DIN 5009

The German national standard DIN 5009 “Word and information processing for office applications — Announcing and dictating of text and characters” by Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) provides rules for the spoken announcement of texts to be written afterwards. In addition to the classic phono dictation, it specifically supports oral communication about names and texts that have to be written down correctly (e.g. on the telephone).^[1]

It also specifies German names for numerous script and special characters, which are important not only for oral communication but also for written teaching material.^[1] These are mostly listed in a supplement which was published together with the 2022 edition of the standard.^[2]

The standard contains the German spelling alphabet. As the former version was criticized for the changes made by the Nazis in 1934, who purged all names which sound “Jewish”, and as these were restored only partially in the 1950 version, in 2019 the responsible DIN committee decided to create a new spelling alphabet consisting mainly of city names instead of person names,^[3][4] which has been published in the 2022 version of the standard.

Table

Letter	Code word (1983)[5]	Code word (2022)[6]
A	Anton	Aachen
Ä	Ärger	Umlaut Aachen
B	Berta	Berlin
C	Cäsar	Chemnitz
Ch	Charlotte	-
D	Dora	Düsseldorf
E	Emil	Essen
F	Friedrich	Frankfurt
G	Gustav	Goslar
H	Heinrich	Hamburg
I	Ida	Ingelheim
J	Julius	Jena
K	Kaufmann	Köln
L	Ludwig	Leipzig
M	Martha	München
N	Nordpol	Nürnberg
O	Otto	Offenbach
Ö	Ökonom	Umlaut Offenbach
P	Paula	Potsdam
Q	Quelle	Quickborn
R	Richard	Rostock
S	Samuel	Salzwedel
Sch	Schule	-
ẞ	Eszett	Eszett
T	Theodor	Tübingen
U	Ulrich	Unna
Ü	Übermut	Umlaut Unna
V	Viktor	Völklingen
W	Wilhelm	Wuppertal
X	Xanthippe	Xanten
Y	Ypsilon	Ypsilon
Z	Zacharias	Zwickau

Revisions

• DIN 5009:1983-06
• DIN 5009:1996-12
• DIN 5009:2022-06

References

1. DIN 5009: Text-und Informationsverarbeitung für Büroanwendungen – Ansagen und Diktieren von Texten und Schriftzeichen (Word and information processing for office applications – Announcing and dictating of texts and characters), Beuth Verlag, 13 May 2022, requires a subscription
2. DIN 5009 Beiblatt 1: Text-und Informationsverarbeitung für Büroanwendungen – Ansagen und (Diktieren von Texten und Schriftzeichen – Beiblatt 1: Ansage, Benennung und Tastatureingabe von Sonderbuchstaben und Sonderzeichen) (Word and information processing for office applications – Announcing and dictating of texts and characters – Supplement 1: Announcing, naming and keyboard input of special letters and characters), Beuth Verlag, 13 May 2022, requires a subscription
3. DIN, ed. (13 May 2022). "Von Aachen bis Zwickau – DIN 5009 mit neuer Buchstabiertafel auf Basis von Städtenamen veröffentlicht" [From Aachen to Zwickau – DIN 5009 published with a new spelling table based on city names] (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-09-18. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
4. DIN, ed. (13 May 2022). "Buchstabiertafel nach DIN 5009" [Spelling table according to DIN 5009] (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-09-18. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
5. "Buchstabieralphabet deutsch: Eine Liste nach DIN 5009" (in German). Berlin: Focus. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
6. DIN, ed. (13 May 2022). "Von Aachen bis Zwickau – DIN 5009 mit neuer Buchstabiertafel auf Basis von Städtenamen veröffentlicht" (in German). Retrieved 12 December 2024.