Since the eighties of the last century, the Institut für Deutsche Sprache (Institute for
the German Language) explored in various ways the attitudes of the German population
towards the national language in Germany. Aft er limited studies without statistical
relevance, two representative surveys were conducted in 1997/98 and 2008/09. Th e
questions asked concerned attitudes toward recent developments of the language, the regional
variance of German, despecially the East- and West-Geman variants, and towards
foreign languages inside and outside of the country. Th e major statitical results are presented
and discussed.
