What is this font called , I thought that in German it's called "Gotisch" but a Google search proved me wrong.
Also, whats a good way to learn how to read it?
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3Well, the historic record indicates that it was used by the Goths! ;-)– Peter - Reinstate MonicaCommented Jul 15 at 9:41
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Googling "German font" yields the answer: Fraktur.– Toivo SäwénCommented Jul 16 at 20:05
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3 Answers
It's called "Fraktur" in German, or more general, "gebrochene Druckschrift", while in English it's often called Gothic print.
Wikipedia has letter tables that you can use to learn it. The most peculiar features to know about it are the 'long s' (ſ) that looks like an f on first look, the forms of k and z, and a number of capital letters that are quite different from Antiqua (the usual latin letters we use today).
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9It's also called Fraktur in English. A related term is blackletter, which includes similar typefaces. It's not a specifically German typeface by the way, but it's associated with German because it was still used for German text until the middle of the 20th century. It's still used occasionally for certain mathematical symbols, in particular for Lie algebras. For reading it, it really helps to know German so you can fill in the hard to read letters from context.– RDBuryCommented Jul 15 at 3:17
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2@Peter-ReinstateMonica: I actually think this is a typesetting error, the typesetter got confused and set an A instead of a U in "Ueber". The U is normally clearly wider at the top than the A, you can see that in the smaller print.– HalvarFCommented Jul 15 at 12:45
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2@RDBury: Fraktur was the dominant typeface in German-speaking countries (although its use was waning) until it was finally forbidden by the Nazis. Lookup the "Bormann-Erlaß" from 1941, see for instance: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiqua-Fraktur-Streit In view of that it is tragically funny that Neonazis like to use the oh-so-Gerrmann Fraktur typeface. (On the other hand: being able to think straight perhaps prevents becoming a Nazi anyway.)– bakuninCommented Jul 15 at 12:50
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1@bakunin No; umlauted capitals are not used here; rather, the plain capital vowel followed by e are used, e.g. Ueber.– Rosie FCommented Jul 15 at 15:44
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1@bakunin Looks like a smudge to me. Also, the whole headline is repeated in the table of contents ("Inhalt" ), and there you can also see that there's quite a difference between A and U. On the other hand, the announcement at the very top about the subscriptions has the words "Abonnement" and "Unterbrechung", and now I'm kind of unsure again about which way the typo went in the headline. Could also be both U, depending on the font.– HalvarFCommented Jul 15 at 17:55
Here's the Fraktur - Wikpedia Entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraktur I think the main letters that cause some confusion are:
k -> looks like "f" (+ extra line)
s -> looks like "f" (no cross)
x -> looks like "r" (+ extra line)
y -> looks like "g" or "n"
g -> looks like "y"
z -> looks like "3"
A -> looks like "U" (sometimes)
P -> looks like "B" (sometimes)
I -> Looks like "J" (sometimes)
This will all depend on the which specific fraktur font you're looking at.
The other answers explain the key differences to modern fonts, so I just wanted to focus on the 'how do I learn to read it' part.
The key question is whether you can read modern German in a modern font?
If so, the easiest way to learn to read Fraktur is just to practice reading it because you can fill in most differences to modern fonts from context. Note also that the texts you are reading were written at least around 100 years ago, so the language and spelling can be somewhat archaic as well. But in summary I would say any native German speaker can read Fraktur and with a little practice it would be almost as fast as a modern font.
If you can't read modern German, this is way harder and I would suggest some kind of automated translation to English. Possibly multiple steps are needed, first a text recognition software (that knows German and Fraktur fonts) and then a translation software. Where the translation doesn't make sense you probably need a careful word for word study.
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1Since nearly 10% of our population is analphabetic, not any german speaker can read it. If you account for people with IQ below average, I would expect that the majority can't read it. And I don't understand how an automated translation to English and text recognition software may help in learning to read it. Commented Jul 16 at 0:02
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1@userunknown: You're just making stuff up. (i) "Germany has a 99% literacy rate for people over the age of 15" (according to CountryReports). (ii) "Analphabetic" means you don't even know the alphabet; so there are even fewer analphabetes than illiterates.– TonyKCommented Jul 16 at 0:29
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1@TonyK ardalpha.de/wissen/… schreibt: "Aber auch in Deutschland gibt es viele Erwachsene ohne ausreichende Lese- und Schreibfertigkeiten: 6,2 Millionen Deutsch sprechende Menschen im Alter zwischen 18 und 64 Jahren sind Analphabeten - jeder achte in dieser Altersgruppe. Das geht aus der Studie "LEO 2018 - Leben mit geringer Literalität" der Universität Hamburg hervor." Commented Jul 16 at 1:53
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1@userunknown: That is a (deliberate?) falsehood from ARD alpha. The referenced study LEO 2018 - Leben mit geringer Literalität says: "...dass es in Deutschland rund 6,2 Millionen Erwachsene gibt, deren Lese- und Schreibkompetenzen für eine volle berufliche, gesellschaftliche und politische Teilhabe nicht ausreichen". This is not what "illiterate" or "analphabetic" mean.– TonyKCommented Jul 16 at 2:05
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@TonyK: this is not a "falsehood", it is just saying it in different words. If something is "not ausreichen(d)" it doesn't really matter how much not ausreichend it is. If - as an example - you die from starving it won't matter if the starvation results from too little food or no food at all. Dead is dead.– bakuninCommented Jul 16 at 7:15