I thought so too, but I'm surprised he didn't seem to mention that. In fact, I would hear a strong drawl and he would stop it and say something like 'oh that was Western German.'
@@McP1mpin germans are the largest european ethnic group in the state and spoke one of the slowest languages in the world, a big reason for texas' drawl *was* the germans themselves
I am a Texan, and a Texas German speaker. I am 46 Years old, and my people are from Oldenberg, in north Germany. they have been in America since after the first world war. I still have my great grandparents immigration photos and identification papers. Both these ladys speak like mine Oma.
I went to university in Oldenburg (Niedersachsen). My family is from the Bremen area. My dad forgot his German when he was in his 20s because he was embarrassed to be German (born in 1941 in the USA into a German village in Nebraska), and went on to work in cities and for the govt. His family spoke Plattdeutsch. I was interested in German as a kid, but did not have an opportunity to until my late 20s. I am 51 now and have an MA in Applied Linguistics (emphasis German). I did not know about Texas German.
I always wondered about why people care so much to be honest? Not judging you I’m just saying my German ancestors with a very, very German sounding last name showed up 200 years ago in the upper Midwest and it’s just not of interest to me. I was interested I guess enough to find the gravestone of the first man that landed here that is my ancestor. Born in 1826 in Saxony. I understand after that they weren’t interested at all in being German and really focused on being American.
Unfortunately, that is the issue with America today - immigrants aren't forced to learn English and swear allegiance to the American flag like they used to. They retain their cultural differences and live in enclaves where they don't have to learn any differently. The Germans chose to become American.
@@2steaksandwiches665 possibly because "American" is mostly fictional (political) whereas "German," "Irish," "French" are still very *ethnic* terms. We want to know who our *people* are, not who our "fellow citizens" are. And if you don't know the difference, then your blue haired gay communist child lover teachers and other programmers were very successful with you. Congratulations, "American."
50 yrs ago, when I was a child I played in a community with Czechs, Germans, Mexicans and Texans. My little band of kids would rove from house to house begging for treats from the various moms. We were international cookie bandits!
The Germans in Fredericksburg come from Koblenz, Braunschweig, and Weissenfels. They were the only settlers who kept their treaties with the Comanche so they were left alone while other settlers were massacred. The Fredericksburgers also opposed slavery and the secession of Texas from the Union. A group tried to escape to Mexico but were ambushed by Confederate supporters and killed near the Nueces River.
Yes this is a awesome video do more videos about America .my grandmother spoke German and English but was banned for speaking German also. During the war
My grandfather spoke Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a form of German. When he served in WWII, he discovered that he could talk with the German prisoners and although some words were pronounced differently, they were similar enough to understand.
A lot of German heritage sites in America were renamed Austrian, Swiss or Dutch during World War II when we were at war with the Germans. There’s a “Swiss” village near where I live that a lot of people don’t know it started off as a German village.
@@ejohnson3131 In Australia, especially the state of South Australia which had a huge number of German immigrants (over 10% of the population at one stage), they renamed most of the German towns for the same reason. Most have kept the new name but a few, such as Hahndorf changed their names back years after the war was over.
@@ejohnson3131The Mennonites and Amish that speak “Pennsylvania Dutch” are originally from Switzerland not Germany. They immigrated to the Rhineland-Pfalz area of Germany to escape persecution from the Catholic Swiss government before immigration to America.
While in Germany, i can always get a German to smile just by saying, "Verzeihung, aber ich komme aus Texas!" And then, they're usually confused because they (especially in Saxony and Berlin) think that, by my accent, I'm from Frankfurt. It wasn't until _after_ returning from my first trip to Germany that I discovered that my great-grandmother had been Hessian... (I credit it to spending too much time reading Goethe in college.)
Sounds like me. I grew up loving British TV and books. I later learned that my ancestry is about 90% English, and goes back to at least Elizabethan London!
Congratulations to these people who were able to maintain their German language in Texas throughout all these years despite the influence of the English language.
My grandmother, born in 1882, spoke German in Baltimore. Her family came in the mid-1800s or before and were established in Pennsylvania as innkeepers. They had been innkeepers in Reutlingen. My cousin did a trip there and found a grave from the 1640s with the same names as my parents, Jacobus (James) and Elizabeth.
The German heritage was lost during WW1. There was so much hate for Germans that towns which functioned whole in German stopped so they wouldn't be attacked.
@@kappagemini The Czech towns are more prominent, you still sometimes hear Czech when you're in one of those. I was disappointed how little of the German heritage seemed to be left the last time I went through New Braunfels, although I think they still do the statewide famous Oktoberfest.
I am a native Texan, I am Hispanic, fun fact in central and southern Texas most Mexican families are inter married with German families, a lot of our culture here is mixed, which is evident in Tex Mex and sausage.
Me too! Grew up in Houston and my German boyfriend was amazed when we went to Fredericksburg, Schulenburg, etc where newspapers were in German. Of course he was from Niedersachsen so he believed all German dialects were inferior to his own. Still, he was amazed at the preservation of German culture.
@@limolnar you got to get peaches and other fruit in Fredericksburg during the summer. They are absolutely delicious. They are definitely smaller but the flavor makes up for it.
I'm from Hanover, Kansas! In the immediate vicinity are Bremen, Hollenberg and Frankfort. When I was growing up, lots of the adults still spoke German and that inspired me to study German in college.
My German relatives came over from Prussia in the 1850s and lived in the German settlements around STL. I started learning German in high school and went to Germany in College - loved it! Felt like a 2nd home to me!
When I hear Hanover, I chuckle as my friend in school would make jokes of it, hand it over, bend over and Flowers over Dover. I wonder where he is right now
I had a history teacher in high school from Fredericksburg. He said he didn’t hear English spoken until he went to elementary school. He gave me proper German lessons at lunch because I wanted to learn. We had an exchange student from Hamburg who said that the Fredericksburg German didn’t use the Dativ case. Tejano music is old-style polka music sung in Spanish, using accordion as the main instrument. It originated in the mid-19th century from local Tejanos loving the music of German and Czech immigrants in Central and South Texas. Tejano bands have been invited to go play Oktoberfest in Germany for the last 20 years or so. There aren’t enough bands playing polka music in Germany anymore, so they’re an important addition.
i am not sure if it is true that they don't use the Dative case, since that is your indirect object, however, they definitely still use the Genitive (possessive). In Germany the dative is starting to completely replace the genitive case. To me that sounds weird, but i have been gone from germany almost 30 years. Back then only the local dialects favored the dative over the genitive (i am frankonian). I think that is what the exchange student was probably noticing.
"Tejano bands have been invited to go play Oktoberfest in Germany for the last 20 years or so. There aren’t enough bands playing polka music in Germany anymore, so they’re an important addition." Thats something I like about everyone interacting culturally and taking and giving of themselves and their history. Stuff like this brings us closer together.
@@infancysguard yes, that is what i was saying. People work around it by using the Dative instead. Die Mutter des Kindes becomes "Die Mutter von dem Kind". intelligible, but not exactly elegant.
As a native San Antonian, thank you for this. I had no idea Tejano bands had been playing in Germany during Oktoberfest. You taught me something today. 🤠
Thanks for not dismissing this. Many Texas Germans stopped speaking it during WWII for fear of being lumped in with the people you think. I grew up in the Hill Country and part of my family is German. As far as I know, my great grandfather (we called him Opa) was the last person in our family to ever speak it. I was a toddler when he died.
Me too! I grew up in the Hill Country and I have my grandfather's Lutheran Small Catechism which is in German. He was bilingual, but died suddenly even before my father was born. My father doesn't know German but my kids still call him Opa.
My mother's first language was German. She said that during WW2, she and her siblings and cousins were not allowed to speak German in public for fear of being put in camps like the American born Japanese descent USA citizens. My mother, her siblings, and her cousins all had a German and Southern Texas accent mixed.....very unusual! My maternal grandmother, also German, said the same.....no speaking German in public during WW1 and WW2.
I’m a Mexican-American/born and raised Texan and I started taking German since my freshman year of high school all the way to college. I ended up living in Germany for a year. All because there is so much German culture around me growing up. I currently reside in a town founded by a German family and in the old town 5 minutes from me is a German supermarket. The German heritage here is so cool and inspired my love for the German language and culture.
That’s wild because I’m from Texas (German ancestry but not immersed in it culturally) and I grew up around Mexican culture and have a love for it haha. Texas is so great
I grew up in Houston, Texas, USA. I studied Deutsch in high-school for two years. When I was about 17 years of age I traveled to west Texas (Castroville) to spend a weekend with the grandparents of a friend of mine by the name of Haas. Everybody in that family spoke Texasdeutsch, and I enjoyed very much speaking with them. I don't remember very much about the experience after all these years, except the Grossvater said "mied" instead of "müde" (tired). I'm nearly 80 now and living in Arkansas. As a long-ago student of the German language, and having been raised in Texas, I have greatly enjoyed this video. It brought back pleasant memories. Vielen Dank!
We have close family friends who speak German, and Im learning German….I once heard my great grandfather who was Navajo and Apache speak German to a man and I was SHOCKED, so we’re learning German, we don’t want it to die here in Texas.
My family emigrated from East Prussia (Pozen) to Texas in 1868. Started farming and owned two farms near Austin. As a child in the 1950's, I would walk into a room where my Great-Grandmother, her son and daughter, my grandfather and great-aunt, would be speaking in German. The moment I, or any other child, would enter the room they would immediately start speaking in English. That's one significant reason Texas Deutsch ist Kaput. I still remember one word that was popular in the German-Texas vocabulary, "Wasser Melone": Watermelon!
Part of my grandma's family also emigrated from Prussia, what she always referred to as Province Posen. They settled in Washington County, TX, near Brenham. The other part of her family emigrated to the same area from Hanover. Grandma said her family pretty much stopped speaking German openly during World War I, as there was much prejudice against anything German, but she did try and teach me a few phrases. She was very proud of her German heritage!
Norwegian-Americans were also like that. My older relatives would switch to English in front of us. They were kind of ashamed of speaking Norwegian, because it was seen as being a "bumpkin" or "rustic", but at the same time they were very proud of their Norwegian heritage. We kids were supposed to be completely American, so if we spoke Norwegian it was seen by the older people as being "old-fashioned" or a failure.
@@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz Yes. My wife is from North Dakota. She has a Norwegian and Swedish heritage. Her grandmother spoke Norwegian, and her mother spoke some Norwegian. But there was no deliberate effort to teach the kids anything but English.
