Germany

There is nothing in the German Constitution (Grundgesetz) to define German as the official language of the Federal Republic of Germany. Nor does any federal law protect the German language against, for example, Anglicisms, as an official language. An indirect criterion for the official status of the German language is that the constitution as well as all other laws are legally binding only in German: that is, there are no authorised translations of German laws.

German is explicitly defined as an official language only in a very limited number of domains:

• the federal law on administrative procedure states that “the language of the procedure is German”; analogous laws apply to the administration of the 16 Länder (federal states)
• the law on judicial structure (Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz) provides for the use of German in the judicial domain, but also recognises Sorbian - a minority language in Germany - as a regional judicial language
• the laws concerning tax revenue and social security also stipulate the use of German
• the Conference of Ministers for Education and Culture is able to regulate and standardise the use of the German language within educational establishments. In March 2006, it oversaw a programme designed to ensure that all establishments throughout the Republic were following the new reformed spelling rules
 

Following a decision by the constitutional Court on 14 July 1998, the regional Länder have powers to protect, promote and maintaining the German language. These powers only apply to the language in the aforementioned administrative and judicial domains.

Neither the Federal Government nor the Länder have any authority to legislate on the use of language in the domains of commerce, consumption or advertising. Indeed, Article 3 of the law on unfair competition prohibits any linguistic restriction as far as advertising is concerned. Nonetheless, there are certain situations in which it is the responsibility of the State to guarantee that the language used can be understood, in order to ensure consumer safety and public health. This is particularly applicable to information leaflets accompanying medication and chemical and toxic products.

There is as yet no specific legal provision for regulating the use of the language in the scientific domain. There is a fear that too much regulation might stifle scientific advances and research. English is generally considered to be the principal language of (natural) science: over 90% of scientific texts are published in English. Exceptions include theological, philosophical and philological publications, which are most often published in German.

The fact that German does not enjoy the status of being the comprehensive official language of Germany can be explained by the reticence of the German authorities to even entertain the notion of a linguistic policy. This reticence has its roots in a history of nationalism and in particular of the Third Reich, which used the German language as a tool to advance its Nazi ideologies.

The situation is beginning to change, however, under the influence of a number of factors:

• a reunified Germany has disengaged from the traumas of the past and now enjoys a more serene relationship with its culture and language, which are no longer regarded as suspect vectors of nationalism. This evolution has allowed more liberal cultural and linguistic policies to be considered, without prejudice, along the lines of those followed most notably in France;
• measures designed to support regional languages developed as part of the application of the European Charter on regional and minority languages have made the lack of any definition of the legal statute of the German language even more paradoxical;
• difficulties in integrating the 6.2 million immigrant population, due primarily to their insufficient mastery of the German language, have led the authorities to make teaching German language a central part of their immigration policy. Mastery of the German language, which is already a prerequisite for obtaining German citizenship, is set to become a condition for obtaining a residence permit;
• finally, public opinion, which up until now has been largely oblivious to the notion of the value of one's own language, has been inflamed by the growing prevalence of English and is calling for measures to be taken to protect the German language, interestingly as much in terms of content as of usage.

German is one of the 24 official languages of the European Union, which means that all official texts published by European institutions must have a German translation.

In some cases, however, no German translation is provided. For example, when the definitive follow-up reports on the integration of Bulgaria and Romania were published in 2006, the German Parliament and Government had to intervene at the European Commission to obtain German translations of the reports.

German is one of the three working languages of the European Commission (alongside French and English).

In the absence of any linguistic legislation, there is no specific institutional body with responsibility for developing or implementing any given policy. As far as the language is concerned, the Federal Ministry of Justice assumes the responsibility for any legislation. Administrative matters fall under the remit of the Home Office. In the educational arena, the Conference of Ministers for Education and Culture has responsibility for proposing, co-ordinating and applying laws.

However, there are a number of private organisations which play an active role in promoting German, particularly within European institutions, or who are solicitous of protecting it in the face of competition from international English. Among them are the Goethe Institut which works in partnership with the Federal Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (DASD) or German Academy for Language and Literature, the Gesellschaft für die Deutsche Sprache (GfDS) or Society for the German Language, which has been charged by the Federal Parliament with controlling legislative texts, and the Institut für Deutsche Sprache (IDS) or Institute for the German Language, the central research centre for German. Although all these institutions benefit from support from public finances, it is important to underline that they remain non-governmental institutions with the status of associations or foundations.

The law on controlling and limiting immigration and regulating the stay and integration of migrants from within and outside the EU, which came into force on 1 January 2005, places particular emphasis on integrating foreign nationals and more specifically on learning German through integration classes.

These classes are available to all new arrivals who intend to stay in Germany for some time and who hold a residence permit (beneficiaries of family relocation, asylum seekers or workers authorised to immigrate on the basis of their qualifications) as well as repatriates.

Learning German is compulsory for all foreign nationals who are not capable of expressing themselves orally in simple terms, for those who “have a real need to be integrated” and for those who have been living in Germany for some time and receive state benefits. For the latter, the law provides for sanctions consisting of a reduction in state benefits. The others may be called to order by the relevant authority, which is usually the local or regional Ausländerbehörde or Foreign Nationals Bureau.

All receive an authorisation to participate in the classes from the Federal Office of Migrants and Refugees.

These classes include 600 hours of language teaching plus 60 hours of introduction to German history, culture and law and order. At the end of the course, there is a final exam which aims to evaluate the linguistic abilities of the candidates. A candidate will pass if they obtain at least level B1 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Reference Framework for Languages.

