European Countries and Regions Where German Is Spoken: Traveler Edition

Official Language of the State

Six countries have German set as an official state language. That includes, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Belgium.

The German language is explicitly spoken as the exclusive primary language in Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein. That means, in these countries you will only encounter German on your trip.

That said, the dialects across regions make it sound like a different language. In fact, German dialects are some of the most diverse in Europe. E.g. Northern Germans don't understand Austrians dialects.

Luxembourg has German, French, and Luxembourgish as official languages. They use each interchangeably, and one over the other depending on the outlet or daily situation. I have mentioned the Luxembourg language and what to expect as a traveler.

Switzerland has 4 official languages, with German, French, Romansh, and Italian, and they are mostly region-dependent. Nonetheless, the German language has by far more native speakers in Switzerland.

Belgium has 3 official languages: Dutch, French, and German. Most of the German speakers reside near the German border.

Other Regions Where German is Spoken

Due to the political changes over the centuries in Europe, you will come across areas and regions with a large German-speaking minority.

This includes several regions, districts, or towns that are either bordering one of the major sole German-speaking countries or that used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire or German Empire.

• South Tyrol: A historical former Austrian region, which was annexed by Italy after WWI. More than half of the population speaks German daily.
• Opole Voivodeship and Silesian Voivodeship in Poland: These regions have a larger German-speaking minority. German-speakers settled there in the Middle Ages.
• Transylvania: A historical Romanian region known for its Saxon towns. The Saxons settled there almost 1000 years ago and the ones that remain still speak German. Interestingly, we mostly encountered them in Sighișoara and Brasov. The region is also a popular summer vacation spot for Germans.

You might also find a handful of German minority speakers in France (Alsace-Lorraine), Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary.

German Dialects

German isn't always German. As I mentioned earlier, German dialects are spoken almost everywhere, and they always sound different wherever you go.

High German, known as Hochdeutsch, or standard German, is the language taught in schools everywhere.

People write in standard German, and some people in the capitals will speak it as well, but in rural areas, the majority of people speak a regional dialect.

Dialects can change from regions, areas, valleys to towns. Especially the mountains had an effect on dialects. That said, German words and their uses can differ considerably as well.

A good example is our vocabulary list for Austrian German Travelers and our vocabulary for travelers to Germany. Some words commonly used in Germany do not exist in Austria or Switzerland, or they are not used at all by the population.

Switzerland, and also Liechtenstein, in general, have an entirely unique German language, which is known as Swiss German.

By the way, the Germany, Austria, and Switzerland region is also called the DACH region. D stands for Germany (Deutschland), A for Austria, and CH is the acronym for the Latin Swiss name Confoederatio Helvetica. Another version of that is DACHL which includes L for Liechtenstein at the end. Dach also means roof in German, and Dachl is a small roof.

Tips for Your Trip

If you speak only English

If you don't speak German or only small bits and pieces, you will have no problem in the capitals and big cities such as Vienna, Zürich, Berlin, and Munich.

Most people speak and understand English in the cities.

The same can't be said about rural, countryside locations. Although tourist places are a bit better at accommodating several languages, that said, these rural areas are mainly used to German-speaking visitors.

If you speak some German

It doesn't matter how good your learned German is; you will encounter many moments where you won't understand a thing due to the regional dialect.

Dialect speakers do understand standard German, but they don't speak it much, and it's weird to use it. It feels almost like a separate language. Of course, this again depends on the area and thickness of the dialect.

I'll give you some examples. As an Austrian native speaker from the mountains, I struggle to understand people in Austria bordering Liechtenstein. I hardly understand Swiss German-speakers, but Bavarian German almost sounds identical to my dialect. Vienna dialect terms are unknown to me.