Culture in Germany has been formed by famous
intellectuals and big events in
Europe, both religious and secular. Historically Germany has been called Das
Land der Dichter und Denker (the nation of artists and thinkers).
Language in Germany:
German is the official and most spoken language in Germany.
It is one of 23 official languages in the
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| Fig 1 taken from www.mapsofworld.com |
Standard German is a West Germanic dialect and it resembles
and classified alongside English, Dutch, and the Frisian languages. To a lesser
degree, it is also similar to the East and North Germanic languages. Most
German vocabulary is inferred from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European
language family While some of words of German language are derived from Latin
and Greek and among those a smaller amount from French and most are from
English (known as Denglisch). German is written by using Latin alphabets. There
are 26 standard letters; German has three vowels with Umlaut as ä, ö, and ü,
and also the Eszett or Scharfes S (sharp s) which is written as ß.
German dialect is different from standard German. German
dialects are traditional local varieties and are traced back to distinctive
German tribes. Many people among them are not able to understand and speak
standard German language because of the difference in dictionary, phonology,
and sentence structure. German has almost 100 million native speakers and about
80 million non-native speakers. German is the main language and spoken by about
90 million individuals (18%) in EU and 67% of German natives are able to
speak at least one foreign language whereas 27% can communicate in two languages
other than their own.
Religion in Germany:
64.1% of the German population belongs to Christian
categories, 31.4% are Roman Catholic, and 32.7% are affiliated with
Protestantism.
The North and East are Protestant and the South and West is
Catholic. These days there is also a non-religious dominant part in Hamburg and
the former East German states. Germany formed a substantial part of Roman
Catholic Holy Roman Empire but it was also the source of Protestant reformers,
for example, Martin Luther.
Historically, Germany had a significant Jewish population.
Just a couple of thousand individuals of Jewish origin stayed in Germany after
the Holocaust but the German Jewish group now has something like 100,000
members, majority from the previous Soviet Union. Germany additionally has a
considerable Muslim minority and most of the Muslims belong to Turkey.
Sports in Germany:
Sport is an important part of German culture. Twenty-seven
million Germans are parts of sports club and twelve million people play these
games individually. Football is the most prominent game. With more than 6.3
million members, the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) is
the biggest games association around the world. The Bundesliga is the second
highest average attendance of any sports league in the world. The German
national football group won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990 and the
UEFA European Football Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996. Germany has also
hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1974 and 2006 and the UEFA European Football
Championship in 1988. Among the best, successful and prestigious footballers
are Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus, and
Oliver Kahn. Other well known games in Germany are handball, volleyball, ball,
ice hockey, and tennis.
Germany also leads in motor sports game in entire world. Race-winning
cars, teams and drivers participate from Germany. The best Formula One driver
ever, Michael Schumacher, has set numerous motorsport records throughout his
profession, having won more Formula One World Drivers' Championships and more
Formula One races since Formula One's presentation season in 1950. He is one of
the most paid sportsmen in history and became a billionaire athlete as
well. Companies like BMW and Mercedes are among the leading
manufacturers in motorsport. Moreover, Porsche has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans,
a prestigious yearly perseverance race held in France, 16 times, and Audi has
won it 9 times. The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters is popular series in Germany.
Historically, German sportsmen have been the most successful
contenders in the Olympic Games, positioning third in Olympic Games award
check, combining East and West German awards. In the 2008 Summer Olympics,
Germany achieved fifth position in the medal count while in the 2006 Winter
Olympics they completed first. Germany has hosted the Summer Olympic Games
twice, in Berlin in 1936 and in Munich in 1972. The Winter Olympic Games
occurred in Germany once in 1936 and was organized in the Bavarian twin towns
of Garmisch and Partenkirchen.
German Society:
Germany is a modern and progressed society, formed by a
majority of lifestyles and territorial characters.
Throughout the most recent decade of the twentieth century,
Germany transformed its attitude towards immigrants. Until mid 1990's it
was commonly supposed and perceived that Germany is not a nation of immigrants,
despite the fact that 20% of the population were from non-German origin. Today
the government and a dominant part of the German culture are recognizing
immigrants from different ethno-cultural foundations.
