Living language

• More than 101 Million speakers (2,1% of world population, 12th rank worldwide), most spoken language in the EU (24% of European Union population)
• Official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Northern Italy
• German speaking communities in Denmark, France, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Rumania, USA, Australia, South Africa
• German is on second rank as foreign language taught at schools in Europe
• German is a global language: with 12% it is the secondly most spoken language in the European Union, after English (34%, French 11%, Spanish and Russian 5%)
• German will be increasingly important in multilingual contexts: important member of the European Union, Germany as immigration country

Economy

• German speaking countries are the most important economical and financial region in Europe
• Not only large companies, but also small and medium size enterprises expand
• For many companies in North America skills in German are an asset
• Important business language for markets in eastern Europe
• Largest exporting country worldwide
• Products made in Germany
• International fairs
  

Research and sciences

• Important as scholarly language in social sciences,
• Second most spoken language in science
• Main language at German, Austrian and Swiss universities
• German publications in natural sciences at only 1%

Media

• 18% of all books are published in German, third rank in worldwide book publishing sector
• 7,7% of all internet homepages are in German, second rank after English with 56,4%
• German media is the most rich and diverse worldwide
  

Culture and literature

• German gives access to many literary works of world literature
  

Tourism

• German is important for traveling in Europe, especially southern Europe, many Mediterranean regions in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece
  

Easy to learn

• German is an easy language: only four cases (in Russian 6, in Polish and Czech 7 cases); only one plural article; relatively easy expression of tenses; no complicated aspects

Click here for seven more good reasons to learn German.