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Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache

Logo: GfdS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

German government-sponsored language society

The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (German pronunciation: Association for the German Language), or GfdS, is a language society sponsored by the German Government. Its headquarters are in Wiesbaden. Re-founded shortly after the Second World War in 1947, the GfdS is politically independent and the declared successor of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Sprachverein (ADSV), the General Association for the German Language, which had been founded in 1885 in Brunswick.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1947Founded1
  • HeadquartersWiesbaden1
  • Websitegfds.de
  • Legal formRegistered association (eingetragener Verein)1

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The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (German pronunciation: [ɡəˈzɛlʃaft fyːɐ̯ ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈʃpʁaːxə], Association for the German Language), or GfdS, is a language society sponsored by the German Government. Its headquarters are in Wiesbaden. Re-founded shortly after the Second World War in 1947, the GfdS is politically independent and the declared successor of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Sprachverein (ADSV), the General Association for the German Language, which had been founded in 1885 in Brunswick. Its aim is to research and cultivate the German language; to critically evaluate the current German language change; and to give recommendations concerning the current usage of German.2

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The chairman represents the GfdS on the Council for German Orthography (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung). In 2003, both organisations, together with the Goethe-Institut and the Institute of the German Language, founded the German Language Council (Deutscher Sprachrat) which was later also joined by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

The GfdS is connected to various universities and other education institutions with an interest in linguistics, e.g. the German Academy for Language and Poetry and the Institute of the German Language (IDS).

From Wikipedia’s article on Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1947Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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