Very cool! My family also emigrated from the same area of Prussia in 1872 to southern Illinois. They are buried in the German section of Moravian Cemetery in West Salem, Illinois. All the headstones are in German.
Sounds like German with a Texas accent. My native language is English, but I’ve spoken French for many years. A few years ago, I began to study Spanish. To my surprise, I’ve been told by several native instructors that I speak Spanish with a French accent! Very odd.
I had the same problem when I was helping my son learn Spanish. My second language is French so when I tried to speak basic Spanish it sounded kind of French lol
Doesn't seem weird at all. French is much closer to Spanish than English is, and you're bound to say things in a familiar way when they match the structure of French so closely. (Though I speak Spanish and can't pronounce French to save my life, so I do know they're different, lol!)
I'm from Munich, Bavaria. Spoke with Bavarian accent at home. I could understand her perfectly. German-Americans usually use English words while speaking. I've lived here over 65 years but speak Bavarian with my relatives and friends in Munich.
Mein Opa kommt aus Deutschland. Er hat über 50 Jahre in den USA gelebt. Er hat mir von Texasdeutsch erzählt. Als er nach Texas kam, sprach er mit ihnen und sagte, ihr Dialekt klinge genauso, als ob er mit seiner Großmutter gesprochen hätte. My Opa is from Germany. He lived in the US for over 50 years. He told me about Texas German. When he went to Texas, he spoke to them and said their dialect sounded the same as if he had been speaking to his grandma.
Thing about German in the US. Germans that came from northern Germany mostly migrate to the southern states. Southern Germans and Austrian migrated to Midwest.
All my family is from Wisconsin with German heritage from Bavaria. They moved over just before the German Revolutions around 1850. There was such a large community of Germans in Wisconsin that my Dad, born in 1962, is actually full German by blood even though he was born and raised in the US. I'm 70% with my Mom's Irish genetics mixing in.
I took six semesters of university-level German, although I haven't spoken it for years. Even so, I could follow everything the speaker said. P.S. -- I'm a fourth-generation Texan.
@@wordforger Exactly what I was thinking, I'd imagine the broader settlers are responsible for why the American accents are more diverse and unlike Australia and New Zealand which are more of a mix of various British accents.
@@wordforger I have lived in Texas since I was like 3, and although most of the people I talk to on a daily basis speak with an American Standard accent (or whatever you call the basic American accent I have for the most part).. she definitely sounds like she has a rural Texas accent (or lots of places in the south).. if I didn't know better I would assume she was born speaking English with a Texas accent and learned German later in life.. as someone who does not speak german. I do vaguely recall hearing much older recordings of Texas german that did not have such an accent present.. so I am pretty sure that the English accent affected the german dialect, *much* more than the other way around.
We are Texan, and getting old. My husband's grandmother was not allowed to speak English when she got home from school, because her parents only spoke German. Her daughter, my mother-in-law, can speak German a little, but she refused to give me any German recipes, because she prefers Tex-Mex. (We still make the baked goods, just no rouladen or senfeier. When she was a child, she HATED being forced to eat mustard eggs on cold days.) I'm descended from Schnaus and Schnellens, but they changed their names to Snow and Snelen during WWII. German was no longer spoken. My father's family also smashed the entire set of 1800s china that had been brought with the family years ago, long before the wars. It really had to be done. It had a benign sign of auspiciousness and good luck, a swastika, painted on it, but after the symbol became associated with evil, you couldn't serve your friends dinner on THAT.
Part of the. development is that as American Germans internationalized English they sometimes applied English phonics rules to German which resulted in some interesting results.
I can understand pretty much everything - I was born here in Houston, but didn't speak English until I was 5 - all German (Schwäbisch). My German is from the 60's...and it's funny when I return to Germany to visit my family and they laugh at my old fashioned speech.
@schulzeg really neat to think about when groups break off from the main country and then the language they take with them becomes a historical speech pattern. Kinda like history preserved. I wonder how much of the old language he will see when he reviews Amish speech.
I have a very similar experience. Born in 1946 in Philadelphia I did not speak English when I started grade school in 1954 because I and my sister lived with our grandparents on our mothers side. This was due to the fact that my father was in a Vetrans hospital with PTSD, better known as shell shock back then. During this time, my mother was working because dad was in hospital, so my grandmother took care of my sister and me. Along with this my great grand father visited from Germany and my grand father sponsored his youngest sister, her husband and son. We were all living in the same house and no one spoke English. The language spoken was German. Schwabisch is the dialect I learned as a child and to some degree what I speak today, but not as good as I did as a young person. Not a lot of interaction with people who speak German to maintain the language. About 23 years ago the company I worked for had large, auto related, presses installed in the plant by Schuler-Pressen, a German company. The workmen installing the presses were all from Germany and in their 20's. When I spoke to them in my German they laughed or giggled and said they were amazed that I was speaking what they called old people talk. The only time they had heard German spoken like that was by someone very,very old. My family are from Baden Wurttenberg, Tubingen, and a dorf, Hirrlingen with other family in Reutlingen, Hechingen, Rottenburg, Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. I forgot to mention, my mother came to America at the age of seven. She had her seventh birthday on the ship on her way here in 1928. My father was born on the ship comming to America in 1918. My relatives never batted an eye or laughed when speaking to them but I did notice their children sort of smirk a bit. Sorry for going on so long, I'm getting old. I enjoyed your remark and memories.
@@user-bd7nc9wh6jOh wow, I'm surprised to see my region being mentioned ! Sending greeting from the area of Tübingen/Reutlingen, from a young person who was born and raised there (with a huge influence from my very Swabian oma lol) yet is unable to speak, yet alone understand much of the Swabian dialect, unfortunately 😅
@@emxilyk Gruss Gott ! Emilyk. How nice of you. Thank you for the greetings from Tubingen, Reutlingen !! A beautiful part of Deutschland. I spent many a day visiting family there. Are you in Deutschland or elsewhere in the world as of this writing ? I am living in the state of Michigan ,these days, in the U.S.A. Forgive me, please, for not writing in Deutsch if you are in Deutschland as I have not mastered writing in Deutsch. I speak fairly well but reading and writing is hard for me. I have many fond memories of the times I've lived and visited family and places in Deutschland. The first time that I went to Deutschland was when I was in the Army. I was stationed in Fulda, Stat Hessen from 1966 to November 1968. At every opportunity I would go to visit family whenI was able to get leave. You may find this funny, I survived 3 days at Octoberfest in Munich in 1967 and 5 days, with family members, in Stuttgart for Cannstatter Volksfest in 1968 at the (,young) ,age of 19 and 20. I still laugh about that time to this day. During this time in Deutschland my grand father visited and took me with him to meet relatives in Tubingen, Reutlingen, Hechingen, Hirrlingen and other small towns where family resided, the names of which I can not remember. This was the very first time that I had ever seen them in person but recognised them from photos. This is a problem with getting old, I just seem to ramble on. Please forgive me. I wish you well in life, " alles Gute im Leben"!! P.S. Is 1109 the month and year you were born ? My name is Johannes Karl Schmidt but everyone calls me John. God bless !!!
Wow, you have such a similar story to me - so wonderful to hear it. And, amazed at all the family history you have. My mother's family is also from Baden-Württemburg - specifically Göppingen just outside of Stuttgart. I visit my relatives there as much as I can.
Germans also came to the US from Ukraine. Originally from Bavaria and Alsace. they'd been living in isolated German villages for 100 yrs in (then) Russia farming wheat. Many of these Volga Germans settled the in High Plains (ND, SD, KS, CO) in the new little German villages they built. They were speaking ONLY German (friends, family, Church, and grade schools) my father was 4th generation and had to learn English in 4th Grade when they moved to a town so he could attend more school.
and to add, when the US had POW camps in KS, CO, they would allow the German POW's to help the neighboring farms as per Geneva convention rules, and get paid. Guess what? There were a LOT of German immigrants who owned the fields around those camps who spoke German (or 2st gen Germans) so the German POW's were surprised and comfortable. Many did not want to go back to a bombed out Germany and wanted to return to the US.
I was so happy to see you enjoying listening to these folks and understanding that their German is a whole other dialect! My French-Canadian and Louisiana Cajun friends are often met with almost mockery when they are in France. Their French is somewhat archaic as well as having evolved over a few centuries of being away from the homeland (during which time the French spoken in France also evolved, but differently) - but a Frenchman could certainly pick up the gist of it. They just like to act superior!
I was in Montreal with a Belgium and he made no attempt to speak French there. He said what they were speaking really sounded strange. To be fair he was a native flemish (Dutch) speaker, but still I am sure completely fluent in proper french.
Fredericksburg is probably one of the most German towns in central Texas. Been there many times, great food and wine. She is speaking what is known as Texasdeutsch which is a dialect of Hochdeutsch.
@@emilmlodnicki3835 Hochdeutsch would be like the "KIng's or Queen's English". It is generally accepted that if you speak Hochdeutsch, any German speakers will understand you, if not recognize you are not a native speaker.
It should be said that Germans were treated horribly in the 19th and 20th centuries. German immigrants in certain parts of the U.S. even experienced violence. Some states banned German from being spoken, they banned German language schools and banned German books. So it's pretty amazing that it's still spoken.
All states banned all languages but English under Woodrow Wilson. In Central Texas the KKK intimidated and assaulted Texas Germans in Washington County and Austin County. There were tar and featherings I think and even a murder. Before then our community had German newspapers, advertisements, German in school and in church. As I was growing up we still had some special services in German (like Christmas). I didn’t know oh Tannenbaum had English words until I was in high school. And we still had local am radio programs like Texas polka time. But now I think most of that is gone.
He claimed to be of Swedish origin but he could be a distant cousin of my family , immigrants from Hesse. Common name there is Strumpf, not the anglicized Trump.
My grandmother was born in the US, and she had to learn English in Kindergarten. My great grandparents only spoke German. A previous pastor at my church's brother provided German language services over the radio until the early 1970's.
@@NuNugirl I live near the area known as the "German Triangle" of the Midwest. German migrants would flow into this area, so the German language was commonplace.
Good to hear him acknowledge how modern German has actually evolved as well. The German spoken in Germany today is not exactly the same as German spoken in the time that their ancestors left their country. That's something a lot of native speakers forget about multigenerational expats. You must consider that their dialect may be closer to the norm for standard German from the past; because native German dialects tend to evolve faster than the dialects of expat populations.
