1.
German Sprachraum
–
The following is a list of the territorial entities where German is an official language. It includes countries, which have German as their official language. German is the language of six countries, all of which lie in central Europe. These countries also form the Council for German Orthography and are referred to as the German Sprachraum, the three major German-speaking countries are commonly denoted as the DACH-area. German, or one of its dialects, is a language in several dependent entities. In each of these regions, German, along with the language of the host nation, is an official language on the administrative level. In the two Slovak villages of Krahule/Blaufuss and Kunešov/Kuneschhau the percentage of ethnic Germans exceeds 20%, therefore making German a co-official language according to Slovak law, however, due to the size of the villages and the approximate number of native German speakers, the administrative impact is negligible. There are other entities which acknowledge other legal statuses for the German language or one of its dialects. e. Being required in public offices or administrative texts, the constitution of South Africa identifies German as a commonly used language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Due to the German diaspora, other countries with populations of German L1 speakers include Argentina, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Paraguay. However, in none of these countries does German or a German variety have any legal status
German Sprachraum
–
"German
Sprachraum ": German is (co-)official language (de jure or de facto) and first language of the majority of the population
2.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
Europe
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map
Europe
Europe
–
A medieval
T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah — Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham)
Europe
–
Early modern depiction of
Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical
Europa of the 8th century BC.
3.
Minority language
–
A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities, some minority languages are simultaneously also official languages, including the Irish language in Ireland. Likewise, some languages are often considered minority languages, insofar as they are the national language of a stateless nation. In 1992, Council of Europe adopted European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages to protect and promote historical regional, the signatories that have not yet ratified it as of 2012 are Azerbaijan, France, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, and Russia. In Canada, the minority language is generally understood to mean whichever of the official languages is lesser spoken in a particular province or territory. Minority languages are occasionally marginalised within nations for a number of reasons, support for minority languages is sometimes viewed as supporting separatism, for example the ongoing revival of the Celtic languages. Immigrant minority languages are also seen as a threat and as indicative of the non-integration of these communities. Both of these threats are based on the notion of the exclusion of the majority language speakers. Often this is added to by political systems by not providing support in these languages, speakers of majority languages can and do learn minority languages, through the large number of courses available. It is not known whether most students of minority languages are members of the minority community re-connecting with the communitys language, or others seeking to become familiar with it. There is a difference of views as to whether the protection of official languages by a representing the majority speakers violates or not the human rights of minority speakers. g. Sign languages are not recognized as true natural languages even though they are supported by extensive research. Speakers of auxiliary languages have also struggled for their recognition, perhaps partly because they are used primarily as second languages and have few native speakers, Macedonian - Macedonian is not recognized as minority language in Greece and Bulgaria. Bulgarian - recognized minority language in the Czech Republic, not officially recognized as minority language in Greece, albanian - recognized minority language in many countries including Romania, but not recognized as a minority language in Greece - where 4% are ethnic Albanians. Polish - recognized minority language in the Czech Republic, not officially recognized as minority language in Lithuania. Serbian, official in Serbia, co-official in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, and minority status in Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Romania. The minority status in Montenegro is controversial since the majority of the population declared Serbian as their mother tongue and it has no official status in Northern Catalonia, France. Galician, 3-4 million speakers, regional official status in Galicia, welsh,622,000 speakers, regional official status in Wales, UK
Minority language
–
Member states that have signed and ratified the charter.
4.
Continent
–
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in size to smallest, they are, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, in geology, areas of continental crust include regions covered with water. Islands are frequently grouped with a continent to divide all the worlds land into geopolitical regions. Under this scheme, most of the countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form a geopolitical region called Oceania. By convention, continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, many of the seven most commonly recognized continents identified by convention are not discrete landmasses separated completely by water. Earths major landmasses all have coasts on a single, continuous World Ocean, the most restricted meaning of continent is that of a continuous area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. From this perspective the edge of the shelf is the true edge of the continent. In this sense the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are part of Europe, while Australia, as a cultural construct, the concept of a continent may go beyond the continental shelf to include oceanic islands and continental fragments. In this way, Iceland is considered part of Europe and Madagascar part of Africa, extrapolating the concept to its extreme, some geographers group the Australasian continental plate with other islands in the Pacific into one continent called Oceania. This divides the land surface of Earth into continents or quasi-continents. The ideal criterion that each continent be a discrete landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions, of the seven most globally recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as more or less discrete masses of land, Asia and Africa are joined by the Isthmus of Suez, and North and South America by the Isthmus of Panama. In both cases, there is no separation of these landmasses by water. Both these isthmuses are very narrow compared to the bulk off the landmasses they unite, North America and South America are treated as separate continents in the seven-continent model. However, they may also be viewed as a continent known as America or the Americas. This viewpoint was common in the United States until World War II and this remains the more common vision in Latin American countries, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece, where they are taught as a single continent. The criterion of a landmass is completely disregarded if the continuous landmass of Eurasia is classified as two separate continents, Europe and Asia
Continent
–
The Ancient Greek geographer
Strabo holding a globe showing Europa and Asia
Continent
–
Animated, color-coded map showing the various continents and regions.
