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A little bit about language names in other languages. 



In English, language names can function as adjectives, 
nouns, and perhaps even as adverbs, without changing form.
But in other languages, the name may change form in 
accordance with its grammatical function in the sentence.  
For example, the language known, in English, as "German", 
is known, in the following languages, as:
                      I*     /    II*       /    III*                /  IV*     
in Chinese:        ??
in Czech:          němčina   / --           / německý jazyk
in Danish:         tysk      / tyske        / det tyske sprog
in Dutch:          Duits     / het Duits    / de Duitse taal
in English:        German    / the German** / the German language
in Estonian:       --        / --           / saksa keel
in Finnish:        saksa     / --           / saksa kieli
in French:         allemand  / l'allemand   / la langue allemande
in German:         Deutsch   / das Deutsch  / die deutsche Sprache
in Hungarian:      német     / --           / a német nyelv
in Icelandic:      þýsk      / þýska        / hin þýsk tunga
in Italian:        tedesco   / il tedesco   / la lingua tedesca
in Japanese:       doitsu-go / --           /  --
in Latvian:        vācu      / --           / vācu valodas
in Lithuanian:     vókiečių  / --           / vókiečių kalb          /  vókiskai
in Norwegian:      tysk      / tyske        / det tyske språk
in Polish:         niemecki  / --           / język niemecki
in Portuguese:     alemão    / o alemão     / a lingua alemã
in Russian:        немецкий  / --           / немецкий язык
in Slovak:         ??        / --           / nemecký jazyk
in Slovenian:      nemščina  / --           / ??
in Spanish:        alemán    / el alemán    / la lengua alemana
in Swedish:        tysk      / tyska        / det tyska språket
in Turkish:        Almanca   / --           / --
_____________________________________________________________________________
                      I      /    II        /    III               /  IV     

I   = name as a noun without article 
II  = name as a noun with definite article
III = name as an adjective, or genitive noun, in the phrase "(the) X language"
IV  = name as an adverb (Only a few languages have this form)

Notice that in Lithuanian, there is an adverbial form for the language name. (This adverbial form may exist in some of the Slavic languages as well, and perhaps in other languages.) This adverb is in fact the form used colloquially in contemporary Lithuanian. To ask a Lithuanian whether they can speak German, you would ask "Ar kalbate vókiskai", and they would likely answer either "Aš kalbù vókiskai" or "Aš nekalbù vókiskai" -- which literally means something like, "I can/cannot speak the German way", but which of course really means "I can/cannot speak German".






About English usage of form II (the example, here, being, the phrase, "the German"): This usage of the language name as a noun, with a lone definite article, is becoming obsolete in English. Many native speakers of English are not familiar with any usage in which a phrase like "the German" can mean "the German language". When they hear or see that usage, they interpret it always to mean "the German man" or "...woman", or "...child" etc.. Yet, there are, still, certain situations in which it does mean "the German language". For example, books translated from other languages may include a statement on the title page, saying something like "Translated from the German" which most definitely means "Translated from the German language" (or the French language or the Spanish language, or whichever language is named).