I live in North Houston. A very heavy German influence community that settled in the mid 1800’s. They came and bought land as simple farmers. Families like the “Klein” family, and “Wunderlich” family’s that local schools were named after. In fact our local town “Tomball” has such huge German history they celebrate it ever year. This year Tomball will be celebrating “German Fest” December 13-15 2024. With over 150 street vendors, live stage music and entertainment it’s very local and very fun. I hope CHRIS you would google “Texas Tomball German Fest“. I was the vice president of the German club for Klein oak Highschool back in the late 1990’s. We visited old people homes and attended German heritage celebrations around the local towns. Singing German music and trying to speak German to the old German born Texans brought them tears to their eyes. That is something I shall never forget. TOMBALL GERMAN FEST! December 13-15. Make memories. THANK you Chris, wish you could attend.
I live in Klein and 2 of my kids graduated from Klein Oak and 1 from Klein Collins. I love how the school district has honored the original German families in the Spring/Klein area. I'll make note of the festival in Tomball
Yep... I grew up in Cypress, Texas and in Tomball. All my neighbors were descendents of German immigrants. A lot of farmers/ranchers and dairy. Families like Treichel, Hillibrandt, Schultz, Klein, Schiel, Huffmeister, Mueschke, Rudle and many, many more. The woman in the video reminds me SOOO much of my neighbor in Cypress, Texas. She looks almost identical to my wonderful neighbor. She is like my 2nd mom!!!
I am learning German on Duolingo for over a year now and I understood almost all of it because she speaks it slowly and with an accent. This was great fun for me. I think I'll subsribe to this channel!
I'm 6th generation German heritage here in the US. None of my family speaks German, but I can recognize German words embedded in the English language. That's it. Good reaction video. I enjoyed it!!!
German with a thick Texas accent It does not get better than that lol New Braunfels is a wonderful place to visit. There are so many different accents, in the lone star state but this one has always been one of my favorites. I’m from Texas and I don’t think my husband knows about this. His father was German and he grew up speaking German. He’s gonna love this.
History teacher here: Rheinland-pfalz/palatinate groups kind of wound up everywhere. My grandmother’s grandad emigrated from Erden & was part of the Simon/Best family that created Bitburger & later in the U.S. they created Pabst beer in Milwaukee. My dad’s side comes from Geestemünde-Bremerhaven. Lots of mixes between all the German groups, mostly due to the mutual intelligibility of the German language/cultural norms that they shared. So so so so many Germans in the Midwest US. Really they’re the largest immigrant group & many times they married into Irish families because of shared neighborhoods & giant families. Texas makes some amazing German style beers like Shiner Bock, made by Spoetzl Brewing. Also, America’s oldest brewery is German: Yuengling Brewery, which comes from the Jüngling family name, and the Yngling Norse family name.
This was fascinating to learn. Being from St. Louis, home of Anhueser Busch and former Lemp breweries, I respect your direct connection to Pabst. As a history nut thanks for the background on Yuengling. Unfortunately, AB is no longer American owned. Prost! Or to honor my Irish…Slainte! 🍻🇺🇸🇮🇪🇩🇪
I was so surprised when he said that he couldn't hear that much of an American accent. The moment she started talking I just heard Texan, lol. And that's coming from a fellow Texan. It sounds quite different from what I hear from the few German people I've listened to. But he'd know better than me so I trust his opinion. Very fun video ❤
@@jamesanderson5268 while many Jews moved to major cities, there's still several yiddish communities spread out (and no, not just the religious. Honestly, the fewer in the 24/7 religious community (save the americanized na nachs, which you'll find more but that's a special case) have any knowledge of Yiddish or other distinctive J languages besides Hebrew. You find it more in smaller, often more secular communities... cultural holdouts. Sometimes becoming a rebellious culture onto itself. But I digress. If they're capable in Yiddish, they usually know German pretty well. It tends to go hand in hand.. only a slight difference with more Yiddish infusion. Iowa and surrounding states had several but a lot more moved out between the riots and quarantine. But like German migration, most are found northeast and southeast (more the burbs than the city) and then spread across the southwest. There's several semi-rural pockets through Texas (spring, tx, I believe was one) and New Mexico (several spread between abq and sante fe, again, older family lines, more in semi rural areas, ex-hippie conclaves). For, Arizona, there were Y communities spread further once upon at time, but gradually moved northwards around Flagstaff and many would move to Colorado - cannabis legalization likely helped. Several semi-rural communities in SoCal and of course, Palm Springs though that's mostly an elderly crowd... so, not for much longer. Santa Barbara and Ventura County still has several but given it's a popular area for J events with those from the east coast and a low opinion of the locals, they veer more to the secular but remain known through academics and historians, which provides incentives for it's continuation. You still find smaller pockets from Santa Cruz to San Diego, but it's dying out.. there has been infusion from eastern communities, becoming more of a fad in entertainment but those cycles come and go. The overall vibe as they go west is more hippish, ex-hippy communities, from older families and their descendants, a lot situated around semi-rural, small agricultural communities, in CA the pockets are largely situated around canyons, seaside coves, the townies of classic resort towns from the mountains to the desert. Similar pattern follows other hybrid languages as well, lost or losing with older family lines and getting infusions from newer immigrants or migrants from other states.
Northern Indiana also has a significant Amish and Mennonite community. It’s interesting you can tell who primarily speaks English at home and who primarily speaks Pennsylvania Dutch because those who primarily speak Pennsylvania Dutch actually speak English with a slight accent.
@@megankuchta9145 in Ohio too. Family there told me many times it's mainly Dutch BUT there is obvious German in some areas. Told me in one town, they had to vote for a 4th gen German mayor because the town got their milk and vegetables from the Amish there who spoke ONLY German. No pesticides unlike today's food so it was very healthy. My cousin told me the carrots/cabbages are HUGE. No major store has these mutated carrots and cabbages. and for DIRT CHEAP.
My father's family immigrated to a German settlement in Texas in the late 1800's, and up until the 1940's they had German language schools, German language newspapers, and German language radio. Most of those were shut down by the government, and some voluntarily by the communities. All of my aunts and uncles born before world war 2 speak German, and all born after were only allowed to learn English.
It was so cute hearing German with a southern or Texan accent. I loved it & the last lady was maybe trying to remember the word she wanted to say. I thought they did great because you know they probably don't speak German everyday so that & maybe their memory is starting to get forgetful like I am now at 62yrs old. But I loved German with a Texas accent was adorable. 🤠🖤❤💛😍😄
As an English speaker, I'm just used to there being people all over the world who speak English with different accents. It's cool seeing you so fascinated by that same experience. I just take mine for granted.
My grandfather was born into an American German home in Arkansas. My family name is Drewrey which I believe originated from France but became Drury in England and Germany. Then my ancestors changed the spelling to Drewrey when they came to America. My grandfather served proudly in WW2 and earned a silver star and purple heart medals for his actions at Normandy and Operation Market Garden. He was ever proud of our German heritage and the war was hard for him. It was wonderful to see these folks and your response to them! ❤
I am an American but I am “selbstgelernt” in German. I understood her very well. I had trouble with Bavarian German and Swiss German. When I spoke to people in Hanover I understood every word. When I said that to the gentleman he in a haughty manner said “ Naturlich, Ich Spreche nur Hoch Deutsch”! I used to be .fairly fluent when I had many business trips to Germany, but have not been there in 30 years. With no one to converse with I have lost all but the most basic phrases. This was a fun video. A lovely lady. Thanks.
1:24 I'll tell you why. One, better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. Two, knowing multiple languages helps prevent Alzheimer's and Dementia.
My first wife's mother was from New Braunfels. When her mother, aunt and uncle got together, they spoke among themselves in German. And the aunt and uncle who still lived there obviously had grown up with German as their first language and had very heavy accents and used German word order when speaking English. Comal County kept the official county records in German way into the 20th century. The state had to force them to change. But the newspaper was long published in German and English editions. But yes, the old German speakers are dying out. None of my wife's generation know any appreciable amount of German.
As I approach retirement, I am searching for a place in Texas where there might be people who still speak some German. I know the hill country is pretty much decimated, but I've heard that there are still folks down in Hallettsville that still preserve the language. Any idea? Thanks!
Amish are from Germany, not Holland.@@Cody38Super edited to add- they speak Pennsylvania Dutch but it's not actually Dutch, so I can see why you'd think that.
@Cody38Super "Deutsch" sounds like "Dutch" to the American English ear and they probably heard Dutch often and Deutsch as only German confusion is bound to happen. Also when Germans started to be frowned upon cause of the wars I could easily see them excepting the confusion of Dutch and denying German heritage.
My wife grandpa’s first language was German and he was born and raised in Rochester NY. His father was from Hamburg his mother was born on the boat on the way but family was from there. Him and his mother didn’t bother past the 70’s since anybody they ran into spoke southern German dialects and said the same thing- couldn’t understand it. His no accent English was with strong annunciations like someone that learned English, very clear English Th and T. The little he spoke with my middle son (who is learning) before he died was perfect “old speech”. Well Enough rambling I just appreciate these things.
Here in Texas they used to have many German speakers however WW2 of course changed that with the war leading to propaganda of "Don't speak the language of the enemy" (German, Italian and Japanese) with persecution as well even for Spanish although they were neutral, however as multiculturalism is becoming more embraced i wouldn't be surprised to see those numbers increase to what they were.
You can be of German descent, but it's not accepted even now (at least in 2/3 states I've lived). When it came out Trump was of German descent, everyone called him a "nazi"... that just proves people are still too ignorant to accept Germans who have any pride in their heritage. They'll go to Oktoberfest & drink beer, but call you a white supremacist if you wear a German flag on your shirt at school. I hope things get better with the younger generations... but I'm not confident... one day hopefully!
Cool to see Germans of the native land learning of the German population here in the U.S.! If you were ever interested in learning of more instances like this, you can find German blood primarily all throughout the middle/north area of the U.S., essentially from Texas all the way up to Minnesota and Montana. In fact, almost 50% of U.S. citizens in the Northern States and 30-40% of the Midwest have direct roots to Germany. My German relatives came to the U.S. prior to World War I. Liebe Grüße von einem US-Bürger mit deutschen Urgroßeltern aus Oklahoma 😁
Love this. In the 1960s, I attended the Univ. of Texas in Austin. I met a girl there who spoke English quite well, but had grown up in a household that spoke nothing but German. She grew up on a farm outside of Fredericksburg. I was required to learn the German language for my degree, and she helped me immensely. Her pronunciation was a bit different on some words than my instructors, but pretty close. She told me that she didn't speak English at all until she started 1st grade.
I lived in Fredericksburg, Texas for 18 years and knew many descendants of the original settlers who spoke fluent German and even thought in German! Nicest people I've ever met. They made me wish I was of German descent but alas! my ancestors were Scottish. LOL!
