German language in the United States


Over 50 million Americans claim German ancestry, which makes them the largest single claimed ethnic group in the United States. Around 1.06 million people in the United States speak the German language. It is the second most spoken language in North Dakota. In 16 states, it is the most spoken language other than English and Spanish.

History

German became the second most widely spoken language in the U.S. starting with mass emigration to Pennsylvania from the German Palatinate and adjacent areas starting in the 1680s, all through the 1700s and to the early 20th century.
It was spoken by millions of immigrants from Germany, Switzerland, and the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires, and their descendants. Many newspapers, churches and schools operated in German as did many businesses. The use of the language was strongly suppressed by social and legal means during World War I, and German declined as a result, limiting the widespread use of the language mainly to Amish, Old Order Mennonite and Hutterite communities. After the First World War, German lost its position as the second most widely spoken language in the United States.

German-language Methodist Church

Around 1800, two German-language Methodist churches were founded, the Vereinigten Brüder in Christo and the Evangelische Gemeinschaft. Both used Methodist hymnals in German and published German newspapers, of which one existed until 1937. From the middle of the 19th century English was used as a second language in the churches, but there were regions in which German was the main church language into the 20th century. In 1937 both churches fused and joined the United Methodist Church in 1968.

German-language press

The first German newspaper in the U.S. was der Hochdeutsch-Pennsylvanische Geschicht-Schreiber, oder Sammlung Wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur- und Kirchen-Reich, later known as die Germantauner Zeitung. It was a German-language paper, Der Pennsylvanische Staatsbote that on July 5, 1776, was the first paper to report the American Declaration of Independence, and it did so in German translation. English readers would have to wait a day later to read the English text in the Pennsylvania Evening Post.
In the 19th century the German press increased in importance and the number of dailies exploded. In 1909 a report stated "every American city or town with a large German population possesses one or more German newspapers. In New York City there are twelve or more... the best... being... the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung. The Illinois Staats-Zeitung has nearly as large a circulation, and the Milwaukee Germania claims the largest circulation of all. The Milwaukee Herold comes not far behind. Philadelphia has its Philadelphia Demokrat, Baltimore its Correspondent, Cincinnati its Volksblatt, St. Louis... its... Die Westliche Post, where Joseph Pulitzer started his career, and Der Anzeiger des Westens." It also reported that compared to 17,194 English papers in the U.S. in 1900, there were 613 German ones. The next largest language group, the Scandinavian, had only 115.
With repression of the German language during World War I, the German press in America was reduced dramatically.

Persecution during World War I

When the U.S. joined in World War I, an anti-German hysteria quickly spread in American society. German-Americans, especially immigrants, were blamed for military acts of the German Empire, and even speaking German was seen as unpatriotic. Many German-American families anglicized their names, and German nearly disappeared in public. Many states forbade the use of German in public and the teaching of German in schools.
An extensive campaign forbade all things German, such as performing the music of German composers at symphony concerts. Language was the focus of legislation at state and local levels. It took many forms, from requiring associations to have charters written in English to banning speaking German within city limits. Some states banned the teaching of all foreign languages, though most only banned German. A bill was introduced in October 1918 to create a national Department of Education, intended to restrict federal funds to states that enforced English-only education. The Lutheran Church was divided by an internal battle over conducting services and religious instruction in German.
On April 9, 1919, Nebraska enacted a statute called "An act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska," commonly known as the Siman Act. It provided that "No person, individually or as a teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language other than the English language." It forbade foreign instruction to children who had not completed the eighth grade. A total ban on teaching German in both public and private schools was imposed for a time in at least 14 states, including California, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska. California's ban lasted into the mid-1920s. The Supreme Court case in Meyer v. Nebraska ruled in 1923 that these laws were unconstitutional. During World War II, a similar wave of anti-German sentiment led many churches in California to stop holding German-language services.
In Montana, speaking German was banned in public for two years during World War I.
German never recovered its position as the second language in the United States. Pennsylvania's legislature passed a German-language ban, but it was vetoed by the governor.

Dialects and geographic distribution

Alsatian

Alsatian,, is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken by Old Order Amish and some Old Order Mennonites in Allen County, Indiana, and their daughter settlements. These Amish immigrated to the US in the mid-1800s. There are fewer speakers of Alsatian in Indiana than of Bernese German, even though there are several thousand speakers. There are also speakers of Bernese German and Pennsylvania German living in the community. Most speakers of Alsatian also speak or at least understand Pennsylvania German. Speakers of Alsatian in Indiana are thus exposed to five languages or dialects: Alsatian, Bernese German, Pennsylvania German, Standard German and English.

Amana

, West Central German, a Hessian dialect in particular, is still spoken by several hundred people in seven villages in the Amana Colonies in Iowa, which were founded by Inspirationalists of German origin. Amana Garman is derived from Hessian dialects which fused into a so-called Ausgleichsdialekt that adopted many English words and some English idioms.