Depending on the convention and model, some continents may be consolidated or subdivided: for example,
Eurasia is most often subdivided into
Europe and
Asia (red shades), while
North and
South America are sometimes recognized as
one American continent (green shades).
Continent
–
Medieval
T and O map showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah —Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham).
Continent
–
Universalis Cosmographia, Waldseemüller's 1507 world map—the first to show the Americas separate from Asia
5.
Low German
–
Low German or Low Saxon is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form, as an Ingvaeonic language, Low German is quite distinct from the Irminonic languages like Standard German. It is closely related to Anglo-Frisian group of languages and more distantly to Dutch and this difference resulted from the High German consonant shift, with the Uerdingen and Benrath lines being two notable linguistic borders. Dialects of Low German are widely spoken in the area of the Netherlands and are written there with an orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too, historically, Low German was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic States of Estonia and Latvia. Under the name Low Saxon, there are speakers in the Dutch north-eastern provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Stellingwerf, Overijssel, German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. Today, there are still speakers outside Germany and the Netherlands to be found in the areas of present-day Poland. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion, there are Mennonite communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. The type of Low German spoken in communities and in the Midwest region of the United States has diverged since emigration. The survival of the language is tenuous in many places and has died out in places where assimilation has occurred. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua, Mexico have made Low German a co-official language of the community, in Germany, native speakers of Low German call it Platt, Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch. In the Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect, plat, nedersaksies, or the name of their village, officially, Low German is called Niederdeutsch by the German authorities and Nedersaksisch by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch/Niederdeutsch and Platduits/Nedersaksisch are seen in texts from the German. In Danish it is called Plattysk, Nedertysk or, rarely, Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch. Etymologically Platt meant clear in the sense of a language the people could understand. In Dutch, the word Plat can also mean improper, or rude, the ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds since May 2000. The question of whether Low German should be considered a separate language, linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide this question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward in favour of classifying Low German as a German dialect, as said, these arguments are not linguistic but rather socio-political and build mainly around the fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media
Low German
–
City limits sign: this city is called
Emlichheim in
Standard German and Emmelkamp in Low German (and Dutch)
Low German
–
Approximate area in which Low German/Low Saxon dialects are spoken in Europe.
Low German
–
A public school in Witmarsum Colony (
Paraná,
Southern Brazil), teaches in the
Portuguese language and in Plautdietsch.
6.
First language
–
A first language is a language that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. If there are multiple L1, the designation first language is used for the L1 spoken the best or the one that is the basis for sociolinguistic identity. In some countries, the native language or mother tongue refers to the language of ones ethnic group rather than ones first language. Children brought up speaking more than one language can have more than one native language, by contrast, a second language is any language that one speaks other than ones first language. Native speakers are considered to be an authority on their language because of their natural acquisition process regarding the language. That is achieved by interaction with the language and speakers of the language. Native speakers will not necessarily be knowledgeable about every rule of the language. Sometimes, the mother tongue or mother language is used for the language that a person learned as a child at home. Children growing up in homes can, according to this definition, have more than one mother tongue or native language. It is quite possible that the first language learned is no longer a dominant language. According to Ivan Illich, the mother tongue was first used by Catholic monks to designate a particular language they used, instead of Latin. That is, the mother the Church introduced this term. J. R. R. Tolkien, in his 1955 lecture English and Welsh, on 17 November 1999, UNESCO designated 21 February as International Mother Language Day. The first language of a child is part of the personal, social and cultural identity, another impact of the first language is that it brings about the reflection and learning of successful social patterns of acting and speaking. It is basically responsible for differentiating the linguistic competence of acting and that has implications on the education of non-native speakers. The topic of native speaker also gives way to discussion about what exactly bilingualism is, one definition is that a person is bilingual by being equally proficient in both languages. A person who grows up speaking English and begins learning Spanish for four years is not necessarily bilingual unless he speaks the two languages with equal fluency, one can have two or more native languages, thus being a native bilingual or indeed multilingual. The order in which languages are learned is not necessarily the order of proficiency
First language
–
The monument for the mother tongue in
Nakhchivan,
Azerbaijan
First language
–
International Mother Language Day Monument in Sydney, Australia, unveiling ceremony, 19 February 2006
7.
