The (, "Council for German Orthography" or "Council for German Spelling"), or , is the main international body regulating Standard High German

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

. With its seat being in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the RdR was formed in 2004 as a successor to the ("Intergovernmental Commission for German Orthography") in order to include both supporters and opponents of the

German orthography reform of 1996 The German orthography reform of 1996 (') was a change to German spelling and punctuation that was intended to simplify German orthography and thus to make it easier to learn, without substantially changing the rules familiar to users of the lan ...

(and subsequent reforms). Currently the RdR is composed of 41 members from those states and regions in the German Sprachraum: * : chairman (no voting right) and 18 councillors * : 9 councillors * : 9 councillors * (

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

): 1 councillor * : 1 councillor * (

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

): 1 councillor * : 1 observer (no voting right) Despite having German as one of its official languages,

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, which was not involved in devising the reform of 1996, is not a full member of the council. The government of Luxembourg unilaterally adopted the reform. According to the duchy's largest newspaper, the , Luxembourg does not perceive itself as a "German-speaking country" (the only national language is

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officiall ...

) and thus had no right to take part in the council. Despite this, Luxembourg takes part in the annual meetings of German-speaking countries. Furthermore, Luxembourg participates in and has members in the , despite French being only a co-official language, just like German. The chairman of the () is a member of the council. In 2003, the RdR, the GfdS, the and the Institute of the German Language, founded the German Language Council ('), which was later also joined by the

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organisa ...

(DAAD).

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* {{Authority control Language regulators German orthography 2004 establishments in Germany Mannheim Organizations established in 2004

See also

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