Study and research in Germany

Did you already know...

...that German, spoken by 101 m people world-wide, occupies 12th place?
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...that German is the most widely spoken language in the EU?
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...that German, after English, is the most widely taught language in schools in the new EU countries?
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...that German occupies second place in the Internet?
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...that German is most widely learned in the Russian Federation and Poland?
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....that German occupies third place amongst the languages used in book production world-wide?
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...that there are over 200,000 foreigners studying in Germany?
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• Top 12 of the most widely spoken languages
• Top 11 of the most widely spoken languages in the EU
• In the countries joining the EU (2004) German is the most widely learned language after English
• German occupies second place in the Internet
• Languages used in search engines (here Google) 5
• Top 10 of students learning German in absolute figures6
• German occupies third place amongst the languages employed in book production world-wide7
• Foreign students in Germany

Top 12 of the most widely spoken languages

Number of speakers and percentage of the world population¹

¹ Haarmann, Harald: Kleines Lexikon der Sprachen, Beck 2002, 13

Top 11 of the most widely spoken languages in the EU

The eleven official languages of the EU are spoken by the following percentages of the population of the EU (as their mother tongue).²

² Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg - 16.02.2004
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages
/lang/europeanlanguages_en.html 

In the countries joining the EU (2004) German is the most widely learned language after English

(percentages for students at high school/secondary school level).³

³ Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg,
press release No. 53/2001 – 17.05.2001 Foreign Languages in European Schools

German occupies second place in the Internet

With respect both to the proportion of web pages and the languages used in the search engines. ⁴

⁴ The Internet speaks English ... and latterly German, too
– Languages and their global distribution in the World-Wide-Web.
http://www.netz-tipp.de/sprachen.html - 23.01.2003

Languages used in search engines (here Google) 5

⁵ Google Zeitgeist - search patterns, trends, and surprises according to Google,
Languages Used to Access Google January 2002.
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/zeitgeist-jan02.html - 23.01.2003

Top 10 of students learning German in absolute figures6

⁶ Evaluation and calculation from the StADaF-Survey "Deutsch als Fremdsprache 2000",
ed. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DAAD, Goethe-Institut and Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen

German occupies third place amongst the languages employed in book production world-wide7

⁷ Prof. Dr. Stoll, Karl-Heinz, Universität Mainz: „Zukunftsperspektiven der Translation“,
http://www.fask.uni-mainz.de/fbpubl/fax/Modul/zukunft.htm - 26.05.2000

Foreign students in Germany

In the year 2002, there were 206,000 foreign students attending German institutions of higher education⁸

8) Studentenstatistik Statistisches Bundesamt; HIS-Berechnungen – Sonderauswertung aus der HIS-ICE-Datenbank;
see also http://www.wissenschaft-weltoffen.de 

• Africa Sub-Sahara
• Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania
• Central and Eastern Europe
• Latin America
• North America
• Northern Africa and the Middle East
• Western Europe