Second language
–
A persons second language or L2, is a language that is not the native language of the speaker, but that is used in the locale of that person. In contrast, a language is a language that is learned in an area where that language is not generally spoken. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or linguas franca, more informally, a second language can be said to be any language learned in addition to ones native language, especially in the context of second language acquisition. A persons first language is not necessarily their dominant language, the one they use most or are most comfortable with and this can happen when young children move, with or without their family, to a new language environment. The distinction between acquiring and learning was made by Stephen Krashen as part of his Monitor Theory, according to Krashen, the acquisition of a language is a natural process, whereas learning a language is a conscious one. In the former, the student needs to partake in natural communicative situations, in the latter, error correction is present, as is the study of grammatical rules isolated from natural language. Not all educators in second language agree to this distinction, however, research in SLA. focuses on the developing knowledge and use of a language by children and adults who already know at least one other language. SLA has been influenced by linguistic and psychological theories. One of the dominant linguistic theories hypothesizes that a device or module of sorts in the brain contains innate knowledge, many psychological theories, on the other hand, hypothesize that cognitive mechanisms, responsible for much of human learning, process language. These theories have all influenced second-language teaching and pedagogy, there are many different methods of second-language teaching, many of which stem directly from a particular theory. Some of these approaches are more popular than others, and are viewed to be more effective, most language teachers do not use one singular style, but will use a mix in their teaching. This provides a balanced approach to teaching and helps students of a variety of learning styles succeed. The defining difference between a first language and a language is the age the person learned the language. For example, linguist Eric Lenneberg used second language to mean a language consciously acquired or used by its speaker after puberty, in most cases, people never achieve the same level of fluency and comprehension in their second languages as in their first language. These views are closely associated with the critical period hypothesis, in acquiring an L2, Hyltenstam found that around the age of six or seven seemed to be a cut-off point for bilinguals to achieve native-like proficiency. After that age, L2 learners could get near-native-like-ness but their language would, the inability of some subjects to achieve native-like proficiency must be seen in relation to the age of onset. “The age of 6 or 8 does seem to be an important period in distinguishing between near-native and native-like ultimate attainment, more specifically, it may be suggested that AO interacts with frequency and intensity of language use”. Furthermore, they discuss a number of cases where a native-like L2 was acquired during adulthood, as we are learning more and more about the brain, there is a hypothesis that when a child is going through puberty, that is the time that accents start
Second language
–
Blackboard used in
class at
Harvard shows
students ' efforts at placing the
diaeresis and
acute accent diacritics used in
Spanish orthography.
Second language
–
A German student learning French.
English (1.5 billion learners),
French (82 million learners) and
Chinese (30 million learners) are the three most commonly studied foreign languages.
Second language
–
High school Spanish taught as a second
language to a class of native
English speakers at an
American private school in
Massachusetts.
8.
Foreign language
–
A foreign language is a language indigenous to another country. It is also a language not spoken in the country of the person referred to. These two characterisations do not exhaust the possible definitions, however, and the label is applied in ways that are variously misleading or factually inaccurate. Some children learn more than one language from birth or from a young age. For example, a child learning English from his English father and this is common in countries such as India, South Africa, or Canada due to these countries having multiple official languages. In general, it is believed that children have advantage to learning a language over adults. However, there are studies which have shown adult students are better at foreign language learning than child students and it is because adults have pre-existing knowledge of how grammar works, and a superior ability of memorizing vocabulary. See main article, Language education Most schools around the world teach at least one language and most colleges. On average in Europe, at the start of foreign language teaching, compulsory lessons in a foreign language normally start at the end of primary school or the start of secondary school. In Luxembourg, Norway and Malta, however, the first foreign language is studied at age six, in Wales, all children are taught Welsh from the first year of primary school. The Welsh language is compulsory up to the age of 16. This method is highly used in Canada, wherein anglophone students spend all of most of their lessons learning the materials in French. In 1995, the European Commissions White Paper on Education and Training emphasised the importance of learning at least two foreign languages before upper secondary education. The Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills, despite the high rate of foreign language teaching in schools, the number of adults claiming to speak a foreign language is generally lower than might be expected. In 2001, a European Commission survey found that 65. 9% of people in the UK spoke only their native tongue, since the 1990s, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages has tried to standardise the learning of languages across Europe. An article from The Atlantic claims that only 1 percent of the adults within the American population consider themselves proficient in speaking a foreign language and this is in stark contrast to many other countries, where the percentage is much higher. Even though there are benefits that come with learning a foreign language. Further results showed that nine out of 10 British companies thought their businesses could benefit from better language skills, also due to the increase of international population, a multilingual person can easily communicate and translate to perspective viewers
Foreign language
–
A German student learning French.
English (1.5 billion learners),
French (82 million learners) and
Chinese (30 million learners) are the three most commonly studied foreign languages.
9.
