
Language
German is like a thriller. The verb usually only comes at the very end of the sentence and explains what it is actually about. And then there are the compound words. A challenge for those who want to learn our language. Is it soup spoon or spoon soup? But back to the beginnings.
When the Romans came north, the language of the Germanic tribes also changed. Latin was introduced and has accompanied our language to this day. Old High German emerged around 600 AD. It was also at this time that the word “German”, which means “people”, first appeared with its current meaning. 500 years ago, Martin Luther laid the foundation for a standardized German language with his translation of the Bible. When the German-speaking regions united 150 years ago, a uniform spelling system was also established. For almost 120 years, until 1996, Konrad Duden’s “Orthographic Dictionary of the German Language” was in force. And the language continues to change: the dative is the death of the genitive.
The German language consists of around 5.3 million words, and the trend is rising. That’s about 8 times as many words as there are in English.
Around 200 million people worldwide speak German, either as a native or foreign language. German is the official language in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy (South Tyrol) and parts of South America. It is the most widely spoken native language in the European Union (EU).
Writing
After antiquity and the so-called Migration Period, which caused many special written developments, the scripts in use were brought together and standardized around 800. Our modern script is based on Latin.
The archaeologists of scripts distinguish between book scripts, which are characterized by the regularity and emphasis of the individual letters, and cursive scripts, in which individual letters can be combined. From then until the 20th century, Gothic and Latin scripts existed side by side, particularly in book printing. In German-speaking countries, however, the acute-angled Kurrent script prevailed.
In 1935, the National Socialists designated Sütterlin script as the German national script and banned the Gothic Fraktur script in 1941. From 1942, the rounder Latin script became standard again in German schools.
Dresden spricht …
Workshops, tours, writing and printing workshops under the motto “Dresden speaks many languages”

Period
03-12.2024
Porject coordination
Yvonn Spauschus (Projektleitung)
Yulia Vishnichenko · Moussa Mbarek · Nadine Wölk · Rosa Brockelt · Yuliya Firsova · Martin Mannig (workshop leader)
Rosa Brockelt · Rosa Hauch · Falk Goernert · Birthe Mühlhoff (moderation, documentation)
Adina Rieckmann · Lydia Hänsel (tourguides)
Inge · Mahsa · Karin (voluntary help)
Cooperation partners
JugendKunstschule Dresden – Standort Passage, Omse e.V., Nachbarschaftshilfeverein, Stadtteilverein Johannstadt e.V., Malteser Hilfsdienste e.V., Jugendhaus LILA as well as Chinesisch-Deutsches Zentrum e.V., Lebenshilfe Dresden e.V., GEH8 Kunstraum und Ateliers e.V., Umweltzentrum Dresden – ABC Tische and many more
Supported by
The project is funded by the State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion. This measure is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament within the framework of the state programme Integrative Maßnahmen.
