79-461: The Rheineck–Walzenhausen mountain railway ( German : Bergbahn Rheineck–Walzenhausen ; RhW) is a 1.9 kilometres (1.18 mi) long rack railway in Switzerland . It links Rheineck station , in the municipality of Rheineck and the canton of St Gallen , with the village and health resort of Walzenhausen , in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden . Passenger service on the line now forms part of
158-460: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
237-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
316-587: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
395-514: A 153 m (502 ft 0 in) long iron bridge over the Hexenkirchlitobel ravine. Finally it enters the terminus through a 70 m (229 ft 8 in) long tunnel under the Kurhaus. The S26 operates one or two return journeys per hour, depending on the time of day, with a single journey time of 9 minutes. Service is provided by the line's single four-wheeled railcar, BDeh 1/2 1. If this
474-447: A bicycle wagon is used to transport bicycles. There is no longer freight traffic on the line, with the exception of AB's own construction trains, as the main customers Starrag and Wolfhalden grain mill have ceased to exist. During the reorganization of Swiss freight traffic, many service points with a lower volume of goods, including all of the RHB, were discontinued. The motor car BDeh 3/6 25
553-457: A concession allowing the construction of a branch of its line of km. 2,666 to a quarry in the "Chrennen" (then "Krinnen") near Wienacht. For this purpose, a new track with a length of about 250 m was laid, which became an integral part of the entire railway system. Since 1930 the line has been electrified with the same power system as the SBB network, with single-phase alternating current 15,000 volts and
632-636: A contract from the Appenzell Railways to supply a fully automated rack-and-adhesion railcar for use on the line. The car will operate with no staff on board, but a control room will be able to intervene by remote control if required. The automation project, including the price of the car, will cost SFr 25m and is scheduled to be in use in 2026. 47°27′34″N 9°35′47″E / 47.45938°N 9.59651°E / 47.45938; 9.59651 German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
711-556: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
790-453: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
869-679: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
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#1732869956774948-516: A rack-and-pinion line to Rorschach. After receiving the concession in January 1874, construction work began in the spring of the same year. After a year and a half of construction, the line was finished. It was built in such a way that an extension to Trogen was possible. That was specified by the Swiss Federal Assembly. The line was opened on 6 September 1875. The entire route was 7,163 m long at
1027-475: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1106-551: A station) and ends in the municipality of Heiden . S25 Rorschach Hafen – Rorschach – Heiden There is an hourly service, the S25 of St. Gallen S-Bahn , between Rorschach Hafen and Heiden . The S25 is also part of the Bodensee S-Bahn . The schedule in the early morning differs from those after 9:00 a.m. In the summer, steam-powered services are also offered. The historic summer wagons are used in regular operation;
1185-688: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
1264-580: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1343-596: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
1422-546: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
1501-521: Is at an altitude of 794 metres. The trains to Heiden start from Rorschach Hafen station, initially following a piece of the Romanshorn–Rorschach railway line operated by SBB to Rorschach station and from there the route towards St. Margrethen to the junction. The route runs through the local municipalities (communes) of Rorschacherberg (Seebleiche, Sandbüchel), Thal (Wartensee), Lutzenberg (Wienacht-Tobel), Heiden (Schwendi) and Grub (without
1580-472: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
1659-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
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#17328699567741738-520: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
1817-595: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
1896-559: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
1975-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2054-587: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
2133-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
2212-510: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
2291-566: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
2370-595: Is unavailable for any reason, a substitute bus service is provided. A bus service links Walzenhausen with the upper station of the Rorschach–Heiden railway at Heiden , thus providing the opportunity for a round trip via both mountain railways. The final link between Rorschach and Rheineck can be achieved using the St. Margrethen–Rorschach line, or by ship on Lake Constance . S26 Rheineck – Walzenhausen In September 2022, Stadler Rail announced that it had won
2449-481: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
Rheineck–Walzenhausen mountain railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
2528-673: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
2607-627: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
2686-522: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
2765-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
2844-514: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
2923-724: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
3002-644: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
3081-545: The Riggenbach rack system and is part of Appenzeller Bahnen . The 7 km (4.3 mi) route links Rorschach with Heiden . The line is popular with tourists for its scenic views over Lake Constance . During the summer months, it is operated with old open coaches. The separate RHB line starts a half a kilometre east of Rorschach station, shortly after it branches off from the Chur–Rorschach railway line belonging to
3160-640: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
3239-536: The St. Gallen S-Bahn , branded as the S26 . The S26 is also part of the Bodensee S-Bahn . The line is owned and operated by the Appenzell Railways company, which also operates several other railway lines in the two Appenzell cantons. The concession for the construction of a rail link between Rheineck and Walzenhausen was granted in 1889. The Drahtseilbahn-Gesellschaft Rheineck-Walzenhausen company started construction in 1895 and
Rheineck–Walzenhausen mountain railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3318-536: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