Language policy in France
–
France has one official language, the French language. The French government does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals, the perceived threat from anglicisation has prompted efforts to safeguard the position of the French language in France. Besides French, there exist many other minority languages of France. These languages are recognized by article 75-1 of the French constitution, in France proper, Corsican, Breton, Gallo, Basque, Franco-Provençal, Occitan, and Catalan have an official status in the regions where they are spoken. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts of 1539 made French the administrative language of the kingdom of France for legal documents, previously, official documents were written in medieval Latin, which was the language used by the Roman Catholic Church. Its recommendations however carry no legal power and are sometimes disregarded even by governmental authorities, in recent years the Académie has tried to prevent the Anglicisation of the French language. Prior to the French Revolution of 1789, French kings did not take a position on the language spoken by their subjects. However, in sweeping away the old provinces, parlements and laws, other languages were seen as keeping the peasant masses in obscurantism. The new idea was expounded in the Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois, the lack of ability of the population to understand the language in which were the political debates and the administrative documents was then seen as antidemocratic. The report resulted the same year in two laws which stated that the only tolerated in France in public life and in schools would be French. Within two years, the French language had become the symbol of the unity of the French State. However, the Revolutionaries lacked both time and money to implement a language policy, the only language allowed in primary school was French. All other languages were forbidden, even in the schoolyard, after 1918, the use of German in Alsace-Lorraine was outlawed. In 1925, Anatole de Monzie, Minister of public education, stated that for the unity of France. In neighbouring Belgium, a policy to expand the use of standard French also took place. The 1950s were also the first time the French state recognised the right of the languages to exist. A law allowed for the teaching of languages in secondary schools. The Breton language began to appear in the media during this time, the French government allowed in 1964 for the first time one and a half minutes of Breton on regional television
Language policy in France
–
French /
Occitan bilingual
signs in
Limousin.
Language policy in France
–
This roadsign in Corsica has had the non-Corsican placenames defaced by
FLNC supporters
10.
Languages of the European Union
–
The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. The EU has 24 official languages, of three have the higher status of procedural languages of the European Commission. The three procedural languages are used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU. The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity and this principle is enshrined in the EU Charter and in the Treaty on European Union. The EU encourages all its citizens to be multilingual, specifically, the most widely spoken language in the EU is English, which is understood by 51% of all adults, while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18%. All 24 official languages of the EU are accepted as working languages, French is an official language in all three of the cities that are political centres of the Union, Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg City. Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, and Swedish are all official languages at the level in multiple countries. In addition, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Slovak, furthermore, not all national languages have been accorded the status of official EU languages. These include Luxembourgish, a language of Luxembourg since 1984, and Turkish. All languages of the EU are also working languages, the reply is drafted in the same language. Regulations and other documents of general application are drafted in the official languages. The Official Journal of the European Union is published in the official languages. Legislation and documents of major importance or interest are produced in all official languages. Communications with the authorities, decisions addressed to particular individuals or entities. For internal purposes the EU institutions are allowed by law to choose their own language arrangements, the European Parliament, on the other hand, has members who need working documents in their own languages, so its document flow is fully multilingual from the outset. Non-institutional EU bodies are not legally obliged to make language arrangement for all the 24 languages, according to the EUs English-language website, the cost of maintaining the institutions’ policy of multilingualism—i. e. The cost of translation and interpretation—was €1,123 million in 2005, the EU Parliament has made clear that its member states have autonomy for language education, which by treaty the European Community must respect. The majority of EU languages belong to the Indo-European family, the three dominant subfamilies being the Germanic, Romance, and Slavic, Germanic languages are spoken in central and northern Europe and include Danish, Dutch, English, German, and Swedish
Languages of the European Union
–
Sign in the entrance of the
European Parliament building in
Brussels written in all
official languages used in the
European Union.
Languages of the European Union
–
Map of major European languages
Languages of the European Union
–
Interpretation booths in the debating chamber of the
European Parliament (
Brussels).
11.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
German language
–
Old Frisian (Alt-Friesisch)
German language
–
The widespread popularity of the
Bible translated into German by
Martin Luther helped establish modern German
German language
–
Examples of German language in
Namibian everyday life
German language
–
German-language newspapers in the U.S. in 1922
12.
Russian language
–
Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
Russian language
–
Russian language street sign in
Russia.
Russian language
–
Russian minimarket in
Limassol, Cyprus; translation: "Teremok market. Russian goods. Phone number: 96 74 19 63"
Russian language
–
This page from an "ABC" book printed in Moscow in 1694 shows the letter
П.
Russian language
–
The
Ostromir Gospels of 1056 is the second oldest
East Slavic book known, one of many medieval
illuminated manuscripts preserved in the
Russian National Library.
13.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
–
The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
–
Regions where French is the main language
French language
–
Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
–
An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
14.
English language
–
English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
English language
–
The opening to the Old English epic poem
Beowulf,
handwritten in
half-uncial script: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."
English language
–
Countries of the world where English is a majority native language
English language
–
Title page of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales c.1400
15.
Languages of Germany
–
The official language of Germany is Standard German, with over 95 percent of the country speaking Standard German or German dialects as their first language. This figure includes speakers of Northern Low Saxon, a minority or regional language that is not considered separately from Standard German in statistics. Recognized minority languages have official status as well, usually in their respective regions,1. 8% Kurdish c.0. 3% Tamil Russian Arabic Greek Dutch Igbo Polish Serbo-Croatian Italian Most Germans learn English as their first foreign language at school. Sometimes French or Latin are taught first, but usually English is, with French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Dutch, classical Greek, and other languages are also offered in schools, often depending on the schools geographic location. The recognition of English as a language is frequently discussed in the German public
Languages of Germany
–
QWERTZ
16.
