German (Deutsch) is, alongside with English and Dutch, a West Germanic language. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers.
German is spoken is spoken primarily in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Italian Province of  Bolzano-Bozen, in the East Cantons of Belgium and  in the French Alsace.
Standard German differs regionally, between German-speaking countries, in vocabulary and some instances of pronunciation, and even grammar and orthography. Therefore, German is considered a pluricentric language.

Simple rules for reading:
Most of the words in German are pronounced as they are written; the stress usually falls on the first syllable, however, there are numerous exceptions.
The modern German alphabet is a Latin-based alphabet consisting of 26 letters – the same letters that are found in the Basic modern Latin alphabet, as well as 3 umlauts (Ä, Ü, Ö) and on ligature (ß), which is called eszett or scharfes s (sharp s). (please see table).
The German language mainly uses 3 diphthongs:
- ei as in English “why” (Eier, eggs, 43)
- au as in English “now” (Hause, house, 55)
- eu as in English “loin” (Feuer, fire, 39)
 Furthermore, ui is used in interjections (e.g. pfui (for sth dirty)

Furthermore, the following letters show a distinctive pronunciation:
- ch:
Ich-Laut [ç] (after ä, ai, äu, e, ei, eu, i, ö, ü and consonants.
(Kirche, church, 53)
Ach-Laut [x] (after a, au, o, u).
(Gute Nacht, Good Night, 18)

-sch as in English „show“ (Schule, school, 26/7)
-sp combination of sch+p (Speck, bacon, 43) 
-st combination of sch+t (Stunde, hour, 26)

-h is not pronounced after a long vowel (Uhr, 20)