What is the equivalent level of German B1?

German B1 is equivalent to the intermediate level in the European Framework of Reference for Languages ??(CEFR).

Introduction to German:

German (German: Deutsch; English: German language) belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Germanic family of the Indo-European language family. Its standard form is called Standard German (Standard Deutsch), is the official language of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano in Italy, and is written in the Latin alphabet.

The number of speakers of German accounts for about 3% of the world's population. It is the sixth-ranked language in the world in terms of the number of countries where it is spoken. It is also one of the languages ??of the world's major powers and the most widely used mother tongue in the European Union.

Basic information:

September 2015 data from the European Language Management Center shows that there are nearly 177 million German speakers and German learners around the world, including 95 million native speakers. With 12 million second language speakers and as many as 70 million foreign language learners, it is one of the most commonly learned foreign languages ??in the world. The formation of German Standard *** can be traced back to Martin Luther's translation of the Latin Bible.

Most German words originate from the Germanic languages ??of the Indo-European family of languages, with some words coming from Latin and Greek, and some from French and English. There is a huge gap between the various German dialects, including dozens of dialects in the two branches of High German and Low German; the vocabulary and grammar are different, and they cannot communicate with each other.

High German is distributed in the Alps and the adjacent mountainous areas of southern Germany. Low German is mainly distributed in the coastal areas of northern Germany. Low German is usually divided into East Low German, Low Saxon and Low Frank. The German word Hochdeutsch is often used to refer to Standard German rather than to the dialects of High German.

Historical evolution:

In the early Middle Ages, the word German appeared for the first time. Its root comes from the Germanic word people thioda, and the adjective thiodisk means that this is a language used by ordinary people and civilians. In contrast, the senior classes of the Franks at that time generally used Frankish Latin, which later evolved into French.

German was not a unified language at that time. It was a general name for many regional dialects. In the Middle Ages, due to the separation of the princes in Germany and the inconvenience of transportation, the development of various German dialects varied greatly.

Although there have been attempts to establish a homogeneous language, they are generally limited to various regions and are only used among certain classes. For example, Low German in North Germany became the common language for local business in the coastal areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea when the Hanseatic League was at its peak.