Languages of Austria
–
German is the national official language and constitutes a lingua franca and de facto second language, most Austrians other than seniors are able to speak it. It is the used in media, in schools. The variety of German used, Austrian German is partially influenced by Austro-Bavarian, Vorarlberg uses a High Alemannic, the same dialect group as that spoken in Northern Switzerland and parts of southern Alsace, France. To most Germans and Austrians outside of Vorarlberg it is difficult to understand, as it is more similar to Swiss German, with many grammatical. The main native language of Austria outside Vorarlberg is Austro-Bavarian, which is using many different dialects. The northern parts of Austria speak Central Austro-Bavarian dialects and the southern parts Southern Austro-Bavarian dialects, Austro-Bavarian differs heavily from high German, making it difficult for German speakers of different regions to understand the native population. Some examples include, The word yes in the German language is spelled ja, in Austro-Bavarian dialect yes or ja is pronounced yo and although Austro-Bavarian is not an official language, jo is the spelling of yes. Other words you might only hear while visiting particular regions in Austria and Bavaria that differ from high German include, Grüß Gott, Servus, a number of minority languages are spoken in Austria, some of which have official status. Turkish is the largest minority language, in a situation mirroring that of Germany, serbian is the second largest minority language, with usage by 2. 2% of the population. While little spoken today, Hungarian has traditionally held an important position in Austria, today, Hungarian is spoken by around 1,000 people in Burgenland. Slovene, a language in Carinthia, is spoken by 0. 3% of Austrians. Carinthian Slovenes are recognized as a minority and have enjoyed special rights following the Austrian State Treaty of 1955
Languages of Austria
–
High Alemannic German speaking areas marked in yellow, including part of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg (Switzerland).
17.
Linguistic geography of Switzerland
–
The four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian and Romansh. All but Romansh maintain equal status as official languages at the level within the Federal Administration of the Swiss Confederation. In 2013, native speakers of German number about 5 million, French number 1.8 million, Italian,645,000, the German region is roughly in the east, north and center, the French part in the west and the Italian area in the south. There remains a small Romansh-speaking native population in Graubünden in the east, the cantons of Fribourg, Bern and Valais are officially bilingual, Graubünden is officially trilingual. In 17 Swiss cantons, German is the official language. In the cantons of Bern, Fribourg and Valais, French is co-official, in the canton of Graubünden, more than half of the population speaks German. In each case, all languages are languages of the respective canton. In Germany Welsch and Welschland refer to Italy, there, the term is antiquated, rarely used, the marked subsidiarity of the Swiss federalism, where many political decisions are taken at municipal or cantonal level, supports this attitude. Nevertheless, in 2013,10. 1%, or about 830,000 of the Swiss residents speak High German aka Standard German at home, but probably mainly due to German immigrants. By the Middle Ages, a difference had developed between the rural cantons of the German-speaking part of Switzerland and the city cantons, divided by views about trade. After the Reformation, all cantons were either Catholic or Protestant, Romandy is the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It covers the area of the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Jura as well as the French-speaking parts of the cantons of Bern, Valais,1.9 million people live in Romandy. Standard Swiss French and the French of France are the same language, for example, like some other regions of the French-speaking world, Swiss people use septante instead of soixante-dix and nonante instead of quatre-vingt-dix. In the cantons of Vaud, Valais and Fribourg, speakers use instead of the Standard French quatre-vingts. Sou is used throughout Romandy for a 5-centime coin, as is tune when referring to a 5-Swiss-franc piece, historically, the vernacular language used by inhabitants of most parts of Romandy was Franco-Provençal. Franco-Provençal is a language considered to be halfway between the langue doïl and Occitan. Standard French and Franco-Provençal/Arpitan, linguistically, are distinct and mutual intelligibility is limited, increasingly, Franco-Provençal/Arpitan is used only by members of the older generations. The term Romandy does not formally exist in the political system, the television channel Télévision Suisse Romande serves the Romande community across Switzerland, is syndicated to TV5, and CanalSat Romande on 2 October
Linguistic geography of Switzerland
–
Arpitan language area map with place names in arpitan and historic political divisions.
Linguistic geography of Switzerland
–
Languages of Switzerland
18.
Liechtenstein
–
Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein, is a doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in Central Europe. It is a monarchy with the rank of principality, headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and Austria to the east and it has an area of just over 160 square kilometres and an estimated population of 37,000. Divided into 11 municipalities, its capital is Vaduz and its largest municipality is Schaan, the unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the world at 1. 5%. Liechtenstein has been known in the past as a tax haven, however. An alpine country, Liechtenstein is mainly mountainous, making it a winter sport destination, many cultivated fields and small farms are found both in the south and north. The country has a financial sector centered in Vaduz. Liechtenstein is a member of the European Free Trade Association, and while not being a member of the European Union and it also has a customs union and a monetary union with Switzerland. The oldest traces of human existence in Liechtenstein date back to the Middle Paleolithic era, neolithic farming settlements were founded in the valleys around 5300 BC. Hallstatt and La Tène cultures flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC possibly under influence from the Greek. One of the most important tribal groups in the Alpine region were the Helvetii, in 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesar defeated the Alpine tribes, bringing the region under closer control of the Roman Empire. By 15 BC, Tiberius, who was destined to be the second Roman emperor, Liechtenstein was integrated into the Roman province of Raetia. The area was maintained by the Roman military, which maintained a large legionary camp called Brigantium near Lake Constance, a Roman road ran through the territory. In 259/60 Brigantium was destroyed by the Alemanni, a Germanic people who settled in the area in around 450. In the Early Middle Ages, the Alemanni had settled the eastern Swiss plateau by the 5th century, Liechtenstein was at the eastern edge of Alemannia. In the 6th century, the region became part of the Frankish Empire following Clovis Is victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504. The area that later became Liechtenstein remained under Frankish hegemony until the empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD following the death of Charlemagne. The territory of present-day Liechtenstein belonged to East Francia until it was reunified with Middle Francia under the Holy Roman Empire around 1000 AD
Liechtenstein
–
Gutenberg Castle, Balzers, Liechtenstein.
