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Here are some interesting facts about German that will surprise and help you when translating into and from German:
1. German is the eleventh most spoken language in the world.
2. Many German words are borrowed from English.
3. German is considered the language of writers and thinkers.
4. Sometimes the dialects are so different that some regions do not understand each other.
5. 130 million people speak German as their mother tongue or as a second language.
6. Although most German speakers live in Germany, German is the official language of four other countries: Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein.
7. The first book in German was printed in 1466.
8. The most used letter in German is ″E″.
9. German has bizarre proverbs.
10. The first letter of each noun begins with a capital letter.
11. German has three genders: feminine, masculine, and neuter.
12. The Brothers Grimm started the German Language Dictionary in Berlin in 1838.
13. The German alphabet contains an additional consonant, ß, and is called ″S sharp″.
14. German uses long words.
15. Some German words do not have direct translations.
16. A German word has an average of 10.6 letters.
If you want to find out how to translate into and from Italian, check out our article on this topic: Italian translations.
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