Loved this. My family is strongly German descent but many generations in America so none of us speak German. I had two years of German in high school but have forgotten most of what I learned. Am now learning some German online. I understand more written German than spoken. People talk too fast for my brain to process!😂
My family settled in North Dakota. My mother learned English in school but spoke low German at home. Her uncle Frank served in World War II, was shot and captured in his first battle at Monte Casino. He ended up in a prison camp in eastern Poland and served as the camp translator. Prisoners as well as German guards fled the Russian advance together. They had to walk across Poland and Germany during the coldest winter ever. Many a stray cat ended up in the steel helmet they used as a stew pot. He has a book written about him, "Under the Twisted Cross."
It would be interesting for you to play these videos for a much older native speaker. In many cases, the way we do or say things in American English is the way they did in England at the time we separated. So America became a bit of a time capsule. I wonder if at least some of the dialect and non-standard pronunciations you are hearing could be in part to the way German may have been spoken in various parts of Germany 100-150 years ago.
This definitely happened with French Canadian, I was told by a French liguist that they love to study the French Canadian language as it is more like French spoken from the time of Louis XIV
This did happen with Texas German as well we say airplane and skunk differently than the modern German language there are other words and phrases that are different as well but those are the two most well known 😂
German militia saved Missouri from seceding in 1861. Many Germans had migrated to St Louis and the Mississippi Valley after the revolutions of 1848. They were staunchly pro-Union and anti-slavery. When the Missouri state assembly gathered to vote on secession in St Louis, it was German militia, armed secretly by the Federal Government, and placed under Federal Service, which marched into St Louis from Jefferson Barracks, captured the entire Confederate Missouri State Guard without firing a shot, and then rounded up all the treasonous legislators before they could vote secession.
As importantly, the Union was able to secure the St. Louis Arsenal, which if it fell into CSA hands would have changed the course of the war in Missouri..at the very least.
@@franciet99 Your ancestors probably ended up in the 11th Corps under Steinwehr. Most of the St Louis German militia were absorbed into 11th Corps. They received very rough handling from Stonewall Jackson in the Wilderness campaign, and on the right flank of Gettysburg on the first day. Hard service, hot fighting.
Chris I strongly suggest you investigate Fredericksburg, Texas and it's story. My family has its roots deep in that area. My family has a Sunday house. They're small houses to stay in so you could go to church. Many like my family lived so far from town it was an all day trip. Rather than miss church, they built small houses, came from the ranch in Saturday. The next morning they were ready for church. Then nap after service an be ready for evening service. My grandfather and his entire family spoke German most of the time at home. My uncle all went to school in a tiny one room school that taught every grade. It wasn't until ww1 that as a group they decided to not speak German in public anymore
Ah, so cool to hear directly from someone that’s associated with the area. I stayed in many of the Sunday houses when they were rented out during the 80s and 90s. I’m not sure if they are still rented out as I haven’t been in the area for quite a while.
I speak German, and I have to say that it is actually harder to understand than German from Germany. Usually when I'm speaking with someone with a dialect I can focus on the differences, but she hops all over the German map. The occasional English word makes me smile because it sounds so Texan.
I'm a first generation American raised by German parents. As a child, my parents only spoke German when they didn't want me to know what they were talking about....which was very often! As soon as I was able, I took three years of German in school which ended the "secret" German. My mother also had a very unique accent. Even though she was born in Germany, she grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I remember she would make rouladen with potato pancakes and collard greens.
Same with my parents. They spoke Polish to each other when they didn't want us kids to know what they were saying. I learned a little Polish on my own but by that time they stopped speaking it. Also, my mom could understand German but couldn't speak it (her mom came from German occupied Poland - late 1800's).
I'm of German descent here in KS. Great grandma was the granddaughter of the one who immigrated here. Her maiden last name was Frerking and they are from Esperke
Fascinating. My ancestors came over from Germany in 1714 to Virginia. Eventually ended up in Indiana. From South of cologne. I was always told we were low dutch. There are still street signs here that say strasse. And many families still have an accent.
@@cuzz63 I could be wrong but I believe Dutch was the term for all continental Germanic peoples for a long time, especially Germans and Dutch. after all, it just means 'people'
I'm not German, I'm just an American who has studied a bit of German. I thought it was really interesting to hear her talk. I did notice the "R" sound is more of the balled up tongue American "R" sound. I also found it really cute to hear the Southern US accent in German. That kind of singsong inflection that you get only in the south of this country. Or elsewhere if people listen to too much country music. These things would be corrected by my German teacher when I was taking classes, but it's kinda nice to hear this as a separate dialect. I think it's kinda cool.
That was wonderful Chris. I studied German when I was young, but don't speak it much. I still understand quite a bit. Just yesterday, I was thinking that I need to review my German so that I can hopefully become fluent, again. It was fun listening to this and seeing what I understood. I would appreciate this more educational approach, and, I love the type of videos you usually do. Thanks again. Peace
American here who can stumble along in German and understand maybe 80% of what people are saying, generally. It's so interesting to me, seeing your reaction (and yes, I really appreciated the background of this). When I heard a STRONG Texas accent, you were comparing it to Plattdeutsch. When her Texas accent was far less prominent, you said you heard an American accent. Really interesting. Thanks for this video.
Here in Minnesota there was a town of German speakers but the last fluent speaker probably isn’t alive anymore because he was in his 80’s in the early 2000’s. We do have German available in high school here in Minnesota still.
My mom and dad were born and raised in Kansas in German communities. They were both bilingual. It's my understanding that dad's family was from Bavaria and mom's was from Prussia. School was in German until WW1. Then everything was switched to English. I never learned to speak German. There were a number of different dialects. There were Volga Germans, Mennonites, Prussian and Bavarian.
Fredericksburg is the home town of Chester Nimitz, the US Navy admiral in charge of the Pacific fleet during most of World War 2. There is a museum for him there. The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN68) is named after him. Just a little US history to add to this video.
I am of German heritage, but my ancestors came to America in 1750. One of my German ancestors fought in the American Revolution. After the Revolution, that ancestor was a pioneer in Kentucky, and fought for the North in the Civil War. My Great Grandfather was the grandson of one of these men, and moved, with his family, to Minnesota, where my grandmother, father and I, were born.
My recently-passed 96 year old mother was born in Austin and raised in the Hill Country, too, in Wimberley, not far from the German-Texan towns you mention. She always spoke of German- speakers by her, yes, but also of * Russians *, a very secretive group of Russians who moved to the Hill Country the early 1920s. They were so secretive, and came up from the south (Mexico), that the people in Wimberley always figured they were Trorskyites escaping the Purge. There was a little girl my Mom's age from one of these Russian families who always kept strictly to herself: never played with the other children, went to school and shot back home every day. Acted like she was scared to death. That little girl stayed in that house, aging, as her Russian family died around her. Might even be there still today.
My grandfather spoke Texas German, but he didn't outside of the house. He grew up with a bit of a stigma around it, was an indentured servant to his uncle. Didn't really talk much at all. He didn't teach my mom or her siblings. Would be pretty cool if I'd learned it.
Here's a fun fact. The first Continental Congress of the United States of America voted on what language would be our official language. English won by ONE vote. The runner-up was GERMAN. We came damn close to German being the official language of the USA. lol
I lived in the San Antonio, Texas area for over 20 years. I was born in Germany (Bitburg) to American military parents (I still have my German birth certificate) and lived in Germany (Ramstein) when I was in 4th, 5th and 6th grades. My ancestry is largely Scandinavian and German. German is the third most spoken language in San Antonio (after English and Spanish) and is the first language of about 10% of the people in the area. The German influence is obvious--from the King William district in south downtown San Antonio (which is beautiful) to the neighboring cities--Fredericksburg, Boerne, New Braunfels, and where I lived, Schertz. Germans will feel very much at home in the San Antonio area, and I strongly encourage them to visit, they will really enjoy themselves.
There is also a community of Polish settlers in the same area. They came from Silesia. A close friend of mine married a guy from that area. I didn't know he was of Polish descent until I went to their wedding. I'm Polish and I was raised in Texas. But I could not understand a single word they said. Compared to regular Polish, they mispronounced EVERY SINGLE SYLLABLE. I had to concentrate hard to understand a few words here and there. Even their wedding traditions were different from all the other polish weddings I've attended. They spoke with a heavy country accent just like the old granny in the video.
My great grandma was Polish. She was born in the 1890s, further south from Fredericksburg. She married my great grandfather, and they had a farm in George West, Texas. I never knew her since she died 6 months after I was born. I do remember my great grandfather but was young when he passed away. My grandfather was the oldest of their 10 kids (9 boys and 1 girl).
A sizeable number of Wends/Sorbs ( with an ' o') moved to Texas from what is now the eastern part of Germany. There're some vids about them here on YT.
I learned Hochdeutsch in Braunschweig and then moved to Graz (Austria), where I got used to the various Austrian and also Swiss dialects (which can be very difficult). I have found that these very different experiences help me understand just about anyone who is speaking a form of German. Texas German is MUCH easier to understand than Pennsylvania Dutch. I'm from Oklahoma, so the Texas accent that underlies here is known to me, and that helps with understanding some of the vowels that are mixed.
My Oma's family was one of the original families to settle New Braunfels, Texas. They made the journey in 1845 with Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels and settled much of Comal and Guadalupe counties in Texas after leaving their home near Fulda.
I bet our decedents knew or knew of each other. On my mother’s side, Christian Guenther made it with the original group of settlers to New Braunfels. Both of his parents passed away on the journey. He grew up in an orphanage in New Braunfels. It is still standing and is a private residence but somewhat of a museum. A mount of a deer that he had taken is still hanging there. My Nana’s name was Edna (Voit) Guenther.
@@kenttaylor9238 I get my spelling off sometimes. My grandfather who passed before I was born was spelled as you have it. Voigt. Egon Voigt. He passed in the late 50’s or early 60’s.
I had no idea this existed but it checks out. I lived in corpus Christi for a couple years when I was a kid. I moved alot cause my dad was in the military. The germans I met there made such an impression. They were some of the nicest friendliest people you'd ever meet.
I’ve known some Texas Germans. I always thought they had a fascinating Texas drawl. Years ago I lived near Bremen in Norddeutschland, so I understand how you hear the Plattdeutsch similarities. I think you ought to check out the Pennsylvania Dutch (not really Dutch-German, and a little antiquated at that). In my opinion the hardest German to understand is the Swiss German.