3397-503: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
3476-462: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
3555-402: The 1950s the funicular was showing from its age, and it was finally closed on 1 May 1958 as the result of a broken axle. That year work commenced on the conversion of the funicular to a rack railway , using the Riggenbach rack system but retaining the funicular track gauge of 1,200 mm ( 3 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 4 in ). The connecting tramway was regauged and connected to
3634-714: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
3713-718: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
3792-524: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
3871-447: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
3950-675: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
4029-646: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
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#17328699567744108-845: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
4187-507: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
4266-542: The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). The property line is exactly at kilometre 64.41483. The entry signal from Heiden into the Rorschach train station is at kilometre 64.476. This position is often incorrectly stated as the property limit, but in fact it is the operational limit. The property line between SBB and AB and the zero point of the kilometers in the direction of Heiden are behind the SBB depot, directly in front of
4345-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
4424-452: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
4503-435: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
4582-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
4661-417: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
4740-414: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Rorschach%E2%80%93Heiden railway The Rorschach–Heiden railway ( German : Rorschach-Heiden-Bahn , RHB) is a railway line and former railway company in Switzerland . It is a standard gauge mountain rack railway , using
4819-465: The line opened on 27 June 1896. As constructed, the line was a water operated funicular railway that linked the current upper station at Walzenhausen with a lower station at Ruderbach, some 0.7 kilometres (0.43 mi) short of Rheineck station. In 1909, a connecting tram line was opened, initially operated by a gasolene powered tram and later electrified. The owning company would subsequently change its name to Bergbahn Rheineck-Walzenhausen AG . By
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#17328699567744898-448: The line operates using rail adhesion . The height difference between the terminal stations is 272 m (892 ft 5 in), and the maximum gradient is 25 % . The S26 service starts from its own terminus, located on platform 1 of Rheineck's main line railway station . For about the first 600 m (1,968 ft 6 in) the line parallels the Swiss Federal Railway 's Chur–Rorschach railway , before bearing right and crossing
4977-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
5056-455: The new rack railway, although retaining its adhesion operation, and the resulting line was electrified at 600 V DC . To operate the new line, a single four-wheeled railcar, BDeh 1/2 1, was built in 1958. In 2006 the Bergbahn Rheineck-Walzenhausen AG company was merged into the Appenzell Railways . The 1958-built car remains the only rolling stock on the line, and in 2014 was given a full overhaul, returning to work in May of that year. During
5135-423: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
5214-406: The overhaul period, the line was replaced by a bus service. The route is 1.9 kilometres (1.18 mi) in length, has a track gauge of 1,200 mm ( 3 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 4 in ) and is electrified using a supply at 600 V DC , supplied by overhead line . Approximately 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) of the line is equipped with the Riggenbach rack system , whist the rest of
5293-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
5372-447: The road on a level crossing to reach the stop at Ruderbach. The station building here incorporates the line's single track depot, accessed via the line's only set of points . Here the line joins the route of its funicular predecessor, and engages rack operation. The remainder of the line climbs at a steep gradient in a straight line to Walzenhausen , passing first through a 315 m (1,033 ft 6 in) long tunnel, and then across
5451-405: The start of operations, 5,784 m of which were owned by the railway company. The construction costs of the line amounted to CHF 2,225,000, the costs for the rolling stock amounted to CHF 218,200. At the beginning, the railway company had three steam locomotives, nine passenger cars with a total capacity of 400 people and eight freight cars with a total capacity of 56 t. In 1897 the company was issued
5530-492: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
5609-449: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
5688-491: The three cogwheel railways of the Appenzeller Bahnen from Rorschach Hafen to Heiden, from Altstätten Stadt to Gais, and from Rheineck to Walzenhausen should continue to operate. In particular, a switch to bus operation or fully automatic operation is up for discussion. The first efforts to establish a rail connection to the village of Heiden began in 1871. Early plans for an adhesion railway were soon discarded in favour of
5767-594: The two points in the Appenzeller Bahnen parking facility. The rack also begins immediately after the two switches. The gradient that begins afterwards is on average 91 ‰, the maximum value is 93.6‰. Above Wienacht Tobel, the route is a little flatter and only reaches 79.6‰. The route continues via the stations at Seebleiche, Sandbüchel, Wartensee, Wienacht-Tobel and Schwendi bei Heiden to Heiden. All intermediate stations are request-only stops. The terminal station in Heiden
5846-543: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
5925-579: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
6004-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
6083-530: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
6162-485: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
6241-560: Was repaired between September 2009 to May 2010 in the main workshop of the Rhaetian Railway in Landquart. It was repainted in the current colors and given the AB logo. The Rorschach-Heiden-Bergbahn is included in the "Ostwind" fare zone system. Due to declining frequencies and a cost recovery rate of less than 30%, the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and St. Gallen are considering whether
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