descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren) of germans in other countries are often called "ethnic germans". there are many ethnic germans in belgium, denmark, russia, poland and france. there are also many of them living in the united states brazil and canada. there are about 100 million germans in the world. most germans speak the german language ("hochdeutsch" is standard german) and dialects such as low german and upper german. most people in switzerland and austria are native speakers of the german language.