My mother is a CNA, she takes care of the elderly that wish to live out their last days at home. She took care of a man in New Braunfels TX and he spoke the Texas German. One day my mom showed a german song to her client and asked him what he thought of the lyrics, he laughed and said "she's after the boys" the song is from Sandra Ledermann and its called "Lasst uns Heute Feiern" (you can watch her sing it on youtube)
Hey Chris, so I actually live in Texas, more specifically New Braunfels (Fredericksburg is maybe about an hour away from me), but aside from that, you are correct in that this Texas German language is indeed dying as majority of people around here just don't care to learn either it or just regular German. The closest thing that we have to it is our local Wurstfest, but even then all they do is sing one small song which is all German lyrics, and even then I went there once and no one else spoke any German (even the people who worked the festival). The slogan there is '10 days of beer and sausage'. They should also add 'and ridiculous amounts of traffic for 10 days' as well.
I'm of German heritage. My great-grandmother grew up bilingual and we have a German Bible that's been passed down in our family. I learned German in college and made it my major. I also spent a year abroad at Uni Bonn. I've forgotten a lot of it since I haven't used it. But enough beer and hearing it enough, I can switch over! When I did live in Germany I was near fluent and I was able to fool many Germans! No one knew I was American! This sounds like early days of all us learning German, mixing in our accents and even English words. Whenever speaking with other American Austauchstudenten we often spoke "Denglish". When we'd talk to family back home, we'd mix German words that we couldn't really translate back into English. Luckily, my mother also learned German and could understand me!
I’m a Texan and my mother’s family, the Briesemeisters, are Texas Germans. My tante often spoke Texas German before she passed away, however my mother’s grandfather was a teacher, and my mother learned German in school, so they spoke/speak the German you would hear more in Germany. I do not speak either dialects of German, but I do understand quite a bit of both. I attempted to learn, but realized that learning Spanish first made my mouth better at making softer sounds. *fun fact. The middle school in Seguin, Texas was named for my mother’s grandfather. (A.J Briesemeister Middle School.)
My great grandmother came over from Birkholz Pommern with the Briesemeisters. Your great great grandmother was step daughter to my Siegfried Schievelbein. Contact me. Let's talk. Floyd Pönitz here.
My grandma was from Germany and married a man from Poland.By the time they both passed away in their late 70's neither one could speak their native language .still have 3rd/4th cousins somewhere in Germany sooooo if you run into any BEITZ tell them that AMERICAN cousin said HI 😊
I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Historically, this city had a very large German immigrant community. It was just a part of Baltimore culture. Early on in the 19th Century, German was spoken commonly in all district of the city. Gradually, however, with Baltimore being a port city, that was diluted by other large cultures like Greek, Italian, Irish, etc. German language still crept into everyday speech when I was growing up in the 1950s -- 1960s. For example, in South Baltimore, the common word for a kitchen sink was pronounced ZINK, just like the metal. There were many other words borrowed from German (especially food terms), but since I did not know they were of German origin, I did not know they were borrowed. They were just the words we used to describe things. Excellent video. Thank you.
There are maps that show where the Germans live across the USA. Mostly German speakers from all over live here in the highest numbers. Check you tube for the videos. Very interesting to watch. Heritage matters to everyone. America is a Melting Pot - from all over. We are Americans who also love and recall their original lands. Many cities are their original heritage culture remains today to look like the lands they came from & are sprinkled all across the nation. Lindsborg, Kansas is Little Sweden. Solvang, California is Danish. Leavenworth, Washington is Bavarian...etc..etc.. Thank you! Appreciated.
Growing up in San Antonio, TX, I had an older friend from Fredericksburg who was born in 1915. He did not learn to speak English until he was 6 or 7 years old. Before WWII, German was indeed the spoken language in these places.
I really enjoyed your video. My parents were older and both grew up speaking German. I'm the last of seven kids and when I came along, my dad had no accent but my mom had a strong German accent. I only learned nouns and very little sentence structure because I only heard German around Christmas time when my parents were discussing presents or during their domino games with friends. Thank you for your video!
I grew up in Priddy TX and Hamilton TX. My grandmother, mom, and aunts still spoke German as I was growing up. My grandmother would watch her soap operas, then phone her friend in town and would gossip about them in German. I sure miss her.
I find the Texas German puzzling. To my ear, it’s sounds as though the speaker learned the language from text rather than naturally through speaking with others.
Well, they didn't. They learned it at home. In fact, for many years they were not allowed to speak it at school. But as with every language, it drifted...like American English to British English.
@@stischer47 I studies French but find Canadian French more understandable in that it sounds harder and Spanglish is a dream. Listening to the first woman was almost as clear as English. My great-grandmother born in 1872 spoke German at home and her schools in Baltimore Maryland were taught in German.
I learned German as a complete beginner in Vienna and Humburg long ago. Now I am back in Japan and miss German accents a lot. I love your videos. Thank you very much.
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I am a born & raised Texan and descendant of German immigrants. There is a surprising amount of German influence around Central Texas, the Hill Country, and the Gulf Coast. The other interesting thing about many Texans of German descent that they themselves may not know is that there was a sizable immigrant group called the Wends/Wendish/Sorbs/Sorbisch that settled in the same areas during the same years as many Germans, mostly for the same reasons (freedom of religion, financial opportunity, etc) and they all began to intermarry. You would be hard-pressed to find a Lutheran church in Texas that didn't have members with German and/or Wendish surnames to this day. There were a few churches that offered services in each language for a long time - English, German, and Wendish - for the people who attended. I know of at least two churches that still offer German services every now and then, a few times a year. So many Texans of German descent are probably also of Wendish descent, but might not even know. For example, my husband's paternal grandfather's surname was Döhring (and then Anglicized to Doering), which is German, and his paternal grandmother's surname was Michalk (Wendish).
As a Brit who speaks a little German, although it has been a while, I was surprised at how easily I understood her. Much easier than German German. 😅 There were many times I didn't even look at the subtitles, especially when she was talking about her children.
Texan here. I can hear just a hint of a Texas accent, even though I can't really understand the language. German did have an influence on the Texas accent, so it makes sense.
Her German has a serious Texas accent to it. You don’t need to know German to hear it!
She absolutely does!
@@crucialtaunt5717 Yes ! Very Texas Hill Country accent
Yeah, it's definitely affecting her pronunciation. Sometimes, it's like the southern accent adds syllables, but it's just how vowels get said.
Sounds like a Texas twang mixed with a little Brooklyn.
I was going to comment on this. I don't know German but that is a clear southern accent just with different words.
I know almost no German, but that Texas accent is STRONG.
That was my thought as well! The accent is disappearing but she sounds just like my grandparents generation of Texans.
Guten tag y'all!
As if Peggy Hill were teaching a German class.
I thought so too, but I'm surprised he didn't seem to mention that. In fact, I would hear a strong drawl and he would stop it and say something like 'oh that was Western German.'
@@McP1mpin germans are the largest european ethnic group in the state and spoke one of the slowest languages in the world, a big reason for texas' drawl *was* the germans themselves
I am a Texan, and a Texas German speaker. I am 46 Years old, and my people are from Oldenberg, in north Germany.
they have been in America since after the first world war. I still have my great grandparents immigration photos and identification papers.
Both these ladys speak like mine Oma.
I went to university in Oldenburg (Niedersachsen). My family is from the Bremen area. My dad forgot his German when he was in his 20s because he was embarrassed to be German (born in 1941 in the USA into a German village in Nebraska), and went on to work in cities and for the govt. His family spoke Plattdeutsch.
I was interested in German as a kid, but did not have an opportunity to until my late 20s. I am 51 now and have an MA in Applied Linguistics (emphasis German). I did not know about Texas German.
I always wondered about why people care so much to be honest? Not judging you I’m just saying my German ancestors with a very, very German sounding last name showed up 200 years ago in the upper Midwest and it’s just not of interest to me. I was interested I guess enough to find the gravestone of the first man that landed here that is my ancestor. Born in 1826 in Saxony. I understand after that they weren’t interested at all in being German and really focused on being American.
Unfortunately, that is the issue with America today - immigrants aren't forced to learn English and swear allegiance to the American flag like they used to. They retain their cultural differences and live in enclaves where they don't have to learn any differently. The Germans chose to become American.
Native Texan here, mine are from nearby Vechta.
@@2steaksandwiches665 possibly because "American" is mostly fictional (political) whereas "German," "Irish," "French" are still very *ethnic* terms. We want to know who our *people* are, not who our "fellow citizens" are. And if you don't know the difference, then your blue haired gay communist child lover teachers and other programmers were very successful with you. Congratulations, "American."
50 yrs ago, when I was a child I played in a community with Czechs, Germans, Mexicans and Texans. My little band of kids would rove from house to house begging for treats from the various moms. We were international cookie bandits!
hahaha too cute😆!!
Too funny
That's beautiful
International cookie bandits!? 😂😂😂😂😂 I like that
The International Cookie Bandits would be a great title for something.
The Germans in Fredericksburg come from Koblenz, Braunschweig, and Weissenfels. They were the only settlers who kept their treaties with the Comanche so they were left alone while other settlers were massacred. The Fredericksburgers also opposed slavery and the secession of Texas from the Union. A group tried to escape to Mexico but were ambushed by Confederate supporters and killed near the Nueces River.
Yes this is a awesome video do more videos about America .my grandmother spoke German and English but was banned for speaking German also. During the war
An ancestor of WW2 naval hero, Admiral Chester Nimitz, whose ancestors were from the Hamburg area, served in the Confederacy.
This is incredible historical information thank you!
An interesting fact that I didn’t know. Thanks for sharing this.
@@Don_1776 My uncle C. Zimmerman, offered to pay all my university if I studied German. I Said NO. Now, making 131,000 a year in GIS!
My grandfather spoke Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a form of German. When he served in WWII, he discovered that he could talk with the German prisoners and although some words were pronounced differently, they were similar enough to understand.
Very cool!
Pennsylvania Dutch is dying out as well.
A lot of German heritage sites in America were renamed Austrian, Swiss or Dutch during World War II when we were at war with the Germans. There’s a “Swiss” village near where I live that a lot of people don’t know it started off as a German village.
@@ejohnson3131 In Australia, especially the state of South Australia which had a huge number of German immigrants (over 10% of the population at one stage), they renamed most of the German towns for the same reason. Most have kept the new name but a few, such as Hahndorf changed their names back years after the war was over.
