By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Standard German became the standard form of German used in education, literature, media, and administration in several European countries. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to German are Swiss German, Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans, and Swedish.
- Swiss German (95.0)
Primarily spoken in Switzerland, Swiss German exhibits enough differences with Standard German to be considered its own language. Its distinct phonology and regional variations set it apart. Even Swiss German boasts a plethora of dialects, making it an intriguing linguistic landscape to explore. - Dutch (86.5)
As an official language of the Netherlands and Belgium, Dutch is one of the closest relatives to German. Both languages have West Germanic origins and share numerous lexical and syntactical similarities. However, Dutch exhibits simplified grammar compared to German. - Flemish (86.5)
Hailing from Belgium, Flemish is a variety of Dutch spoken predominantly in the northern region of Flanders. While Flemish shares some mutual intelligibility with Dutch, it has its own unique linguistic characteristics, including pronunciation and vocabulary differences. - Afrikaans (83.7)
Originating from the Dutch spoken by settlers in South Africa during the 17th century, Dutch is a fascinating blend of Dutch, indigenous African languages, and influences from English. Therefore, despite being primarily spoken in Africa, this language has a lot in common with German. - Swedish (81.9)
Despite being a North Germanic language, Swedish shares notable resemblances with German, particularly in vocabulary and grammar. Both languages feature a similar word order and employ umlauts in certain contexts. However it is not as closely related as the other languages listed.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)
Nice post! I’d like to add that Low German (including Pennsylvania Dutch and Plautdietsch), Moselle Franconian (including Luxembourgish and Hunsrick), and Limburgish are all related West Germanic languages that could also be included.
Austro-Bavarian is considered a separate language by many linguists, but Germans typically see it as a set of dialects. Flemish is often considered a dialect of Dutch, but some of the community is apparently fighting for its recognition as a language.
Of course, the “German” languages are tricky to pin down as to whether they’re dialects or so on. I just wanted to add a little bit of further information 👍🏼
absolutely, it is a language continuum, but we have confined these list to languages with more than one million speakers, so languages like Yiddish and Luxembourgish did not make it