delit1-3, Exercise 1: Print, Luther and written German

Model answer (check the details):

Change: printing made books cheaper and more widely available from about 1450, and printers wanted a language that readers in different regions could follow. Luther's New Testament (1522) and Bible (1534) were printed and read very widely, so a single version of written German reached readers in many states and in churches and homes.

Caution about the claim that Luther "created" modern German: a written standard was already forming in the chancelleries and print shops before and during his time, and Luther drew on existing usage, mainly of the Saxon chancery region. His Bible helped to spread and prestige a form of German, but historians see the standard as growing over the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, not appearing at once.

Better wording: "Luther's Bible was a major influence on the development of written German."