Bernese

Bernese German, is a subdialect of High Alemannic German which is spoken by Old Order Amish in Adams County, Indiana, and their daughter settlements. There are several thousand speakers of the dialect in the USA.

Hutterite

communities in the United States and Canada speak Hutterite German, an Austro-Bavarian dialect. Hutterite is spoken in the U.S. states of Washington, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Minnesota; and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

Indiana

There is also a significant population of Amish and Old Order Mennonites located in rural areas of Elkhart County and LaGrange County, Indiana, who speak Pennsylvania Dutch. A much smaller community of Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking Amish is found in Parke County, in western Indiana. Many English words have become mixed with this dialect and it is quite different from Standard German, but quite similar to the dialect of the Palatinate region.
Usually, Pennsylvania Dutch is spoken at home, but English is used when interacting with the general population. The Amish and Old Order Mennonites of northern Indiana often differentiate between themselves and the general population by referring to them, respectively, as the "Amish" and the "English", noting the difference in language. Pennsylvania "Dutch" is sometimes used in worship services, though this is more common among the Amish than the Mennonites. More mainstream Mennonites may have a working knowledge of the language, but it is not frequently used in conversation or in worship services.
, July 1974.

Pennsylvania

, Old Order Mennonites and other Pennsylvania Germans speak a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania German. It is a remnant of what was once a much larger German-speaking area in eastern Pennsylvania. Most of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" originate from the Palatinate area of Germany and their language is based on the dialect of that region. While the language is stable among the Old Orders and the number of speakers growing due to the high birth rate among the Old Orders, it is quickly declining among the non-plain Pennsylvania Germans.

Plautdietsch

, a Low German dialect, is spoken by "Russian" Mennonites, who immigrated mostly to Kansas in the mid-1870s. These Mennonites tended to slowly assimilate into the mainstream society over several generations, but Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite immigrants—mainly from Mexico, where there is no assimilation—invigorated Plautdietsch in Kansas. Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite migrants from Mexico formed a new settlement in Seminole, Texas, in 1977. In 2016 there were about 6,000 Plautdietsch speakers around Seminole.

Texas

A dialect called Texas German based in the Texas Hill Country around the town of Fredericksburg still exists, but has been dying out since the end of World War II. Following the introduction of English-only schooling during both World Wars, Texas German speakers drifted towards English and few passed the language to their descendants.

Wisconsin

The various German dialects that were brought to Wisconsin did not develop into a leveled dialect form, like, e.g., in southeastern Pennylvania, where Pennsylvania German as a leveled dialect emerged, but remained distinct.

German as the official US language myth

An urban legend, sometimes called the Muhlenberg legend after Frederick Muhlenberg, states that English only narrowly defeated German as the U.S. official language. In reality, the proposal involved a requirement that government documents be translated into German. The United States has no statutory official language; English has been used on a de facto basis, owing to its status as the country's predominant language.
In Pennsylvania, which had a large German-American population, German was long allowed as the language of instruction in schools, and state documents were available in German until 1950. As a result of anti-German sentiment during World War I, the fluency decreased from one generation to the next and only a small fraction of Pennsylvanians of German descent are fluent in the German language.
In Texas, which had a large German population from the mid-1840s onward due to the Adelsverein, upon becoming a state in 1845, passed a law requiring all laws be officially translated into German until the entry of the US into the First World War in 1918.

German-American tradition in literature

The ties between Germany and the United States having been historically strong has brought about a number of important literary authors. In modern German literature, this topic has been addressed frequently by the Boston-born author of German and English lyrical poetry, Paul-Henri Campbell.

Use in education

According to a government-financed survey, German was taught in 24% of American schools in 1997, and only 14% in 2008.
German is third in popularity after Spanish and French in terms of the number of colleges and universities offering instruction in the language.

Structure of German Language Acquisition by state

StateNumber of StudentsPrograms offered per Highschool
South Dakota3.2898
Michigan30.03474
New Jersey10.77128
Pennsylvania38.165107
Georgia12.69936
Minnesota19.87757
Tennessee11.26933
Wisconsin27.22980
Hawaii6502
Ohio18.47864
Connecticut3.67113
Virginia12.03043
Florida4.88719
South Carolina4.40618
Texas19.55180
Indiana14.68762
Maryland4.83321
California9.63646
New York7.29935
Mississippi1.4477
Missouri8.43945
Nevada8905
Maine1.74110
Nebraska3.99923
Massachusetts3.36720
New Hampshire2.83217
Illinois13.29388
Iowa3.97327
Oklahoma2.20716
Wyoming3763
North Carolina5.81553
Idaho2.27924
Washington3.88843
Kansas2.42728
West Virginia6408
Alabama5.33367
Utah1.05115
Vermont88713
Louisiana4537
Oregon1.46924
Colorado1.50925
North Dakota2.04634
Kentucky1.42126
Arkansas1.94737
Arizona1.20525
Rhode Island762
Montana26010
New Mexico22711
Alaska898
DC160
all328.9631.547

German language schools

Media