what countries speak german as a first language?
Canada German Democratic Republic Luxembourg Switzerland Liechtenstein Germany West Germany Belgium Vatican City Second Polish Republic
neutral
 Recognized native minority languages in Germany are Danish , Low German , Sorbian , Romany , and Frisian ; they are officially protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . The most used immigrant languages are Turkish , Kurdish , Polish , the Balkan languages , and Russian . Germans are typically multilingual : 67 % of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27 % in at least two . 

neutral
 German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany . It is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union , and one of the three working languages of the European Commission . German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union , with around 100 million native speakers . 

neutral
 The federal government is obliged to communicate in the official languages , and in the federal parliament simultaneous translation is provided from and into German , French and Italian . 

neutral
 In 2014 , about seven million of Germany 's 81 million residents did not have German citizenship . Ninety @-@ six percent of these people lived in western Germany and mostly in urban areas . 

neutral
 Contemporary reports that Jack Warner had banned the use of the German language throughout the company 's studios were denied by studio representatives who indicated that this move would have prevented scores of studio employees from communicating with each other . 
