The German language (deutsche Sprache), German is the official and predominantly spoken language in Germany. The standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Dutch and Swedish.German language, it is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission, along with English and French. Recognized native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Sorbian, Romany and Frisian. They are officially protected by the ECRML. Most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Polish, the Balkan languages and Russian.
Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Significant minorities of words derived from Latin, Greek, and a smaller amount from French, and most recently English (known as Denglisch). German is written using the Latin alphabet. In addition to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with Umlaut, namely ä, ö and ü, as well as the Eszett or scharfes S (sharp s) ß.
German is spoken by approximately 100 million native speakers and also about 80 million non-native speakers, and Standard German is widely taught in schools, universities, and Goethe Institutes worldwide.