* English: While English has borrowed many words from French and Latin, it shares a substantial core vocabulary with German. Many words are cognates, meaning they have a common ancestor.
* Dutch: Dutch is considered the language closest to German. They share similar grammar, vocabulary, and even pronunciation.
* Afrikaans: A language descended from Dutch, spoken primarily in South Africa, also has significant similarities to German.
* Swedish, Norwegian, Danish: While these languages belong to the North Germanic branch, they also share common roots with German and have some similarities in vocabulary and grammar.
Beyond Germanic Languages:
While less obvious, German also shares some connections with other languages due to its history and influence:
* Yiddish: A Germanic language primarily spoken by Jewish communities, has significant vocabulary overlap with German.
* Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak: These Slavic languages, influenced by German during periods of history, share some vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Note: The extent of similarity varies between languages. While English and German have a recognizable core vocabulary, the grammar is quite different. Dutch is closer to German in both vocabulary and grammatical structure.