Low German (Plattdüütsch) or Low Saxon is a language that is widely spoken in the north-west of Germany and in the east of the Netherlands (where it is called Nedersaksies). It is a West-Germanic language from the Indo-European language family. Low German/Saxon belongs together with Dutch and German to the language continuum of the continental West-Germanic languages.
Low German/Saxon has many different dialect forms and originates from Old Saxon.
In Germany and the Netherlands, Low German/Low Saxon is recognised as a regional language, which is spoken in the north of Germany by approximately 10 million people in addition to the High German standard language – mainly in the private domain. The same is the case for approximately 1.8 million people in the Netherlands who speak it in addition to the Dutch standard language.
Low German/Low Saxon has been an important written language, used in official documents and legislation. The Low German from the Hanseatic city of Lübeck has been the lingua franca of the North and Baltic Sea area for a long time. At the end of the 16th century, however, it was replaced as a written language by High German and Dutch and with the industrialisation it was also no longer used in church, school, politics, literature and science.
Just like Dutch, Low German/Low Saxon did not experience the second Germanic consonant shift of the consonants [p,t,k] to [pf, ts, ch]. For example compare Low German Pip and Central and South German Pfeife; dat and das; maken and machen).
Low German-speakers in Germany (10.000.000 Speaker)
Low German-speakers in Netherlands (1.800.000 Speaker)