Editing Germans (section)

==Language==
[[File:Legal statuses of German in Europe.svg|thumb|right|
The [[German language]] in Europe:
<small>{{legend|#ffcc00|'''German''' '''''[[Sprachraum]]''''': German is the official language (de jure or de facto) and first language of most of the population.}}
{{legend|#d98575|German is a co-official language but not the first language of most of the population.}}
{{legend|#7373d9|German (or a German dialect) is a legally recognized minority language (squares: geographic distribution too dispersed/small for map scale).}}
{{legend|#30efe3|German (or a variety of German) is spoken by a sizeable minority but has no legal recognition.}}</small>]]
{{Main|German language}}
{{Further|Geographical distribution of German speakers}}
[[German language|German]] is the native language of most Germans, and historically many northern Germans spoke the closely related language [[Low German]]. The German language is the key marker of German ethnic identity.{{sfn|Haarmann|2015|p=313}}{{sfn|Moser|2011|p=172}} German and Low German are [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] languages closely related to [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Frisian languages]] (in particular [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]] and [[Saterland Frisian language|Saterland Frisian]]), [[Luxembourgish]], and [[English language|English]].{{sfn|Haarmann|2015|p=313}} Modern [[Standard German]] is based on [[High German languages|High German]] and [[Central German]], and is the first or second language of most Germans, but notably not the [[Volga Germans]].{{sfn|Minahan|2000|p=288}}