeutsch

Hochdeutsch ('High German') is the German dialect, among many, that is encountered by most second language learners, and by native speakers in school. It has considerable prestige because it is used in education, business, government, and literature. It is the 'standard' variety of the language, but is not necessarily the speech of everyday conversation in such countries as Germany, where a regional dialect may often be heard. In Switzerland, standard German is even less likely to be the preferred choice amongst native Swiss German speakers, and is largely confined to print, broadcasting and formal lectures. Because Hochdeutsch has an alternate meaning (pertaining to a group of Germanic dialects in one region), people sometimes now use Standarddeutsch to refer to the official German language.

Spelling reform of 1996

The Rechtschreibreform of July 1996 standardised the orthography (spelling) of the standard German language by the governments of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland where German is an official language. (Luxembourg did not agree to this standardisation, but the autonomous province of Bozen-Südtirol in Italy and also the German speaking communes of Belgium did). [1] However, these moves towards standardisation are still controversial and many respected institutions, Journals and Newspapers still preserve (or have returned to) their old 'house styles' of German and German spelling. Although German spelling was already far more regular than that of English, these codified differences in some ways mirror those between American and Commonwealth varieties of English.