The German language is not nearly as widely spoken as some other languages, like Mandarin Chinese or Spanish, for instance. According to a list of languages spoken around the world on Wikipedia, German is the 11th most-spoken language on the planet, with 89 million speakers or about 1.27% of the world population. Still, many people are surprised to hear that German is an official main language in six countries. Let's start with the obvious:
Deutschland geht es gut,
Germany is doing well,
auch wenn das nächste Jahr ohne Zweifel schwieriger wird als dieses.
even if next year will undoubtedly be more difficult than this [year].
Captions 44-45, Angela Merkel - Neujahrsansprache
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And in second place, Austria:
Am nächsten Wochenende werde ich in Österreich sein.
Next weekend I will be in Austria.
Caption 49, Konjugation - Das Verb „sein“
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Followed by Switzerland:
Der Rhein entspringt in den Alpen, also in der Schweiz.
The Rhine has its source in the alps, well, in Switzerland.
Caption 12, Unterwegs mit Cettina - an der Rheinfähre
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So far, so good. Most people know that German is spoken in the three countries listed above, but have no idea where to go from there. Let's start with the small country of Liechtenstein:
Schweiz [die Schweiz], Deutschland, Liechtenstein, Österreich
Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria,
und die Niederlande.
and the Netherlands.
Caption 15, Unterwegs mit Cettina - an der Rheinfähre
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And in place number five:
Ein scharfer Abschluss einer überraschend interessanten
A spicy ending to a surprisingly interesting
Reise durchs unbekannte Luxemburg.
journey through unknown Luxembourg.
Caption 62, Reisebericht - Luxemburg
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The national language of Luxembourg is Luxembourgish, but German is also an officially recognized language. And the last country where German is, surprisingly for some, considered a nationwide, co-official language:
Vor allem aus Belgien...
Above all from Belgium...
kommen immer mehr Campingfans.
more and more camping fans are coming.
Captions 38-40, Reisebericht - Luxemburg
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French and Flemish are the dominant languages in Belgium, but some districts near its eastern border with Germany speak predominantly German. German is also a co-official language in provinces of some other countries, including South Tyrol in Italy, the Opole and Silesian districts of Poland, and the Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul districts in Brazil.
Further Learning
Read this article on Wikipedia about places where German is spoken throughout the world, and look for further examples of where these countries appear on Yabla German.