German orthography
Compound words, including nouns, are written together, e.g. "Haustür" (Haus+Tür; house door), "Tischlampe" (Tisch+Lampe; table lamp), "Kaltwasserhahn" (Kalt+Wasser+Hahn; cold water tap/faucet). This can lead to long words: the longest word in regular use, "Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften" ("legal protection insurance companies"), consists of 39 letters; while the longest German word ever published ("Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft", "Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services") has 79 letters.
Northern Germany
Although from the 19th century onwards the use of Standard German was strongly promoted especially by the Prussian administration, Low German dialects are still present in rural areas, with an estimated number of five to eight million active speakers. However, since World War II and the immigration of expellees from the former eastern territories of Germany, its prevalence has steadily reduced. Besides which, Frisian is spoken in East and North Frisia, as well as Danish (Standard and South Jutlandic) in parts of Schleswig. From a linguistic and cultural perspective, Northern Germany is linked to the Netherlands, Scandinavia and England. For example, the German word for butcher is "Fleischer" or "Metzger" in the middle, east or south of Germany but is called a "Schlachter" in Northern Germany, resembling the Scandinavian terms for butcher, "slagter/slakter". Other examples are the word for potato, which is "Erdapfel" in much of Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but "Kartoffel" in Northern Germany and in Danish; the North German verb "kieken" (meaning to look), resembling the Danish "kikke/kigge", or Norwegian "kikke" (to look); or the word for the fruit orange, which is "Orange" in standard German, but "Apfelsine" in Northern Germany, similarly to the Dutch ("appelsien/Sinaasappel"), Frisian ("aapelsiin") and Scandinavian languages ("appelsin/apelsin"). Additionally, Jansen/Janssen, Hansen, and Petersen are the most common surnames in the far north of Germany (Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein), which are also some of the most common surnames in Denmark (albeit with "Jensen" for Jansen). Hansen is the single most common surname in Norway, the third most common surname in Denmark, and the third and fifth most common surname in the North German federal states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, respectively.