LYCOS RETRIEVER 
German: German Language
built 621 days ago
German is a member of the western branch of the Germanic family of languages, which in turn is part of the Indo-European language family. The German dialect continuum is dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant shift, and the dialect continuum that connects the German with the Dutch language.
Source:
In some places, German and Dutch are spoken almost interchangeably. Dutch speakers are generally able to read German, and German speakers who can speak English are generally able to read Dutch, even if they find the spoken language very amusing.
Source:
German is one of the 23 official languages of the European Union. It is the language with the largest number of native speakers in the European Union, and, shortly after English and long before French, the second-most spoken language in Europe.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
German Language