Germanic languages facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Germanic
Teutonic
Geographic distribution:	Principally northern, western and central Europe, the Americas (Anglo-America, Caribbean Netherlands and Suriname), Southern Africa and Oceania
Linguistic classification:	Indo-European Germanic
Proto-language:	Proto-Germanic
Subdivisions:	North Germanic West Germanic East Germanic (extinct)
ISO 639-2 and 639-5:	gem
World map showing countries where a Germanic language is the primary or official language      Countries where (a) Germanic language(s) is/are the first language(s) of the majority of the population      Countries or regions where (a) Germanic language(s) is/are (an) official but not primary language(s)      Countries or regions where (a) Germanic language(s) is/are (an) unofficial but recognised/used in some areas of life/spoken among a local minority

The Germanic languages are a group of languages that are all related. They are part of a much bigger family called Indo-European languages. All Germanic languages grew from an older language called Proto-Germanic. People first spoke Proto-Germanic in parts of Northern, Western, and Central Europe.

Today, Germanic languages are divided into three main groups. These are the East Germanic languages, the North Germanic languages, and the West Germanic languages. All the East Germanic languages are now extinct, meaning no one speaks them anymore.

West Germanic Languages

The West Germanic languages are spoken by many people around the world. These languages include:

• English
• German
• Saxon
• Frisian
• Luxembourgish
• Dutch
• Afrikaans
• Scots
• Yiddish

North Germanic Languages

The North Germanic languages are mainly spoken in Scandinavia and nearby islands. They are sometimes called the Nordic languages. These languages include:

• Danish
• Faroese
• Icelandic
• Norwegian
• Swedish

East Germanic Languages

The East Germanic languages are all extinct. This means they are no longer spoken by anyone. Some of these languages include:

• Gothic (we have old texts written in Gothic)
• Vandalic
• Burgundian
• Crimean Gothic

Images for kids

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  This map shows where Germanic languages are spoken in Europe.

See also

You can also read about Germanic languages in Spanish: Lenguas germánicas para niños