German Language and Culture

After reading the chapters for this blog post, I found that the creation of the German language was a very interesting. On page 89, Schulze stated that there was a growth of educated elite during the second half of the eighteenth century. This contributed to the standardization of the official German language. The growth in educated elite consisted of clergymen, aristocrats, doctors, teachers, and other professionals. With the growth in educated elite, I feel that the overall state of Germany would increase in status because of their overall education levels. The standardized German language grew and was created from the regional dialects and local idioms. This really interested me because I was always intrigued about how the actually modern day German language came about. Writers published in the new German language even though they were not required to. I feel that they were being used as stepping stones for the language to grow. The writers felt that they needed to spread the new German language in order for it to expand and be used by many others.

The German people are shown having great national identity during a rally

Hagen Schulze also stated on page 89 that the German elite had finally started to feel a sense of national identity. The elites had become more educated and they had created a national language. They are creating their own culture and finding their own collective identity. Although the German elite had begun to feel a sense of national identity, only 20,000 people of Germany participated in the national discourse of 1770. This amount of participants was estimated by Friedrich Nicolai. Despite the growth of a national identity, the German nation only existed at this time through language and culture. The sense of culture in Germany during this time I feel was derived from the growth of education and the creation of a collective language. I found this creation of German identity and the German language very interesting because I have always wondered how it came about. There are many similarities between the German language and other languages so I had always wondered how it was created.

The political order in Germany and Europe was decided and agreed upon at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The individual political order was left up to the various regions whether they wanted to take the conservative path or the liberal path. Schulze also described in his book that a group of student gathered at Wartburg and decided adopted their own tricolor or black, red, and gold.  They chose these colors to match a volunteer corps in Germany. This stuck out to me while I was reading because of the involvement that the youth had in the early politics of Germany. They gathered in a castle and decided a tricolor to match a volunteer corps. I don’t feel that a group of early Americans would do something like this. This shows that even back hundreds of years ago, the youth in Germany was involved in what was going on in their political world. Also, allowing the individual regions to whether they wanted the political ideal to be conservative or liberal shows faith in their people. The leaders did not force a certain way of life upon the people of Germany, but in fact allowed them to decide which one they preferred.

The tricolor of black, red, and gold which makes up the flag of Germany

Reading these chapters has given me a better understanding of how the standardized German language came about. It also informed me of how the smaller regions and dialects influenced the national identity and language. I look forward to utilizing my knowledge of the German language when we are traveling the north eastern region of the country.