Written by Kurt E. Müller, Ph.D.
Attempts to determine the extent to which a language is used are often influenced by one’s perspective. Similarly, in promoting a language one can argue from different viewpoints. Chinese, for example, is spoken by over a billion persons and has the privileged position of being an official language of the UN. Until recently, however, only one delegation made use of it. (Besides the Peoples’ Republic of China, now Singapore uses it.) As with Chinese, Hindi is spoken by more people than is English, but they are almost exclusively in Asia. In US schools Spanish so dominates with 70% of the market share in language study that some believe Spanish is widespread and therefore very useful. Such deceptive statistics have even brought German-Americans to the point of doubting the utility of German. Is German as useful as it was, or are we simply (!) trying to preserve a piece of our culture by understanding some of the language (if not using it)? To evaluate the utility of a language, we must look at these questions from multiple perspectives.
German as Mother Tongue
Sociolinguists who deal with questions of language use distinguish among languages of regional use, wide use, and world languages. Using such categories, where do we place German? In considering where German is spoken natively, we think immediately of Europe, but many don’t think beyond those countries that use German as their official language. In doing so, they cannot appreciate the geographic spread of the language. We are even stymied in considering states in which there are native speakers, and here — for foreign policy reasons — the Federal Republic is no help in enlightening our inquiry. Just consider the first stanza of the German national anthem, the singing of which is suppressed. In reaction to the Napoleonic era, the nationalist poet Fallersleben consolidates the German-speaking area: “von der Maas bis an die Memel, von der Etsch bis an den Belt.” The problem is that these geographic names are all in countries that use other official languages: the Maas/Meuse is in Belgium and the Netherlands, Memel in Russia, the Etsch (Adige) in Italy, and the Belt (Bælt) in Denmark. Teaching materials for the German language present a false picture inasmuch as maps usually picture only Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (perhaps Liechtenstein) as German-speaking countries. But such political correctness not only ignores states in which German has regional recognition (as a minority language), but also those in which it is difficult to assess which languages are used or to what extent they are used.
Figure 1. Directional signs in eastern Belgium |
An example of this category highlights the difficulty of undertaking a language census. In a book otherwise dealing with the status of German in the South Tirol, Peter Nelde comments on the hesitance of Belgians toward answering questions about language loyalty (i.e., which language they use at home). For this reason, a language census has not been conducted there since the 1940s. Belgium has two officially German-speaking provinces. Note this curiosity however: in one many speak French though they are considered German, while in a third province there are many whose native language is German, but they are officially considered French speakers. Despite this bureaucratic confusion, observers can tell locally what language residents want to use. Traffic signs are often posted in two languages (French and Flemish [Dutch]), sometimes in three. Liège is known in Dutch as Luik and in German as Lüttich.
Figure 2. Traffic sign in the Ardennes  |
Thus, on some highway signs all three names are posted. But in the German-speaking community (officially called the “deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft”), you can see street signs from which French names or instructions are obliterated (see Figs. 1, 2). Such language conflicts are often evident in street signs, and similar pictures are known from Wales (with English crossed out, leaving just Welsh) and Israel.
The language situation is similar in northern Italy, where German is spoken in the northwest and northeast. German-speaking minorities have struggled long in Italy for the right to receive schooling in German and to exercise political freedoms in German. While serving as interpreter for the Western European Union, I was surprised when an Italian delegate spoke to me in German. Then he told me he was from South Tirol.
The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, the latter acquired by succession, the former when France took it from the Holy Roman Empire during the 30 Years War, have a significant German-speaking populace, whose language facility is difficult to assess. According to some, the language is suppressed rather than encouraged. (French policy long ignored it, on the interpretation that Elsässisch was not a language.) And in my experience it has been easier to hear German among Italian citizens than French ones. Both countries project an image abroad of being monolingual. Locally the picture differs. Figs. 3 and 4 depict labels of wines purchased in northern Italy showing information in both German and Italian. Had I bought these on the international market, I suspect the labels would not have been in German.
Luxemburg also projects a francophone identity that disguises a richer reality. Natively, Luxemburgers speak a German dialect, Lëtzebuergisch, that has official-language status. But they are schooled in French and German and often go to French or German universities. Some classify the dialect as a separate language, but it’s about as understandable to us as is its neighboring dialect in Germany.