Liechtenstein
–
Flag
Liechtenstein
–
Vaduz Castle, overlooking the capital, is home to the
Prince of Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
–
Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein from 1805 to 1806 and 1814 to 1836.
19.
Belgium
–
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
Belgium
–
Charlemagne and
Charles V
Belgium
–
Flaga
Belgium
Belgium
–
Episode of the
Belgian Revolution of 1830 (1834), by
Egide Charles Gustave Wappers
20.
Luxembourg
–
Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and its culture, people and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and Germanic cultures. It comprises two regions, the Oesling in the north as part of the Ardennes massif. With an area of 2,586 square kilometres, it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe, Luxembourg had a population of 524,853 in October 2012, ranking it the 8th least-populous country in Europe. As a representative democracy with a monarch, it is headed by a Grand Duke, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a country, with an advanced economy and the worlds highest GDP per capita. Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux, reflecting its political consensus in favour of economic, political. The city of Luxembourg, which is the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a state of great strategic value. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, in the following centuries, Luxembourgs fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the French. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands and this arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London, from which date Luxembourgs full independence is reckoned. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union, the King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina and this allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there. In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourgs neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France and this allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence, in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourgs neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, entirely without justification. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourgs neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, in 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held
Luxembourg
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Historic map (undated) of Luxembourg city's fortifications
Luxembourg
–
Flag
Luxembourg
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Photograph of the fortress of Luxembourg prior to demolition in 1867
Luxembourg
–
Luxembourg City: The Passerelle, also known as the viaduct or old bridge, over the
Pétrusse river valley, opened 1861
21.
Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
Germany
–
The
Nebra sky disk is dated to c. 1600 BC.
Germany
–
Flag
Germany
–
Martin Luther (1483–1546) initiated the
Protestant Reformation.
Germany
–
Foundation of the
German Empire in
Versailles, 1871.
Bismarck is at the center in a white uniform.
22.
Austria
–
Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
Austria
–
First appearance of the word "ostarrichi", circled in red. Modern Austria honours this document, dated 996, as the founding of the nation.
Austria
–
Flag
Austria
–
Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BC.
Museum of Natural History Vienna
Austria
–
"Heidentor" – Remains of the
Roman military city of
Carnuntum
23.
Switzerland
–
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
Switzerland
–
Founded in 44 BC by
Lucius Munatius Plancus,
Augusta Raurica was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.
Switzerland
–
Flag
Switzerland
–
The 1291 Bundesbrief (Federal charter)
Switzerland
–
The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colors are shown the subject territories.
24.
List of international vehicle registration codes
–
This is different from the way vehicles belonging to the diplomats of foreign countries with license plate from the host country are marked. That standard is host country specific and varies largely from country to country, for example TR on a diplomatic car in US indicates Italian, not Turkish. Such markings in Norway are indicated with numbers only, again different from international standards, many vehicle codes created since the adoption of ISO3166 coincide with ISO two- or three-letter codes. For the Facilitation of Cross-Border Transport of Goods and People uses a mixture of ISO and DSIT codes, Myanmar uses MYA, China CHN, and Cambodia KH, Thailand uses T, Laos LAO, and Vietnam VN
List of international vehicle registration codes
–
A 1960
Borgward Isabella showing the international vehicle code NL (
Netherlands)
List of international vehicle registration codes
–
Example of the white oval plate or sticker; this one represents
Switzerland
List of international vehicle registration codes
–
Estonian registration plate in EU standard format with international code EST
25.
