The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. (Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt.)
As well as in Germany, German is the main (or one of the main) languages in Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Belgium. There are roughly 97 million first-language speakers, in at least 44 different territories. It has the largest number of first-language speakers in Western Europe. There are sizeable populations in the United States, France, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Namibia, Poland, Canada, Hungary, and Argentina.
There is a variety of German dialects, ranging from High German (Hochdeutsch) to Low German (Plattdeutsch) in the north of Germany.