Jason Chen

Language Diversity Map

Location
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Country: Germany
City: Berlin

For my individual project, I chose to work on the city of Berlin in Germany on

language diversity because of its recent history and involvement in World War II, as
well as its acceptance of refugees, its geographic location, and the well-developed
European Rail. If Germany is one of the places in the world that are most likely to
accept refugees, then there should be many people who speak different languages.
The data of the key on the map indicates language diversity in the given area. Data
that is 0 means that everyone in the country speak the same language. Data that is
1 represents a country where no two people speak the same language.

LOCAL SCALE MAP LANGUAGE DIVERSITY

The aftermath of Germanys involvement in World War II made the country become
more diverse in language. Both Western and Eastern influences had heavily
impacted Germany as the country was divided into West and East and controlled by
English and Russian speaking governments, respectively. Even though Germany
regained its independence and demolished the wall in Germany that divided the two
sides, the language and influence from the previous governments remain.

Jason Chen
REGIONAL SCALE MAP LANGUAGE DIVERSITY

Germany is located in the middle of the European nations. Its neighboring countries
such as France, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland and Italy all have their own
distinctive language. It is natural for a country to trade with its neighbors, and so
understanding foreign language is critical in the survival and development of
Germany (from an economic standpoint). From the map, we are able to see that

REGIONAL MAP ASLYUM SEEKERS

Jason Chen
There is a positive correlation with countries that accept more refugees and their
language diversity. Germany for example, was able to maintain the different
languages brought over to them by refugees from all over the world. The map data
is dated in 2013, and from the current world problem, they might just add Arabic to
their list of language diversity from the Syrian refugees.

This is a map of Europes rail system (as retrieved from Centre for Travel
(www.centrefortravel.com)

I believe that the European railway plays a big role in the language diversity of the
Germans because it is well connected throughout every major European country
and city. This well developed and advanced means of transportation makes it easier
for people of different European country to travel around. This promotes not only
the spread of language but cultural in general.

In conclusion, Germany is absolutely diverse in language because of its

geographical location, involvement in World War II, the use of European rail, and its
acceptance of asylum seeking refugees.

Jason Chen

Citation

Centre For Travel. www.centrefortravel.com N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

NatGeo Mapmaker Interactive." NatGeo Mapmaker Interactive. N.p., n.d. Web. 28

Sept. 2015.