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If a determination of the Germani is possible at all, then it should be done chiefly as a group that shared a language, a language that was constantly changing from within. Certainly, how little a common language can provide a common identity can be seen from examples taken from the present: Even though a common language and a common history exists between Germany and Austria, the Austrians see themselves as belonging to an independent nation. In Switzerland, on the other hand, people who speak different languages form one nation. And on the Balkan peninsula, Serbs, Croatians and Bosnians, who speak closely related languages, are bitter enemies.

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