Badger
–
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae, which also includes the otters, polecats, weasels, and wolverines. They belong to the suborder of carnivoran mammals. The 11 species of badgers are grouped in three subfamilies, Melinae, Mellivorinae, and Taxideinae and they include the species in the genera Arctonyx, Meles, Mellivora, Melogale and Taxidea. Their lower jaws are articulated to the upper by means of transverse condyles firmly locked into long cavities of the skull, so complete dislocation of the jaw is all, Badgers have rather short, wide bodies, with short legs for digging. They have elongated, weasel-like heads with small ears and their tails vary in length depending on species, the stink badger has a very short tail, while the ferret badgers tail can be 46–51 cm long, depending on age. They have black faces with white markings, grey bodies with a light-coloured stripe from head to tail. They grow to around 90 cm in length including tail, the European badger is one of the largest, the American badger, the hog badger, and the honey badger are generally a little smaller and lighter. The stink badgers are smaller still, and the badgers are the smallest of all. They weigh around 9–11 kg, with some Eurasian badgers weighing around 18 kg, the word badger, originally applied to the European badger, comes from earlier bageard, presumably referring to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead. Similarly, a now archaic synonym was bauson ‘badger’, a variant of bausond ‘striped, piebald’, the less common name brock, is a Celtic loanword meaning grey. A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow, a collective name suggested for a group of badgers is a cete, but badger colonies are more often called clans. A badgers home is called a sett, the following list shows where the various species with the common name of badger are placed in the Mustelidae classification. The list is polyphyletic and the commonly called badgers do not, if the stink badgers are included. They live as far east as Japan and China, the Javan ferret-badger lives in Indonesia, and the Bornean ferret-badger lives in Malaysia. The honey badger is found in most of sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Desert, southern Levant, Turkmenistan, the behavior of badgers differs by family, but all shelter underground, living in burrows called setts, which may be very extensive. Some are solitary, moving from home to home, while others are known to form clans called cetes, cete size is variable from two to 15. Badgers can run or gallop at 25–30 km/h for short periods of time, in North America, coyotes sometimes eat badgers and vice versa, but the majority of their interactions seem to be mutual or neutral. American badgers and coyotes have been seen hunting together in a cooperative fashion, the diet of the Eurasian badger consists largely of earthworms, insects, grubs, and the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds
Badger
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Badger
Badger
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An adult female (sow)
American badger.
Badger
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Badger pelts
26.
South Tyrol
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South Tyrol, also known by its alternative Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of 7,400 square kilometres and its capital is the city of Bolzano. As of 2011, South Tyrol is among the wealthiest regions in Italy, South Tyrol is the term most commonly used in English for the province, and its usage reflects that it was created from a portion of the southern part of the historic County of Tyrol. German and Ladin speakers usually refer to the area as Südtirol, Alto Adige, one of the Italian names for the province, is also used in English. The term had been the name of political subdivisions along the Adige River in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte and it was reused as the Italian name of the current province after its post-World War I creation, and was a symbol of the subsequent forced Italianization of South Tyrol. The official name of the today in German is Autonome Provinz Bozen — Südtirol. German speakers usually refer to it not as a Provinz, provincial institutions are referred to using the prefix Landes-, such as Landesregierung and Landeshauptmann. The official name in Italian is Provincia autonoma di Bolzano — Alto Adige, South Tyrol as an administrative entity originated during the First World War. The Allies promised the area to Italy in the Treaty of London of 1915 as an incentive to enter the war on their side, with the rise of Fascism, the new regime made efforts to bring forward the Italianization of South Tyrol. The German language was banished from public service, German teaching was officially forbidden, the regime also favored immigration from other Italian regions. The subsequent alliance between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declared that South Tyrol would not follow the destiny of Austria, the region was de facto annexed to the German Reich until the end of the war. This status ended along with the Nazi regime, and Italian rule was restored in 1945, after the war the Allies decided that the province would remain a part of Italy, under the condition that the German-speaking population be granted a significant level of self-government. Italy and Austria negotiated an agreement in 1946, recognizing the rights of the German minority, alcide De Gasperi, Italys prime minister, a native of Trentino, wanted to extend the autonomy to his fellow citizens. This led to the creation of the region called Trentino-Alto Adige/Tiroler Etschland, German and Italian were both made official languages, and German-language education was permitted once more. Still Italians were the majority in the combined region, in a first phase, only public edifices and fascist monuments were targeted. The second phase was bloodier, costing 21 lives, the South Tyrolean question became an international issue. A fresh round of negotiations took place in 1961 but proved unsuccessful, the issue was resolved in 1971, when a new Austro-Italian treaty was signed and ratified
South Tyrol
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The Atlas Tyrolensis, showing the entire County of Tyrol, printed in Vienna. 1774
South Tyrol
South Tyrol
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A map from 1874 showing South Tirol with approximately the borders of today's South and
East Tyrol
South Tyrol
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Plaque at a German-language school in both Italian and German
27.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
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Flag
Italy
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The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
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Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
28.
