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80-829: Its headstreams – the Little Enz ( German : Kleine Enz ) and the Great Enz or Big Enz ( Große Enz ) – rise in the Northern Black Forest , the latter at Enzklösterle . In Calmbach , the Little Enz and the Big Enz join to form the Enz. The river passes through Neuenbürg and Pforzheim , where it leaves the Black Forest . It then flows through the cities of Vaihingen and Bietigheim-Bissingen . Along

160-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it

240-402: A second language , and 75–100   million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220   million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90   million people, or 16% of

320-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become

400-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from

480-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained

560-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In

640-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it

720-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as

800-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German

880-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic

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960-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German

1040-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25   million speak it as

1120-462: Is found within Neuenbürg's municipal area. Neuenbürg's municipal coat of arms depicts a red , hexagonal tower upon a field of white . The oldest images to be associated with the township are from 1440, as an engraving, and in 1490, from a print. The first coat of arms associated with Neuenbürg is from 1535, and showed the tower in red but the field as being blue . The change to a white field

1200-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in

1280-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as

1360-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are

1440-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and

1520-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as

1600-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German

1680-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c.  1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period

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1760-590: Is the Enz , which flows in a deep bed of Middle Buntsandstein  [ de ] . Where the Enz flows into Birkenfeld marks the lowest elevation above sea level in the municipal area, 309 meters (1,014 ft) Normalnull (NN). The highest is the top of the Heuberg, south of Dennach, at 709 meters (2,326 ft) NN. A portion of the Eyach and Rotenbach Valley  [ de ] Federally-protected nature reserve

1840-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish

1920-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers

2000-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to

2080-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as

2160-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share

2240-658: The Enz district , within the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Federal Republic of Germany . It is physically located on the Pfinzhügelland  [ de ] , on the southern reaches of the Kraichgau . The geological makeup of the municipal area is decided by the meeting of the Pfinzhügelland's muschelkalk and keuper and the Black Forest 's buntsandstein plateaus. The main watercourse

2320-480: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language

2400-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout

2480-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in

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2560-510: The House of Vaihingen  [ de ] in the 12th century. Between 1315 and 1322, Neuenbürg became a possession of the Counts of Württemberg , who gave it town rights . With the villages of Arnbach, Dennach, and Waldrennach  [ de ] , Neuenbürg was assigned its own district. On 18 March 1806, that district was reorganized as Oberamt Neuenbürg  [ de ] . The Oberamt

2640-595: The Kraichgau region at Birkenfeld above Pforzheim. After emerging from the Black Forest, the Enz flows down to its mouth in the Neckar Gäu country in the muschelkalk beds of the South German Scarplands . From a natural regional perspective, the Enz valley between Birkenfeld and Enzberg is counted as part of the Kraichgau , which continues to the north, further downstream it is part of

2720-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.  765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in

2800-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung

2880-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit.   ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this

2960-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and   Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German

3040-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from

3120-477: The 5th century; B.C. (the early La Tène period) iron ore mining has been carried out in the Enz region. The visitor mine of Frischglück Pit is an example of an individual mine. The upper reaches of the Enz are mainly used by white water canoeists . The most famous section is the challenging Kurparkstrecke in Bad Wildbad. Water sports are restricted on some sections of the river in order to protect

3200-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In

3280-421: The Enz, which is an important resting stop for many migratory birds. These include, inter alia , kingfisher , sandpiper , goosander , grey wagtail , moorhen and dipper . Other guests and residents of the coppiced willows and the trees lining the banks of the river are white wagtail , Icterine warbler , spotted flycatcher , nightingale and golden oriole . Until the early 20th century, timber rafting

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3360-540: The Europe-wide protected network of nature protection areas known as Natura 2000 . In the shallow waters up to 10,000 larvae - of mayflies , caddis flies , dragonflies , beetles, snails and mussels - have been counted. Even Western vairone , barbel , nase and bullhead have their spawning grounds here. From early summer, the Enz is home to dense communities of river water crowfoot and watermilfoil . Some rare and endangered species live all year round on

3440-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of

3520-536: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of

3600-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c.  1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of

3680-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by

3760-786: The Great Enz ( Große Enz ) and Little Enz ( Kleine Enz ) merge. The Great Enz has two headstreams, both approximately 5 kilometres long: the Poppelbach and the Kaltenbach , which unite at Gompelscheuer . As with the source of the Danube in Donaueschingen , this purely nominal beginning of the (Great) Enz is symbolized by the nearby Enz Spring ( Enzbrunnen ) and, likewise, has been erroneously marketed as such to tourists. In terms of water quantity and size of catchment area,

3840-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are

3920-1033: The Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German

4000-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c.  thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c.  1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy

4080-404: The Nagold carries twice as much water at its mouth. Thus, above Pforzheim, the Nagold is hydrographically the main branch of the river system of the Enz, which is then about 149 kilometres long, and thus the third longest of the Neckar tributaries after the river systems of the Kocher and the Jagst . The Enz bears its name without any qualifier until it reaches the town of Calmbach , where