For centuries Germans have emigrated to all parts of the world. In many places this heritage language has been preserved and cultivated. Some groups, e.g., Germans from Russia, are particularly known for maintaining the language. Russlanddeutsche have been in the US since the 19th C. In his excellent volume, Die internationale Stellung der deutschen Sprache, Ulrich Ammon (of the Universität Duisburg)
Figure 3. Red wine
from S. Tirol  |
examines such issues as the number of German speakers, German as official language, German minorities, use of German worldwide, language choice among scientists, etc. In a section on minorities he relies on work by Joachim Born and Sylvia Dickgießer that I have not yet been able to consult,
Deutschprachige Minderheiten. Ein Überblick über den Stand der Forschung für 27 Länder. These researchers tally countries on all continents that have German minorities. Aside from the European countries already mentioned, these include the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Russia. Since Born and Dickgießer wrote of the Soviet Union, today we would have to add another nine states to their tally: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and all three Baltic republics. In N. America, not only Canada and the US, but also Belize and Mexico. In S. America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In Africa: Namibia and S. Africa. In Asia: Israel and the former Soviet Union. Even Australia. This tally is not based on census data, so there are some caveats in interpreting the information. There are, for example, German expatriate communities expected to be temporary, even though they involve substantial numbers. These enclaves may not exercise a persistent cultural influence such as the substantial groups in Brazil, Chile, or Russia.
German as Lingua Franca and as Foreign Language
Figure 4. White Wine,
northern Italy |
Languages that function as a
lingua franca are often (almost by definition) adopted as a second language. In an article published in 1999, I cited language statistics from the 1997
World Almanac that compared the number of speakers of several languages with the number that speak the language natively. Such comparisons demonstrate the degree to which a language is used as a common language across nationalities. Languages such as Malay-Indonesian, with only a third of its speakers using it as mother tongue, are adopted by communities whose native languages do not extend over a broad area. Languages such as French (60% native speakers) that can capitalize on a colonial history, have an advantage in assuming such a role. English, with 67% native speakers, is generally (mis)used as a yardstick in international communications. With 78% native speakers, German compares very favorably to Spanish — with 86% natives, only 14% adopt Spanish as a second language — and Japanese (99% native). In short, the lower the percentage of native speakers, the greater the adoption as
lingua franca.
In considering the status of world language, the geographic spread of the language is particularly influenced by the economic strength of cultures that use the language. Not only do we see business sectors adopting a language to attract tourists, but commercial and diplomatic dominance contribute to the spread of cultural influence. Development aid could be subsumed under diplomacy, but affluent societies such as Germany and the US also provide considerable aid for development, disaster response, and refugee relief through church-based and private, secular programs. Such programs also expand cultural influence, whether by design or inadvertently. In my experience, I have been able to converse in German with my driver in Somalia (it’s foolish not to use a local chauffeur in Somali traffic) because he attended a German missionary school in Ethiopia. I have discussed public health in Haïti with German-educated health professionals, and during the first Gulf War, I discussed in German US foreign policy with Turks in eastern Turkey. A teaching colleague tells me of her experience using German in Mongolia, where academics study it as a high-prestige language. A military colleague, who was present at the negotiations that produced the peace accord for Bosnia, related an observation that the three belligerents used German as a lingua franca in informal negotiations because they would not admit that they speak mutually intelligible dialects that used to be considered one language: Serbo-Croatian.
The obvious conclusion is that German is indeed a world language.
For additional information, see:
Ammon, Ulrich. Die internationale Stellung der deutschen Sprache. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1991.
Clyne, Michael. The German Language in a Changing Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995.
Müller, Kurt E. “Of Language Utility, Status, and Enrollments.” Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German 32.1 (1999): 11–21.
About the Author: Kurt E. Müller
Mr. Müller has held appointments at six colleges and universities, taught in 4 military language schools, and served 31 years in the military, representing the US government in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. He was civil affairs advisor to
NATO’s Supreme Commander, Europe, for implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords. This piece, originally printed in the
Trenton Donauschwaben Newsletter
January 2004, was written in German as well as English, as the Donauschwaben are fond of having a bilingual newsletter.
The German Heritage Council of New Jersey announces that they have secured the date for the Annual German Heritage Festival, 2006 with a Stage Show!
You are cordially invited to the Bayern Verein Newark’s 76th Stiftungsfest on Saturday, March 4th. It will take place at the Kenilworth Veterans Center in Kenilworth, NJ. and the doors open at 7:30PM. Advance tickets are $20 (adult) and $10 (ages 6-16) and the price includes sandwich platters and unlimited import/domestic beer, wine and soda. Tickets at the door will be $25. Tickets can be ordered by calling (908)276-7745.
