The culture of Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically, Germany has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker (the country of poets and thinkers). German culture originated with the Germanic tribes, the earliest evidence of Germanic culture dates to the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany and Denmark. Contact with Germanic tribes were described by various Greco-Roman authors. The first extensive writing done on Germanic culture can be seen during the Roman Imperial Period with Germania by Tacitus.
History
Germany has been the center for various important phenomena such as the Migration Period, the Carolingian Empire, Holy Roman Empire, the Medieval renaissances, Scholasticism, the Hanseatic League, the German Renaissance, the Printing Revolution, Protestant reformation, Prussia, Romanticism, Kaiserreich, Weimar and National Socialism.
There are a number of public holidays in Germany. The country is particularly known for its Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich, its carnival culture and globally influential Christmas customs known as Weihnachten. 3 October has been the national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the German Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit). The UNESCO inscribed 46 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List. A global opinion poll for the BBC revealed that Germany is recognized for having the most positive influence in the world in 2011, 2013, and 2014.
Language
German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. 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. Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Sorbian, North Frisian and Saterland Frisian. Further Low German as a regional language. They are officially protected by the ECRML. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian.
Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Dutch, and the Frisian languages. To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with 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) which is written "ß". German orthography has gone through a series of reforms, the most recent in 1996.
German dialects are distinguished from varieties of standard German. German dialects are traditional local varieties and can be traced back to the different German tribes. Many of them are not easily understandable to a speaker of standard German, since they often differ in lexicon, phonology, and syntax.
Around the world, German has approximately 100 million native speakers and also about 80 million non-native speakers. German is the main language of about 90 million people (18%) in the EU. 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language, 27% in at least two languages other than their first.
In the German diaspora, aspects of German culture are passed on to younger generations through naming customs and through the use of spoken and written German. The Goethe Institute seeks to spread the knowledge of German culture worldwide. A total of 15.5 million people are currently learning German as a second language.
Literature
German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The , whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is the Thidrekssaga. The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world.
Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for the modern "High German" language.
Among the most admired German philosophers and authors are Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Hoffmann, Brecht, Heine and Schmidt. Nine Germans have won the Nobel Prize in literature: Theodor Mommsen, Paul von Heyse, Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Nelly Sachs, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, and Herta Müller.