Editing Germanic languages (section)

===West Germanic languages===
English is an [[official language]] of [[Belize]], Canada, Nigeria, [[Falkland Islands]], [[Saint Helena]], [[Malta]], New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Philippines, Jamaica, [[Dominica]], [[Guyana]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], [[American Samoa]], [[Palau]], [[St. Lucia]], [[Grenada]], [[Barbados]], [[St. Vincent and the Grenadines]], Puerto Rico, [[Guam]], Hong Kong, Singapore, Pakistan, India, [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Namibia]], [[Vanuatu]], the [[Solomon Islands]] and former British colonies in Asia, Africa and Oceania. Furthermore, it is the ''[[de facto]]'' language of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, as well as a recognized language in [[Nicaragua]]<ref>The [[Miskito Coast]] used to be a part of [[British Empire]]</ref> and Malaysia.

German is a language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, [[Liechtenstein]], [[Luxembourg]] and Switzerland; it also has regional status in Italy, Poland, Namibia and Denmark. German also continues to be spoken as a minority language by [[German diaspora|immigrant communities]] in North America, South America, Central America, Mexico and Australia. A German dialect, [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]], is still used among various populations in the American state of [[Pennsylvania]] in daily life. A group of Alemannic German dialects commonly referred to as [[Alsatian dialect|Alsatian]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olcalsace.org/de/definition-der-regionalsprache|title=Office pour la langue et les cultures d'Alsace et de Moselle|website=olcalsace.org|access-date=19 January 2023|archive-date=19 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119191620/https://www.olcalsace.org/de/definition-der-regionalsprache|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://hal.science/hal-02069471/document|access-date=14 July 2021|last=Pierre Vogler|title=Le dialecte alsacien : vers l'oubli|website=hal.science|archive-date=19 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119191619/https://hal.science/hal-02069471/document|url-status=live}}</ref> is spoken in [[Alsace]], part of modern France.

Dutch is an official language of [[Aruba]], Belgium, [[Curaçao]], the Netherlands, [[Sint Maarten]], and [[Suriname]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taalunieversum.org/inhoud/feiten-en-cijfers|title=Feiten en cijfers – Taalunieversum|website=taalunieversum.org|access-date=11 April 2015|archive-date=6 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006231723/http://taalunieversum.org/inhoud/feiten-en-cijfers|url-status=live}}</ref> The Netherlands also [[Dutch Empire|colonized]] [[Netherlands Indies|Indonesia]], but Dutch was scrapped as an official language after [[Indonesian independence]]. Today, it is only used by older or traditionally educated people. Dutch was until 1983 an official language in South Africa but evolved into and was replaced by [[Afrikaans]], a [[mutual intelligibility|partially mutually intelligible]]<ref>Dutch-speakers can understand Afrikaans with some difficulty, but Afrikaans-speakers have a harder time understanding Dutch because of the simplified grammar of Afrikaans, compared to that of Dutch, http://www.let.rug.nl/~gooskens/pdf/publ_litlingcomp_2006b.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200501/http://www.let.rug.nl/~gooskens/pdf/publ_litlingcomp_2006b.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> [[daughter language]] of Dutch.

Afrikaans is one of the 12 [[languages of South Africa|official languages in South Africa]] and is a ''[[lingua franca]]'' of Namibia. It is used in other [[Southern African]] nations, as well.

[[Low German]] is a collection of very diverse dialects spoken in the northeast of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Some dialects like [[East Pomeranian]] have been imported to South America.<ref name="farese">{{Cite web |url=http://www.farese.edu.br/pages/artigos/pdf/ismael/A%20co-oficializa%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20da%20L%20Pomer.pdf |title=A co-oficialização da língua pomerana |access-date=11 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221183002/http://www.farese.edu.br/pages/artigos/pdf/ismael/A%20co-oficializa%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20da%20L%20Pomer.pdf |archive-date=21 December 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Scots is spoken in [[Scottish Lowlands|Lowland]] Scotland and parts of [[Ulster]] (where the local dialect is known as [[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster Scots]]).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CV=1&NA=&PO=999&CN=999&VL=1&CM=9&CL=ENG |title=List of declarations made with respect to treaty No.&nbsp;148 |publisher=Conventions.coe.int |access-date=9 September 2012 |archive-date=9 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709023931/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CV=1&NA=&PO=999&CN=999&VL=1&CM=9&CL=ENG |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Frisian languages|Frisian]] is spoken among half a million people who live on the southern fringes of the [[North Sea]] in the Netherlands and Germany.

Luxembourgish is a [[Moselle Franconian dialects|Moselle Franconian]] dialect that is spoken mainly in the [[Grand Duchy of Luxembourg]], where it is considered to be an official language.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/society-and-culture/languages/introduction-letzebuergesch.html|title=An intro to 'Lëtzebuergesch'|access-date=18 April 2023|language=en|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412141332/https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/society-and-culture/languages/introduction-letzebuergesch.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Similar varieties of Moselle Franconian are spoken in small parts of Belgium, France, and Germany.

Yiddish, once a native language of some 11 to 13 million people, remains in use by some 1.5 million speakers in Jewish communities around the world, mainly in North America, Europe, Israel, and other regions with [[Jewish population by country|Jewish populations]].<ref name=yivo-yiddish>{{cite web |last=Dovid Katz |title=YIDDISH |url=http://yivo.org/downloads/Yiddish.pdf |work=[[YIVO]] |access-date=20 December 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322162722/http://yivo.org/downloads/Yiddish.pdf |archive-date=22 March 2012}}</ref>

Limburgish [[variety (linguistics)|varieties]] are spoken in the [[Province of Limburg (1815–1839)|Limburg]] and [[Rhineland]] regions, along the Dutch–Belgian–German border.