6 Languages Similar To German: Compare Germanic Languages By Similarity Level
Are you a native German speaker looking to learn languages similar to German? Or did you already learn German, and are now looking for a new adventure?
Let’s compare German with other Germanic and Romance languages. World Friends did a fun little video on this topic, check it out:
In this blog post, we’ll tell you a bit more about German language history, its place in the Indo-European language family, and we’ll even share similar vocabulary in languages similar to German.
1. German in the Indo-European Language Family
German is a member of the expansive Indo-European language family.
This language family has languages spoken across Europe, parts of Asia, and even beyond. The Indo-European language family is divided into several branches. Let’s see where German belongs:
- Germanic (German, English, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Yiddish)
- Romance (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian)
- Slavic (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Croatian)
- Celtic (Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic)
- Baltic (Lithuanian, Latvian)
- Indo-Iranian (Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Kurdish)
- Greek
- Albanian
- Armenian
As you can see, German specifically belongs to the Germanic branch, which has its roots in Proto-Germanic, an ancient language that evolved from Proto-Indo-European. If you want, you can read more about the history of German language.
2. Germanic languages vs Romance languages
The Germanic and Romance language groups are both part of the Indo-European family but they are different.
Germanic languages include:
- German
- English
- Dutch
- Afrikaans
- Yiddish
- Swedish
- Danish
- Norwegian
- Icelandic
- Faroese
Romance languages include:
- French
- Spanish
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Catalan
- Occitan
- Sardinian
- Romansh
Germanic languages feature shorter words, they use prefixes and suffixes, and have a different sentence structure compared to Romance languages. In German, the verb often appears at the end of subordinate clauses, while in Romance languages, it typically stays closer to the subject.
Germanic languages also tend to use compound words more. You can actually read about long German words on Effortless Conversations. Another important differences is the usage of the case system. German cases are part of German grammar, while other language have lost this grammar feature over time.
3. Languages similar to German: from Dutch to Yiddish
Let’s explore some languages that share similarities with German. We’ll focus on vocabulary (percentage of similarity), grammar (on a scale of 1 to 5, less means easier grammar), and we’ll even give you examples of shared words and phrases.
Dutch
Similarity of vocabulary: 75%
Similarity of grammar: 2/5
Number of total speakers: Approximately 24 million
Dutch is closely related to German, with many similarities in vocabulary and structure.
Dutch speakers often find it easier to understand written German than spoken German due to these similarities.
| German | Dutch | English |
|---|---|---|
| Das Haus | Het huis | The house |
| Die Katze | De kat | The cat |
| Guten Morgen | Goedemorgen | Good morning |
| Der Apfel | De appel | The apple |
| Die Schule | De school | The school |
| Das Brot | Het brood | The bread |
| Die Zeit | De tijd | The time |
| Das Wasser | Het water | The water |
| Der Freund | De vriend | The friend |
| Die Liebe | De liefde | The love |
Swedish
Similarity of vocabulary: 60%
Similarity of grammar: 3/5
Number of total speakers: Approximately 10 million
Swedish also shares a lot of similar vocabulary with German, although the grammar differs in some aspects.
| German | Swedish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Das Buch | Boken | The book |
| Die Maus | Musen | The mouse |
| Gute Nacht | God natt | Good night |
| Der Hund | Hunden | The dog |
| Das Kind | Barnet | The child |
| Die Sonne | Solen | The sun |
| Der Mann | Mannen | The man |
| Die Frau | Kvinnan | The woman |
| Das Essen | Maten | The food |
| Der Tag | Dagen | The day |
Danish
Similarity of vocabulary: 60%
Similarity of grammar: 3/5
Number of total speakers: Approximately 6 million
Danish, another Scandinavian language, shares vocabulary and some grammatical features with German, but the pronunciation is almost completely different..
| German | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Der Hund | Hunden | The dog |
| Die Sonne | Solen | The sun |
| Auf Wiedersehen | Farvel | Goodbye |
| Das Brot | Brødet | The bread |
| Die Milch | Mælken | The milk |
| Der Fisch | Fisken | The fish |
| Das Haus | Huset | The house |
| Die Katze | Katten | The cat |
| Der Vogel | Fuglen | The bird |
| Das Fenster | Vinduet | The window |
Norwegian
Similarity of vocabulary: 60%
Similarity of grammar: 3/5
Number of total speakers: Approximately 5 million
Norwegian is generally considered easier for English speakers but it also shares some vocabulary and grammar with German.
| German | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Der Fisch | Fisken | The fish |
| Das Wasser | Vannet | The water |
| Guten Tag | God dag | Good day |
| Die Blume | Blomsten | The flower |
| Das Buch | Boken | The book |
| Der Baum | Treet | The tree |
| Die Hand | Hånden | The hand |
| Das Jahr | Året | The year |
| Der Mond | Månen | The moon |
| Die Nacht | Natten | The night |
English
Similarity of vocabulary: 60%
Similarity of grammar: 4/5
Number of total speakers: Approximately 1.5 billion (including second language speakers)
English, despite its French and Latin influences, is a Germanic language. It shares many cognates with German, especially in everyday vocabulary.
Let’s see it:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Das Kind | Child |
| Der Apfel | Apple |
| Guten Abend | Good evening |
| Das Haus | House |
| Die Hand | Hand |
| Der Freund | Friend |
| Das Buch | Book |
| Die Mutter | Mother |
| Der Vater | Father |
| Das Wasser | Water |
Yiddish
Similarity of vocabulary: 85%
Similarity of grammar: 2/5
Number of total speakers: Approximately 1.5 million
Yiddish is particularly close to German, being a fusion of medieval German dialects with Hebrew and Aramaic.
It’s written in the Hebrew alphabet but shares many similarities with German in vocabulary and structure.
| German | Yiddish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Schlaf gut | Shlof gut | Sleep well |
| Die Suppe | Di zup | The soup |
| Ich liebe dich | Ikh hob dikh lib | I love you |
| Das Buch | Dos bukh | The book |
| Die Straße | Di gas | The street |
4. Learn German and languages similar to German with Conversation Based Chunking
Here’s the good news: you can learn not just German, but basically any other language similar to German with Conversation Based Chunking.
Conversation Based Chunking is a method that introduces the approach of learning with lexical chunks – common phrases and expressions -, so instead of teaching you the basic grammar rules and definitions, you learn by naturally memorizing these expressions.
For example, instead of just learning gehen, you would learn it in context of Können wir bitte gehen? With this slight little difference, you understand not just the word but also the context it appears in. In the long-term, this will benefit you, because you will acquire all of these chunks.
If you’re curious, and want to learn more about this method, you can click this button right now, and we’ll send you all the information you need.
