German

German is the official language of Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium (regional), and Italy (regional).

Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium and Italy are members of the European Union. For a long time Switzerland was famous for its neutrality and independence in the middle of Europe and only became a full voting member of the United Nations in 2002. Liechtenstein is a small country in Central Europe and also neutral. It is enclosed by Switzerland in the West and Austria in the East and is known as a winter sports resort and a tax-haven.

In Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein High German is the official language in education, government, media and administration throughout the country. While in Germany High German, is more and more prevalent as the language of the daily life, besides the local dialects, in Austria and Liechtenstein most people speak a local dialect and switch easily between High German and their regional idiom.

In Switzerland High German is the official language of the northern part of the country including the cities Zurich and Basel and the Swiss capital Bern, but the language of everyday speech is Schwyzerdütsch (Swiss German). The name Schwyzerdütsch is used for all German dialects spoken in Switzerland. It is widely spoken throughout the country and vigorously in modern industrial city-centres as well as in the countryside.

German is the official language of Luxembourg as well as French and Luxembourgiose, a mixture of Germanic and Frankish languages.

In Italy German is the official language of the autonomous province of Bozen/Bolzano, which is officially bilingual (German/Italian). It is also known by the name of South Tyrol (Südtirol in German, Alto Adige in Italian), a part of Austrian Tyrol that was occupied and annexed by Italy after World War I and where ethnic Germans live.

In the Belgian province Liége (German Lüttich) a minority of Germans lives in the east close to the German border which is the reason for German being one of the official languages of Belgium (beside French and Flamengo).