@@ejohnson3131The Mennonites and Amish that speak “Pennsylvania Dutch” are originally from Switzerland not Germany. They immigrated to the Rhineland-Pfalz area of Germany to escape persecution from the Catholic Swiss government before immigration to America.
While in Germany, i can always get a German to smile just by saying, "Verzeihung, aber ich komme aus Texas!" And then, they're usually confused because they (especially in Saxony and Berlin) think that, by my accent, I'm from Frankfurt. It wasn't until _after_ returning from my first trip to Germany that I discovered that my great-grandmother had been Hessian... (I credit it to spending too much time reading Goethe in college.)
Sounds like me. I grew up loving British TV and books. I later learned that my ancestry is about 90% English, and goes back to at least Elizabethan London!
Congratulations to these people who were able to maintain their German language in Texas throughout all these years despite the influence of the English language.
My grandmother, born in 1882, spoke German in Baltimore. Her family came in the mid-1800s or before and were established in Pennsylvania as innkeepers. They had been innkeepers in Reutlingen. My cousin did a trip there and found a grave from the 1640s with the same names as my parents, Jacobus (James) and Elizabeth.
The German heritage was lost during WW1. There was so much hate for Germans that towns which functioned whole in German stopped so they wouldn't be attacked.
@@kappageminiThat's what happened to my great great grandpa. He was in Ingram, near Kerrville.
There were also internment camps for German people in America. 😱 rarely gets talked about
@@kappagemini The Czech towns are more prominent, you still sometimes hear Czech when you're in one of those. I was disappointed how little of the German heritage seemed to be left the last time I went through New Braunfels, although I think they still do the statewide famous Oktoberfest.
I'm from Texas and we love the Texas Germans! So glad you reacted to this! Great to see what modern Germans have to say.
I am a native Texan, I am Hispanic, fun fact in central and southern Texas most Mexican families are inter married with German families, a lot of our culture here is mixed, which is evident in Tex Mex and sausage.
San Antonio here. Huge German influence in town and street names around here, especially the north side.
Me too! Grew up in Houston and my German boyfriend was amazed when we went to Fredericksburg, Schulenburg, etc where newspapers were in German. Of course he was from Niedersachsen so he believed all German dialects were inferior to his own. Still, he was amazed at the preservation of German culture.
@@limolnar you got to get peaches and other fruit in Fredericksburg during the summer. They are absolutely delicious. They are definitely smaller but the flavor makes up for it.
@@joegarza4869and beer! The German settlers taught Mexicans about the art of the brew
I'm a German American from Missouri. I can definitely hear the Texan accent. My grandparents came from Hanover, Germany.
Mine from Munich
I'm from Hanover, Kansas! In the immediate vicinity are Bremen, Hollenberg and Frankfort. When I was growing up, lots of the adults still spoke German and that inspired me to study German in college.
My German relatives came over from Prussia in the 1850s and lived in the German settlements around STL. I started learning German in high school and went to Germany in College - loved it! Felt like a 2nd home to me!
Oh, cool, I'm in Hamburg, not so far from Hannover
When I hear Hanover, I chuckle as my friend in school would make jokes of it, hand it over, bend over and Flowers over Dover. I wonder where he is right now
I had a history teacher in high school from Fredericksburg. He said he didn’t hear English spoken until he went to elementary school. He gave me proper German lessons at lunch because I wanted to learn. We had an exchange student from Hamburg who said that the Fredericksburg German didn’t use the Dativ case. Tejano music is old-style polka music sung in Spanish, using accordion as the main instrument. It originated in the mid-19th century from local Tejanos loving the music of German and Czech immigrants in Central and South Texas. Tejano bands have been invited to go play Oktoberfest in Germany for the last 20 years or so. There aren’t enough bands playing polka music in Germany anymore, so they’re an important addition.
i am not sure if it is true that they don't use the Dative case, since that is your indirect object, however, they definitely still use the Genitive (possessive). In Germany the dative is starting to completely replace the genitive case. To me that sounds weird, but i have been gone from germany almost 30 years. Back then only the local dialects favored the dative over the genitive (i am frankonian). I think that is what the exchange student was probably noticing.
"Tejano bands have been invited to go play Oktoberfest in Germany for the last 20 years or so. There aren’t enough bands playing polka music in Germany anymore, so they’re an important addition."
Thats something I like about everyone interacting culturally and taking and giving of themselves and their history. Stuff like this brings us closer together.
@@uliwehner I read something maybe a year ago or so about how the Genitive case was being used less and less in Germany.
@@infancysguard yes, that is what i was saying. People work around it by using the Dative instead. Die Mutter des Kindes becomes "Die Mutter von dem Kind". intelligible, but not exactly elegant.
As a native San Antonian, thank you for this. I had no idea Tejano bands had been playing in Germany during Oktoberfest. You taught me something today. 🤠
Thanks for not dismissing this. Many Texas Germans stopped speaking it during WWII for fear of being lumped in with the people you think. I grew up in the Hill Country and part of my family is German. As far as I know, my great grandfather (we called him Opa) was the last person in our family to ever speak it. I was a toddler when he died.
too bad. Bring it back!
Me too! I grew up in the Hill Country and I have my grandfather's Lutheran Small Catechism which is in German. He was bilingual, but died suddenly even before my father was born. My father doesn't know German but my kids still call him Opa.
My mother's first language was German. She said that during WW2, she and her siblings and cousins were not allowed to speak German in public for fear of being put in camps like the American born Japanese descent USA citizens.
My mother, her siblings, and her cousins all had a German and Southern Texas accent mixed.....very unusual!
My maternal grandmother, also German, said the same.....no speaking German in public during WW1 and WW2.
This is coming for free speech in general. 🎉
Same with PA Dutch!
I’m a Mexican-American/born and raised Texan and I started taking German since my freshman year of high school all the way to college. I ended up living in Germany for a year. All because there is so much German culture around me growing up. I currently reside in a town founded by a German family and in the old town 5 minutes from me is a German supermarket. The German heritage here is so cool and inspired my love for the German language and culture.
I never knew this about Texas!?!!
That’s wild because I’m from Texas (German ancestry but not immersed in it culturally) and I grew up around Mexican culture and have a love for it haha. Texas is so great
I grew up in Houston, Texas, USA. I studied Deutsch in high-school for two years. When I was about 17 years of age I traveled to west Texas (Castroville) to spend a weekend with the grandparents of a friend of mine by the name of Haas. Everybody in that family spoke Texasdeutsch, and I enjoyed very much speaking with them. I don't remember very much about the experience after all these years, except the Grossvater said "mied" instead of "müde" (tired). I'm nearly 80 now and living in Arkansas. As a long-ago student of the German language, and having been raised in Texas, I have greatly enjoyed this video. It brought back pleasant memories. Vielen Dank!
We have close family friends who speak German, and Im learning German….I once heard my great grandfather who was Navajo and Apache speak German to a man and I was SHOCKED, so we’re learning German, we don’t want it to die here in Texas.
My family emigrated from East Prussia (Pozen) to Texas in 1868. Started farming and owned two farms near Austin. As a child in the 1950's, I would walk into a room where my Great-Grandmother, her son and daughter, my grandfather and great-aunt, would be speaking in German. The moment I, or any other child, would enter the room they would immediately start speaking in English. That's one significant reason Texas Deutsch ist Kaput. I still remember one word that was popular in the German-Texas vocabulary, "Wasser Melone": Watermelon!
Part of my grandma's family also emigrated from Prussia, what she always referred to as Province Posen. They settled in Washington County, TX, near Brenham. The other part of her family emigrated to the same area from Hanover. Grandma said her family pretty much stopped speaking German openly during World War I, as there was much prejudice against anything German, but she did try and teach me a few phrases. She was very proud of her German heritage!
My great grandfather, his dad, and other family members came from the same area. They eventually wound up in the Texas Panhandle.
Norwegian-Americans were also like that. My older relatives would switch to English in front of us. They were kind of ashamed of speaking Norwegian, because it was seen as being a "bumpkin" or "rustic", but at the same time they were very proud of their Norwegian heritage. We kids were supposed to be completely American, so if we spoke Norwegian it was seen by the older people as being "old-fashioned" or a failure.
@@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz Yes. My wife is from North Dakota. She has a Norwegian and Swedish heritage. Her grandmother spoke Norwegian, and her mother spoke some Norwegian. But there was no deliberate effort to teach the kids anything but English.
Very cool! My family also emigrated from the same area of Prussia in 1872 to southern Illinois. They are buried in the German section of Moravian Cemetery in West Salem, Illinois. All the headstones are in German.
Sounds like German with a Texas accent. My native language is English, but I’ve spoken French for many years. A few years ago, I began to study Spanish. To my surprise, I’ve been told by several native instructors that I speak Spanish with a French accent! Very odd.
I had the same problem when I was helping my son learn Spanish. My second language is French so when I tried to speak basic Spanish it sounded kind of French lol
I was told I speak German with a French accent. I learned to speak French as a child
Me too lol 😂
Doesn't seem weird at all. French is much closer to Spanish than English is, and you're bound to say things in a familiar way when they match the structure of French so closely. (Though I speak Spanish and can't pronounce French to save my life, so I do know they're different, lol!)
I was constantly told in Germany that I, an American, spoke German with a heavy Russian accent. Explain that one lol
I'm from Munich, Bavaria. Spoke with Bavarian accent at home. I could understand her perfectly. German-Americans usually use English words while speaking. I've lived here over 65 years but speak Bavarian with my relatives and friends in Munich.
I love your joy when you hear her speak.
Mein Opa kommt aus Deutschland. Er hat über 50 Jahre in den USA gelebt. Er hat mir von Texasdeutsch erzählt. Als er nach Texas kam, sprach er mit ihnen und sagte, ihr Dialekt klinge genauso, als ob er mit seiner Großmutter gesprochen hätte.
My Opa is from Germany. He lived in the US for over 50 years. He told me about Texas German. When he went to Texas, he spoke to them and said their dialect sounded the same as if he had been speaking to his grandma.
Thing about German in the US. Germans that came from northern Germany mostly migrate to the southern states. Southern Germans and Austrian migrated to Midwest.
No. 75% of the German immigrants into Nebraska came from Schleswig Holstein.
My family was from the southern Rhine region, and settled in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
This is my experience as well. I'm from Wisconsin. My German ancestors were from Bavaria, Baden-Würtemburg, and Rheinland-Pfalz
All my family is from Wisconsin with German heritage from Bavaria. They moved over just before the German Revolutions around 1850. There was such a large community of Germans in Wisconsin that my Dad, born in 1962, is actually full German by blood even though he was born and raised in the US. I'm 70% with my Mom's Irish genetics mixing in.