A survey carried out in June 2013 revealed that 56% of candidates obtained level B1 at the end of their training. Those immigrants who do not take part in the integration classes risk having their state benefits reduced and may encounter difficulties when it comes to renewing their residence permit. Participation in the course is in any case a prerequisite for obtaining permission to stay permanently in Germany.

These classes are administered by some 2,000 institutions (religious, public and private) which have been authorised to do so by the Federal Office of Migrants and Refugees. They are financed by the federal state and also by the participants, who pay 1.2 euro per hour. Those in receipt of state benefits are not required to pay. The Federal State finances the institutions at a rate of 2.05 euros per participant per hour.

Although the implementation of this provision has proved to be satisfactory overall, the relevant institutions nonetheless recognise the need to make them even more effective. In recent years the courses on offer so that they take into account the profile of the participants (age, sex, linguistic competence, personal situation). Courses were also developed for illiterate foreign nationals and adolescents, in an effort to further encourage the integration of foreign nationals. In the case of family relocation, an option is being considered whereby a minimum of linguistic competence would be required prior to the family being allowed into Germany. A harmonisation of the courses on offer in different institutions is also planned, as is a harsher regime of sanctions for those who refuse to attend the lessons.

Germany ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on 16 September 1998. This became national law and entered into force on 19 September 2002. It serves as the legal foundation for the use and protection of indigenous regional and minority languages throughout Germany. The Federal Government also nominated a delegate to take responsibility for minority affairs and be a privileged interlocutor for minority nationals in 2002. It is his or her role to facilitate communication between the different minorities living in Germany and the different public institutions, at federal and regional level.

The minority languages in the sense of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages are Danish and North Frisian in Schleswig-Holstein, Upper Sorbian in Saxony, Lower Sorbian in Brandenburg, Saterland Frisian in Lower Saxony and the Romani language of the German Roms and Sinti throughout the country. The regional language in the sense of the Charter is Low German in the regions of Northern Germany. Each one of these groups represents some tens to hundreds of thousands of speakers.

The linguistic rights of certain groups are also specified where it has proven necessary through bilateral treaties (bilateral treaty with Denmark in 1995, 1990 Unification treaty which recognised the rights acquired by the Sorbian population).

More generally, the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages benefit from rights relating to Articles 8 (language of teaching), 10 (language of public service offices), 11 (language of the media), 12 (language of cultural activity and equipment), 13 (language of economic and social life) and 14 (language in cross-frontier exchanges) of the Charter.

The way in which they are applied do however vary from one region to the next and depending on the language in question. Brandenburg and Saxony are among the most active in protecting the Sorbian language (around 60,000 speakers). At the other end of the spectrum, the two varieties of Frisian are more problematic since they have fewer speakers (together around 15,000).

In its most recent recommendations, the Committee of Ministers on the Council of Europe called on Germany to improve the availability of minority language teaching by remedying the teacher deficit and guaranteeing the continuity of teaching, as well as to adopt a structured policy on the languages of the Roms and Sinti.

There are a number of complex financial support mechanisms designed to encourage the use of German and regional or minority languages.

It is the regional Länder and the communes which have responsibility for promoting and supporting the German language. Federal responsibility is limited to providing financial support for the institutions mentioned above (the Goethe Institute, the German Academy for Language and Literature, the Society for the German Language, the Institute for the German Language). These institutions also receive financial support from the Länder and communes.

As an example, the German Academy for Language and Literature receives 90% of its funding from public funds (Federal State, the Land of Hesse and the town of Darmstadt). The Institute for the German Language receives 50% of its funding from the Federal State and 50% from the Land of Baden-Württemberg. The Society for the German Language and the Goethe Institut also receive financial support from the Federal State.

Promoting and supporting the German language are often also an aim of other policies, initiatives or programmes (education, integration, foreign relations). Linguistic policies are therefore financed from many different directions, which makes it impossible to give a precise figure for the annual spend on promoting the German language.

Foreign language teaching varies from one Land to another. The regulations can sometimes also be different for different kinds of establishments.

Nonetheless, it is possible to identify certain basic ideas which are common to the different policies implemented :

• the most frequently taught foreign languages in German schools are English (which is very often chosen as the first foreign language), French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Dutch;
• there is an ongoing debate in Germany on how early children should begin to learn foreign languages, as there is in many other European countries. Since September 2004, the first foreign language has been taught from the third year. English is offered from the third year by all Länder, French by nine Länder, and Italian and Russian by Thuringe. In Baden-Württemberg, English can be learnt from the first year of primary school.
• From the seventh or ninth year, students can choose a second language. It is not compulsory to learn a second language unless one is preparing for the Abitur (equivalent of the international baccalaureate), in which case one must start a second language in the seventh year.

An  initiative (Dec. 2008), started by several members of the CDU and private associations, most notably the Verein Deutsche Sprache e.V., calls for a change to the constitution to allow a clause to be added defining German as “the language of the Federal Republic of Germany”. This demand was turned down by the Federal Parliament, but is still the subject of lively debates and remains a hot topic.

As far as spelling reform is concerned, the new spelling has been being taught in schools since August 1998. Since June 1999, the reform has also applied to judicial and administrative texts. During a transition period which ended in August 2005, both spellings were accepted. Despite the arguments surrounding the reform,  a slightly modified new spelling came into force definitively on 3 March 2006. The Conference of Ministers for Education and Culture decided to apply the new regulations to schools from Autumn 2006. Since 2004  a Council for the German Spelling (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung), based at the Institute for the German Language, advises the political authorities of the German-speaking countries and regions on problems of spelling norms and their development. This Council consists of spelling experts from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Italian province of Bozen/Bolzano and the German-speaking cantons of Belgium.