Interreg
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Interreg is a series of five programmes to stimulate cooperation between regions in the European Union, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The first Interreg started in 1989, Interreg IV covered the period 2007–2013. Interreg V covers all 28 EU Member States,3 participating EFTA countries,6 accession countries and 18 neighbouring countries and it has a budget of EUR10.1 billion, which represents 2. 8% of the total of the European Cohesion Policy budget. Since the non EU countries dont pay EU membership fee, they contribute directly to Interreg, Interreg is designed to stimulate cooperation between member states of the European Union on different levels. One of its main targets is to diminish the influence of national borders in favor of equal economic, special emphasis has been placed on integrating remote regions with those that share external borders with the candidate countries. Interreg was launched as Interreg I for the programming period 1989–1993 and it moved on to Interreg III for the period 2000–2006. Projects from that closed by the end of 2008, Interreg IV is currently operational, covering 2007–2013. Interreg differs from the majority of Cohesion Policy programmes in one important respect and these can be both central state agencies and regional agencies. Like almost all Cohesion Policy measures, Interreg projects require co-funding to be provided by Member States, the amount of co-funding required differs by region, ranging from 50% down to 0% in the poorest regions. Under Interreg IV, private firms are only eligible if they apply through a consortium of firms, in previous programme periods. Interreg is made up of three strands, Interreg A, Interreg B and Interreg C and they are described in more detail below. Cross-border cooperation between adjacent regions aims to develop social and economic centres through common development strategies. The term cross-border region is used to refer to the resulting entities. The term Euroregion is also used to refer to the types of entities that are used to administer Interreg funds. Interreg A is by far the largest strand in terms of budget, transnational cooperation involving national, regional and local authorities aim to promote better integration within the Union through the formation of large groups of European regions. Strand B is the level, where generally non-contiguous regions from several different countries cooperate because they experience joint or comparable problems. There are 13 Interreg IVB programmes, interregional cooperation aims to improve the effectiveness of regional development policies and instruments through large-scale information exchange and sharing of experience. This is financially the smallest strand of the three, but the cover all EU Member States
Interreg
–
Evolution of INTERREG 1990-2020
Interreg
–
Interreg
Interreg
–
ENI-20copia
29.
Early Modern period
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The early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of the post-classical era. Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the period witnessed the exploration and colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe. The historical powers became involved in trade, as the exchange of goods, plants, animals, and food crops extended to the Old World. The Columbian Exchange greatly affected the human environment, New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. This process began in the medieval North Italian city-states, particularly Genoa, Venice, the early modern period also included the rise of the dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. The European colonization of the Americas, Asia, and Africa occurred during the 15th to 19th centuries, the early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from medieval modes of organization, politically and economically. Historians typically date the end of the modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the modern period. Early modern themes Other In 16th century China, the Ming Dynastys economy was stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, Spanish. China became involved in a new trade of goods, plants, animals. Trade with Early Modern Europe and Japan brought in massive amounts of silver, during the last decades of the Ming the flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and the entire Chinese economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure, the ensuing breakdown of authority and peoples livelihoods allowed rebel leaders such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority. The Ming Dynasty fell around 1644 to the Qing Dynasty, which was the last ruling dynasty of China, during its reign, the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. The Azuchi-Momoyama period saw the unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo period from 1600 to 1868 characterized early modern Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period gets its name from the city, Edo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, in 1392, General Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty with a largely bloodless coup. Joseon experienced advances in science and culture, King Sejong the Great promulgated hangul, the Korean alphabet. The period saw various other cultural and technological advances as well as the dominance of neo-Confucianism over the entirety of Korea, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, invasions by the neighboring Japanese and Qing Chinese nearly overran the Korean peninsula
Early Modern period
–
Waldseemüller map with joint sheets, 1507
Early Modern period
–
15th century Hanging Houses in
Cuenca,
Spain from the
Early Renaissance, and the Early modern period.
Early Modern period
–
Gutenberg reviewing a press proof (a colored engraving created probably in the 19th century)
Early Modern period
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The
Cantino planisphere (1502), the oldest surviving Portuguese nautical chart showing the results of the explorations of
Vasco da Gama to India,
Columbus to Central America,
Gaspar Corte-Real to Newfoundland and
Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil. The meridian of
Tordesillas, separating the Portuguese and Spanish halves of the world is also depicted
30.
Northern Europe
–
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. However, narrower definitions may also be used based on geographical factors, such as climate. Greenland, geographically a part of North America, is politically a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, while Northern Europe overlaps with most of Northwestern Europe, north-Central Europe, and Northeastern Europe, it does not border Southern Europe. Countries which are central-western, central-central, or central-eastern are generally considered part of neither Northern Europe or Southern Europe. Historically, when Europe was dominated by the Mediterranean region, everything not near this sea was termed Northern Europe, including southern Germany, all of the Low Countries and this meaning is still used today in some contexts, such as in discussions of the Northern Renaissance. In medieval times, the term Thule was used to mean a place in the extreme northern reaches of the continent. The region has a south west extreme of around 50 degrees north, the entire regions climate is mildly affected by the Gulf Stream. From the west climates vary from maritime and maritime subarctic climates, in the north and central climates are generally subarctic or Arctic and to the east climates are mostly subarctic and temperate/continental. With the exception of the United Kingdom and Ireland, Northern European countries are known for harsh winters with temperatures reaching as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in some parts. Countries in Northern Europe have large, developed economies and some of the highest standards of living in the world and they often score highly on surveys measuring quality of life, such as the Human Development Index
Northern Europe
–
A map of northern Europe after
Ptolemy
Northern Europe
–
A satellite photograph of northern Europe
Northern Europe
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A Dutch map of northern Europe, 1601
Northern Europe
–
Typical landscape of Northern Europe