@@Valdal98im from jersey. my dad is very confident he has german ancestry. 23andme disagrees
As a Mennonite, some of the older members still speak low German because Mennonites and Amish kept themselves from others for many years.
It’s crazy that I can hear the Texan accent in there. I took German in high school and I’m surprised at how much of this I could follow.
Makes you wonder how much the accent is influenced from the German settlers.
I took six semesters of university-level German, although I haven't spoken it for years. Even so, I could follow everything the speaker said. P.S. -- I'm a fourth-generation Texan.
@@wordforger Exactly what I was thinking, I'd imagine the broader settlers are responsible for why the American accents are more diverse and unlike Australia and New Zealand which are more of a mix of various British accents.
Ditto!!
@@wordforger I have lived in Texas since I was like 3, and although most of the people I talk to on a daily basis speak with an American Standard accent (or whatever you call the basic American accent I have for the most part).. she definitely sounds like she has a rural Texas accent (or lots of places in the south).. if I didn't know better I would assume she was born speaking English with a Texas accent and learned German later in life.. as someone who does not speak german.
I do vaguely recall hearing much older recordings of Texas german that did not have such an accent present.. so I am pretty sure that the English accent affected the german dialect, *much* more than the other way around.
We are Texan, and getting old. My husband's grandmother was not allowed to speak English when she got home from school, because her parents only spoke German.
Her daughter, my mother-in-law, can speak German a little, but she refused to give me any German recipes, because she prefers Tex-Mex. (We still make the baked goods, just no rouladen or senfeier. When she was a child, she HATED being forced to eat mustard eggs on cold days.)
I'm descended from Schnaus and Schnellens, but they changed their names to Snow and Snelen during WWII. German was no longer spoken.
My father's family also smashed the entire set of 1800s china that had been brought with the family years ago, long before the wars. It really had to be done. It had a benign sign of auspiciousness and good luck, a swastika, painted on it, but after the symbol became associated with evil, you couldn't serve your friends dinner on THAT.
My great grandmother has been gone for years. I remember her voice had a accent. I'm 65 now .I loved my grandma Rose.
Part of the. development is that as American Germans internationalized English they sometimes applied English phonics rules to German which resulted in some interesting results.
I can understand pretty much everything - I was born here in Houston, but didn't speak English until I was 5 - all German (Schwäbisch). My German is from the 60's...and it's funny when I return to Germany to visit my family and they laugh at my old fashioned speech.
@schulzeg really neat to think about when groups break off from the main country and then the language they take with them becomes a historical speech pattern. Kinda like history preserved. I wonder how much of the old language he will see when he reviews Amish speech.
I have a very similar experience. Born in 1946 in Philadelphia I did not speak English when I started grade school in 1954 because I and my sister lived with our grandparents on our mothers side. This was due to the fact that my father was in a Vetrans hospital with PTSD, better known as shell shock back then. During this time, my mother was working because dad was in hospital, so my grandmother took care of my sister and me. Along with this my great grand father visited from Germany and my grand father sponsored his youngest sister, her husband and son. We were all living in the same house and no one spoke English. The language spoken was German. Schwabisch is the dialect I learned as a child and to some degree what I speak today, but not as good as I did as a young person. Not a lot of interaction with people who speak German to maintain the language. About 23 years ago the company I worked for had large, auto related, presses installed in the plant by Schuler-Pressen, a German company. The workmen installing the presses were all from Germany and in their 20's. When I spoke to them in my German they laughed or giggled and said they were amazed that I was speaking what they called old people talk. The only time they had heard German spoken like that was by someone very,very old. My family are from Baden Wurttenberg, Tubingen, and a dorf, Hirrlingen with other family in Reutlingen, Hechingen, Rottenburg, Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. I forgot to mention, my mother came to America at the age of seven. She had her seventh birthday on the ship on her way here in 1928. My father was born on the ship comming to America in 1918. My relatives never batted an eye or laughed when speaking to them but I did notice their children sort of smirk a bit. Sorry for going on so long, I'm getting old. I enjoyed your remark and memories.
@@user-bd7nc9wh6jOh wow, I'm surprised to see my region being mentioned ! Sending greeting from the area of Tübingen/Reutlingen, from a young person who was born and raised there (with a huge influence from my very Swabian oma lol) yet is unable to speak, yet alone understand much of the Swabian dialect, unfortunately 😅
@@emxilyk Gruss Gott ! Emilyk. How nice of you. Thank you for the greetings from Tubingen, Reutlingen !! A beautiful part of Deutschland. I spent many a day visiting family there. Are you in Deutschland or elsewhere in the world as of this writing ? I am living in the state of Michigan ,these days, in the U.S.A. Forgive me, please, for not writing in Deutsch if you are in Deutschland as I have not mastered writing in Deutsch. I speak fairly well but reading and writing is hard for me.
I have many fond memories of the times I've lived and visited family and places in Deutschland. The first time that I went to Deutschland was when I was in the Army. I was stationed in Fulda, Stat Hessen from 1966 to November 1968. At every opportunity I would go to visit family whenI was able to get leave. You may find this funny, I survived 3 days at Octoberfest in Munich in 1967 and 5 days, with family members, in Stuttgart for Cannstatter Volksfest in 1968 at the (,young) ,age of 19 and 20. I still laugh about that time to this day. During this time in Deutschland my grand father visited and took me with him to meet relatives in Tubingen, Reutlingen, Hechingen, Hirrlingen and other small towns where family resided, the names of which I can not remember. This was the very first time that I had ever seen them in person but recognised them from photos. This is a problem with getting old, I just seem to ramble on. Please forgive me. I wish you well in life, " alles Gute im Leben"!! P.S. Is 1109 the month and year you were born ? My name is Johannes Karl Schmidt but everyone calls me John. God bless !!!
Wow, you have such a similar story to me - so wonderful to hear it. And, amazed at all the family history you have. My mother's family is also from Baden-Württemburg - specifically Göppingen just outside of Stuttgart. I visit my relatives there as much as I can.
Germans also came to the US from Ukraine. Originally from Bavaria and Alsace. they'd been living in isolated German villages for 100 yrs in (then) Russia farming wheat. Many of these Volga Germans settled the in High Plains (ND, SD, KS, CO) in the new little German villages they built. They were speaking ONLY German (friends, family, Church, and grade schools) my father was 4th generation and had to learn English in 4th Grade when they moved to a town so he could attend more school.
My Grandmom’s family was part of the delegation to move to Ukraine
My grandmother was Volga German, her parents emigrated here in the 1920's. Did your family make Bierocks?
They also moved to central/eastern Washington. Check out Odessa WA.
and to add, when the US had POW camps in KS, CO, they would allow the German POW's to help the neighboring farms as per Geneva convention rules, and get paid. Guess what? There were a LOT of German immigrants who owned the fields around those camps who spoke German (or 2st gen Germans) so the German POW's were surprised and comfortable. Many did not want to go back to a bombed out Germany and wanted to return to the US.
My father's family came from the Odessa Germans. I was tickled to find our name in the residence logs. My father was a Lang from N. Dakota.
I was so happy to see you enjoying listening to these folks and understanding that their German is a whole other dialect! My French-Canadian and Louisiana Cajun friends are often met with almost mockery when they are in France. Their French is somewhat archaic as well as having evolved over a few centuries of being away from the homeland (during which time the French spoken in France also evolved, but differently) - but a Frenchman could certainly pick up the gist of it. They just like to act superior!
I was in Montreal with a Belgium and he made no attempt to speak French there. He said what they were speaking really sounded strange. To be fair he was a native flemish (Dutch) speaker, but still I am sure completely fluent in proper french.
Fredericksburg is probably one of the most German towns in central Texas. Been there many times, great food and wine. She is speaking what is known as Texasdeutsch which is a dialect of Hochdeutsch.
isn't Hochdeutch 'written' german?
@@emilmlodnicki3835”high” german, or “standard” german. Basically the basis of the language
No, it's not. It's very different from Hochdeutsch. It's more like Northern German, which is low German.
In Germany they say Hannover has the purest form of German, and that’s an hour from Hamburg, so pretty far north.
@@emilmlodnicki3835 Hochdeutsch would be like the "KIng's or Queen's English". It is generally accepted that if you speak Hochdeutsch, any German speakers will understand you, if not recognize you are not a native speaker.
It should be said that Germans were treated horribly in the 19th and 20th centuries. German immigrants in certain parts of the U.S. even experienced violence. Some states banned German from being spoken, they banned German language schools and banned German books. So it's pretty amazing that it's still spoken.
All states banned all languages but English under Woodrow Wilson.
In Central Texas the KKK intimidated and assaulted Texas Germans in Washington County and Austin County. There were tar and featherings I think and even a murder.
Before then our community had German newspapers, advertisements, German in school and in church.
As I was growing up we still had some special services in German (like Christmas). I didn’t know oh Tannenbaum had English words until I was in high school. And we still had local am radio programs like Texas polka time. But now I think most of that is gone.
He claimed to be of Swedish origin but he could be a distant cousin of my family , immigrants from Hesse. Common name there is Strumpf, not the anglicized Trump.
My grandmother was born in the US, and she had to learn English in Kindergarten. My great grandparents only spoke German. A previous pastor at my church's brother provided German language services over the radio until the early 1970's.
My Great Grandmother never learned English. My Grandma did well and saw to it she never lacked for anything, so she never had to.
@@NuNugirl I live near the area known as the "German Triangle" of the Midwest. German migrants would flow into this area, so the German language was commonplace.
Good to hear him acknowledge how modern German has actually evolved as well. The German spoken in Germany today is not exactly the same as German spoken in the time that their ancestors left their country. That's something a lot of native speakers forget about multigenerational expats. You must consider that their dialect may be closer to the norm for standard German from the past; because native German dialects tend to evolve faster than the dialects of expat populations.
I live in North Houston. A very heavy German influence community that settled in the mid 1800’s. They came and bought land as simple farmers. Families like the “Klein” family, and “Wunderlich” family’s that local schools were named after. In fact our local town “Tomball” has such huge German history they celebrate it ever year. This year Tomball will be celebrating “German Fest” December 13-15 2024. With over 150 street vendors, live stage music and entertainment it’s very local and very fun. I hope CHRIS you would google “Texas Tomball German Fest“. I was the vice president of the German club for Klein oak Highschool back in the late 1990’s. We visited old people homes and attended German heritage celebrations around the local towns. Singing German music and trying to speak German to the old German born Texans brought them tears to their eyes. That is something I shall never forget. TOMBALL GERMAN FEST! December 13-15. Make memories. THANK you Chris, wish you could attend.
