Standard German (German: Standarddeutsch, colloquially also
German: ''Hochdeutsch'') is the standard variety of the German
language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for
communication between different dialect areas. Since German is a
pluricentric language, there are different varieties of Standard
German. Standard German has originated not as a traditional
dialect of a specific region, but as a written language,
developed over a process of several hundred years, in which
writers tried to write in a way that was understood in the
largest area. Until about 1800 Standard German was almost
entirely a written language. In this time, people in northern
Germany, who spoke Low Saxon dialects very different from
Standard German, learnt it almost like a foreign language. Later
the Northern pronunciation (of Standard German) was considered
standard and spread southward; in some regions (such as around
Hanover) the local dialect completely died out. It is thus the
spread of Standard German as a languag