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4160-428: The Neckar Basin between Stuttgart and Heilbronn . Tributaries from the confluence of the Little ( Kleine ) and Great ( Große ) Enz. Tributary lengths are based on the source furthest from the mouth. The Enz flows mainly through the counties of Calw , Enzkreis , Pforzheim and Ludwigsburg . Some headwaters of tributaries of the Great Enz and the headwaters of the Kaltenbach flow partly through Rastatt . Until

4240-400: The Poppelbach, which flows from the south, is the main headstream, whilst the Kaltenbach, which flows from the west, has a slightly greater length and higher source. The Poppelbach rises to the south, only 1 km north of the source of the River Nagold at 822 m (in the parish of Besenfeld ); the Kaltenbach rises to the northwest, on the southern slopes of the Schramberg at 907 m (in

4320-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with

4400-404: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in

4480-435: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of

4560-417: The economy. In the muschelkalk area of the river, agriculture has a certain significance, and viticulture is practised on steep, terraced vineyards of the Enz valley. Industry and service are concentrated in Pforzheim (jewellery, precious metals, watches, commercial and administration), but can also be found in smaller centres in the catchment area of Stuttgart (especially Bietigheim-Bissingen). Since

4640-443: The ecosystem: German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and

4720-491: The great territorial upheavals around 1803 and 1806, the course of the Enz ran mainly through the territory of Old Württemberg , with short sections in the Old Baden or through knightly estates. Wildbad, Neuenbürg, Vaihingen, Bietigheim and Besigheim were Old Württemberg centres of administration. The current territory of the counties of Rastatt and the Enz around Pforzheim (parishes of Brötzingen, Pforzheim, Eutingen and Niefern) belonged to Baden. In Oberriexingen , sovereignty

4800-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,

4880-417: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of

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4960-414: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Neuenb%C3%BCrg Neuenbürg is a town in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg , Germany . It is situated on the river Enz , 10 km southwest of Pforzheim . Neuenbürg originated as a village around a castle built by

5040-408: The last ice age . After the Enz valley widens at Enzklösterle it narrows again until it reaches the next glacial valley, the Kegeltal , at Sprollenhaus. Having hitherto flowed northeast, the Great Enz swings northwards and flows through a steep valley that cuts across the mostly wooded bunter sandstone plateaux of the northern Black Forest. From the well-known Old Württemberg resort of Wildbad ,

5120-439: The lower course, wine is grown. Major tributaries to the Enz are Glems and Nagold (with its tributary Würm ). Near Besigheim , the Enz feeds into the Neckar. In earlier times, the Enz was important for the timber rafting industry. The Enz flows through two large natural regions : in the upper half of its course, the river and its tributaries drain the eastern half of the Northern Black Forest ; later it flows through

5200-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted

5280-423: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from

5360-404: The parish of Forbach in the Murg valley ). From the confluence of the Poppelbach and Kaltenbach, the Great Enz initially flows through a narrow wooded valley that, after a small change in gradient, opens into the much broader valley of the Rombach, joining from the west. The valleys of the Enz, Rombach and other western tributaries of the upper reaches are characterised by glacial cirques from

5440-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation

5520-401: The southwest German Gäu landscape , mostly through the Neckar Basin . Including its main headstream, the Poppelbach, the Enz has a total length of about 105 kilometres. However, unusually, its right tributary , the Nagold , which discharges into the Enz in Pforzheim on emerging from the Black Forest, is longer - in fact almost twice as long as its own headstream to that point. In addition,

5600-492: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,

5680-449: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in

5760-411: The valley is densely populated. At Calmbach , where the Little Enz empties into the main river, follow the settlements of Höfen an der Enz and Neuenbürg . Here the Enz makes a wide loop enclosing a mountain spur atop which is Neuenbürg Castle. The Black Forest valley of the Enz has, including the valley of the Great Enz from Gompelscheuer, a length of approximately 38 kilometres and ends as it enters

5840-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during

5920-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching

6000-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of

6080-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially

6160-525: Was an important branch of the economy in the Black Forest. Like its neighbouring rivers, the Murg and Nagold, the Enz was used for transporting tree trunks and, especially, logs. Schwallungen ( storage ponds that were drained for rafting), such as the Poppelsee and Kaltenbachsee at Gompelscheuer, recall this activity. In the Black Forest section of the Enz valley today, forest products and tourism dominate

6240-504: Was dissolved on 1 October 1938 and its constituents were assigned to the Calw district . When the Enz district was created by the 1973 Baden-Württemberg district reform  [ de ] on 1 January 1973, Neuenbürg and its villages were assigned to it. Arnbach, Dennach, and Waldrennach were fully incorporated into Neuenbürg on 1 January 1975. The township ( Stadt ) of Neuenbürg covers 28.17 square kilometers (10.88 sq mi) of

6320-495: Was divided between imperial knights and Württemberg. The lower reaches of the Enz, with their typical water meadow shore structures, are an ideal habitat for many riparian plant and animal species. Many of the oxbow lakes and riparian woodlands are protected habitats; the Enz itself and parts of the valley such as the nature reserve near Vaihingen-Roßwag and the mouth of the Leudelsbach at Unterriexingen are part of

6400-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which

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