Germanic Languages

The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family.
The most widely spoken Germanic languages are English and German, with approximately 309-400 million and over 100 million native speakers respectively. The group includes other major languages, such as Dutch with 23 million and Afrikaans with over 6 million native speakers; and the North Germanic languages including Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese with a combined total of about 20 million speakers.

English: is a West Germanic language that developed in England and south-eastern Scotland during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century, it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world, and the most prominent language in international business and science. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language in Commonwealth countries and many international organizations.

English is the official language of several countries and regions all over the world, for instance:

- United Kingdom
- Ireland (along with Irish Gaelic)
- United States of America
- Canada (along with French in Quebec)
- Antigua and Barbuda
- The Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Botswana (along with Tswana)
- Cameroon (along with French)
- Dominica
- Fiji
- The Gambia
- Ghana
- Grenada
- Guyana
- India (along with Hindi and other regional languages)
- Jamaica
- Kenya (along with Swahili)
- Kiribati
- Lesotho (along with Sesotho)
- Liberia
- Madagascar (along with Malagasy and French)
- Malawi
- Malta (along with Maltese)
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritius
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Namibia
- Nauru
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Pakistan (along with Urdu)
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea (along with Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu)
- Philippines (along with Filipino)
- Rwanda (along with French and Kinyarwanda)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and Grenadines
- Samoa
- Seychelles (along with French)
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore (along with Malay, Chinese and Tamil)
- Solomon Islands
- South Africa (along with Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Swati, Venda and Southern Ndebele)
- Sudan (along with Arabic)
- Swaziland (along with SiSwati)
- Tanzania (along with Swahili)
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tuvalu
- Uganda (along with Swahili)
- Vanuatu
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe

German (Deutsch): is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers. Standard German is widely taught in schools, universities and Goethe Institutes worldwide.
German is the official language of:
- Germany
- Austria
- Luxembourg (along with French and Luxembourgish)
- Switzerland (along with French, Italian and Romansh)
- Liechtenstein
- Belgium (along with Dutch and French)

Dutch (Nederlands): is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
Dutch is spoken as official language in:
- The Netherlands
- Belgium (along with French and German. The Dutch spoken in Belgium is usually called Flemish)
- Suriname
- Aruba [autonomous region within the Kingdom of the Netherlands] (along with Papiamento)
- Netherlands Antilles [autonomous region within the Kingdom of the Netherlands] (along with Papiamento and English)

Afrikaans: is a Germanic language originating from the Dutch spoken by settlers in the seventeenth century and thus is classified as Low Franconian West Germanic.
Afrikaans is the majority language of the western third of South Africa (Northern and Western Cape, in which it is spoken at home by 68% and 55% of the population, respectively). It is also the most common first language in the adjacent southern third of Namibia (Hardap and Karas, where it is the first language of 44% and 40% of the population, respectively).
Afrikaans and Dutch are largely mutually intelligible.
Afrikaans is spoken as first language by 5.98 million speakers.
It's spoken in:
- South Africa (along with English, Zulu, Xhosa, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Swati, Venda and Southern Ndebele)
- Namibia (where it is recognised as a regional language)

Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch): Luxembourgish belongs to the West Central German group of High German languages and is the primary example of a Moselle Franconian language. It's spoken by about 390,000 people.
Luxembourgish is the official language of Luxembourg (along with German and French)

Norwegian (Norsk): is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants. As established by law and governmental policy, there are two official forms of written Norwegian – Bokmål (literally "book language") and Nynorsk (literally "new Norwegian"). The Norwegian Language Council recommends the terms "Norwegian Bokmål" and "Norwegian Nynorsk" in English.
Norwegian is spoken as first language by 5,033,469 people.
It's the official language of Norway.

Danish (Dansk): ) is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages), a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 6 million people, mainly in Denmark.
It's the official language of:
- Denmark
- Greenland [autonomous region within the Kingdom of Denmark] (along with Kalaallisut, also known as Greenlandic)
- Faroe Islands [autonomous region within the Kingdom of Denmark] (along with Faroese)

Swedish (Svenska): is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish (see especially "Classification"). Along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era.
It's spoken in:
- Sweden
- some parts of Finland (along with Finnish)

Icelandic (Íslenska): is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. Its closest relatives are Faroese and certain Norwegian dialects such as Telemark dialect and Sognamål.
It's approximately spoken by 350,000 people and it's the only official language of Iceland.

Faroese (Føroyskt): is a West Nordic or West Scandinavian language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese in Denmark and elsewhere.