I know these places and names you mentioned. I live in Champion Forest.
I live in Klein and 2 of my kids graduated from Klein Oak and 1 from Klein Collins. I love how the school district has honored the original German families in the Spring/Klein area. I'll make note of the festival in Tomball
Yep... I grew up in Cypress, Texas and in Tomball. All my neighbors were descendents of German immigrants. A lot of farmers/ranchers and dairy.
Families like Treichel, Hillibrandt, Schultz, Klein, Schiel, Huffmeister, Mueschke, Rudle and many, many more.
The woman in the video reminds me SOOO much of my neighbor in Cypress, Texas. She looks almost identical to my wonderful neighbor. She is like my 2nd mom!!!
I raised my family in Klein off of Kuyendahl Road! Two graduates of Klein High School. I grew up inside the Loop in old town Houston, the Heights! 😁
I am learning German on Duolingo for over a year now and I understood almost all of it because she speaks it slowly and with an accent. This was great fun for me. I think I'll subsribe to this channel!
I'm 6th generation German heritage here in the US. None of my family speaks German, but I can recognize German words embedded in the English language. That's it. Good reaction video. I enjoyed it!!!
German with a thick Texas accent
It does not get better than that lol
New Braunfels is a wonderful place to visit.
There are so many different accents, in the lone star state but this one has always been one of my favorites.
I’m from Texas and I don’t think my husband knows about this. His father was German and he grew up speaking German.
He’s gonna love this.
History teacher here: Rheinland-pfalz/palatinate groups kind of wound up everywhere. My grandmother’s grandad emigrated from Erden & was part of the Simon/Best family that created Bitburger & later in the U.S. they created Pabst beer in Milwaukee. My dad’s side comes from Geestemünde-Bremerhaven. Lots of mixes between all the German groups, mostly due to the mutual intelligibility of the German language/cultural norms that they shared. So so so so many Germans in the Midwest US. Really they’re the largest immigrant group & many times they married into Irish families because of shared neighborhoods & giant families. Texas makes some amazing German style beers like Shiner Bock, made by Spoetzl Brewing. Also, America’s oldest brewery is German: Yuengling Brewery, which comes from the Jüngling family name, and the Yngling Norse family name.
Yes, I grew up in a Midwest small farming town that was very German/Luxembourg. My family is indeed Irish/Luxembourg/German.
@@pretzel_cat same! Except Irish, Swedish, German.
This was fascinating to learn. Being from St. Louis, home of Anhueser Busch and former Lemp breweries, I respect your direct connection to Pabst. As a history nut thanks for the background on Yuengling. Unfortunately, AB is no longer American owned. Prost! Or to honor my Irish…Slainte! 🍻🇺🇸🇮🇪🇩🇪
@@TylerFromTraining Same, except Swedish, English and Bohemian.
I was so surprised when he said that he couldn't hear that much of an American accent. The moment she started talking I just heard Texan, lol. And that's coming from a fellow Texan. It sounds quite different from what I hear from the few German people I've listened to. But he'd know better than me so I trust his opinion. Very fun video ❤
I live around a lot of amish and old german Baptist/Mennonites so I hear the German language almost every day.
Central Illinois has a lot of Mennonites, most speak English though.
@@jamesanderson5268 while many Jews moved to major cities, there's still several yiddish communities spread out (and no, not just the religious. Honestly, the fewer in the 24/7 religious community (save the americanized na nachs, which you'll find more but that's a special case) have any knowledge of Yiddish or other distinctive J languages besides Hebrew. You find it more in smaller, often more secular communities... cultural holdouts. Sometimes becoming a rebellious culture onto itself. But I digress. If they're capable in Yiddish, they usually know German pretty well. It tends to go hand in hand.. only a slight difference with more Yiddish infusion. Iowa and surrounding states had several but a lot more moved out between the riots and quarantine. But like German migration, most are found northeast and southeast (more the burbs than the city) and then spread across the southwest. There's several semi-rural pockets through Texas (spring, tx, I believe was one) and New Mexico (several spread between abq and sante fe, again, older family lines, more in semi rural areas, ex-hippie conclaves). For, Arizona, there were Y communities spread further once upon at time, but gradually moved northwards around Flagstaff and many would move to Colorado - cannabis legalization likely helped. Several semi-rural communities in SoCal and of course, Palm Springs though that's mostly an elderly crowd... so, not for much longer. Santa Barbara and Ventura County still has several but given it's a popular area for J events with those from the east coast and a low opinion of the locals, they veer more to the secular but remain known through academics and historians, which provides incentives for it's continuation. You still find smaller pockets from Santa Cruz to San Diego, but it's dying out.. there has been infusion from eastern communities, becoming more of a fad in entertainment but those cycles come and go. The overall vibe as they go west is more hippish, ex-hippy communities, from older families and their descendants, a lot situated around semi-rural, small agricultural communities, in CA the pockets are largely situated around canyons, seaside coves, the townies of classic resort towns from the mountains to the desert. Similar pattern follows other hybrid languages as well, lost or losing with older family lines and getting infusions from newer immigrants or migrants from other states.
Northern Indiana also has a significant Amish and Mennonite community. It’s interesting you can tell who primarily speaks English at home and who primarily speaks Pennsylvania Dutch because those who primarily speak Pennsylvania Dutch actually speak English with a slight accent.
@@megankuchta9145 in Ohio too. Family there told me many times it's mainly Dutch BUT there is obvious German in some areas. Told me in one town, they had to vote for a 4th gen German mayor because the town got their milk and vegetables from the Amish there who spoke ONLY German. No pesticides unlike today's food so it was very healthy. My cousin told me the carrots/cabbages are HUGE. No major store has these mutated carrots and cabbages. and for DIRT CHEAP.
@@megankuchta9145 I live in northern Indiana.
My father's family immigrated to a German settlement in Texas in the late 1800's, and up until the 1940's they had German language schools, German language newspapers, and German language radio. Most of those were shut down by the government, and some voluntarily by the communities. All of my aunts and uncles born before world war 2 speak German, and all born after were only allowed to learn English.
Same in my town.
😊
It was so cute hearing German with a southern or Texan accent. I loved it & the last lady was maybe trying to remember the word she wanted to say. I thought they did great because you know they probably don't speak German everyday so that & maybe their memory is starting to get forgetful like I am now at 62yrs old. But I loved German with a Texas accent was adorable. 🤠🖤❤💛😍😄
As an English speaker, I'm just used to there being people all over the world who speak English with different accents. It's cool seeing you so fascinated by that same experience. I just take mine for granted.
My grandfather was born into an American German home in Arkansas. My family name is Drewrey which I believe originated from France but became Drury in England and Germany. Then my ancestors changed the spelling to Drewrey when they came to America. My grandfather served proudly in WW2 and earned a silver star and purple heart medals for his actions at Normandy and Operation Market Garden. He was ever proud of our German heritage and the war was hard for him. It was wonderful to see these folks and your response to them! ❤
I am an American but I am “selbstgelernt” in German. I understood her very well. I had trouble with Bavarian German and Swiss German. When I spoke to people in Hanover I understood every word. When I said that to the gentleman he in a haughty manner said “ Naturlich, Ich Spreche nur Hoch Deutsch”! I used to be .fairly fluent when I had many business trips to Germany, but have not been there in 30 years. With no one to converse with I have lost all but the most basic phrases. This was a fun video. A lovely lady. Thanks.
English has so many German root words that quite a bit of it sounds familiar. Plus even her German has a bit of the Texas twang.
English is a Germanic language
26% but 29% French
Well kind of inaccurate to say German root words when both languages have a common ancestor
1:24 I'll tell you why. One, better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. Two, knowing multiple languages helps prevent Alzheimer's and Dementia.
My first wife's mother was from New Braunfels. When her mother, aunt and uncle got together, they spoke among themselves in German. And the aunt and uncle who still lived there obviously had grown up with German as their first language and had very heavy accents and used German word order when speaking English. Comal County kept the official county records in German way into the 20th century. The state had to force them to change. But the newspaper was long published in German and English editions. But yes, the old German speakers are dying out. None of my wife's generation know any appreciable amount of German.
As I approach retirement, I am searching for a place in Texas where there might be people who still speak some German. I know the hill country is pretty much decimated, but I've heard that there are still folks down in Hallettsville that still preserve the language. Any idea? Thanks!
As a Texan with about 3 years of self taught German, this was very fun to watch man. Liked and subbed
also see the Amish who speak a form of German
I was just going to suggest that myself!
Yea, it's called Dutch! The Amish are DUTCH. Ofcourse it sounds similar, they are from Holland.
Amish are from Germany, not Holland.@@Cody38Super edited to add- they speak Pennsylvania Dutch but it's not actually Dutch, so I can see why you'd think that.
@Cody38Super "Deutsch" sounds like "Dutch" to the American English ear and they probably heard Dutch often and Deutsch as only German confusion is bound to happen. Also when Germans started to be frowned upon cause of the wars I could easily see them excepting the confusion of Dutch and denying German heritage.
Pennsylvania Dutch. Not from Holland. Not dutch. Is deutsch. Just how it's spelled.
My wife grandpa’s first language was German and he was born and raised in Rochester NY. His father was from Hamburg his mother was born on the boat on the way but family was from there. Him and his mother didn’t bother past the 70’s since anybody they ran into spoke southern German dialects and said the same thing- couldn’t understand it. His no accent English was with strong annunciations like someone that learned English, very clear English Th and T. The little he spoke with my middle son (who is learning) before he died was perfect “old speech”. Well Enough rambling I just appreciate these things.
Here in Texas they used to have many German speakers however WW2 of course changed that with the war leading to propaganda of "Don't speak the language of the enemy" (German, Italian and Japanese) with persecution as well even for Spanish although they were neutral, however as multiculturalism is becoming more embraced i wouldn't be surprised to see those numbers increase to what they were.
WWI was when my grandmother's family stopped speaking German.
You can be of German descent, but it's not accepted even now (at least in 2/3 states I've lived). When it came out Trump was of German descent, everyone called him a "nazi"... that just proves people are still too ignorant to accept Germans who have any pride in their heritage. They'll go to Oktoberfest & drink beer, but call you a white supremacist if you wear a German flag on your shirt at school. I hope things get better with the younger generations... but I'm not confident... one day hopefully!
If it weren't for World War II German pows we wouldn't have Lake Texoma
Cool to see Germans of the native land learning of the German population here in the U.S.! If you were ever interested in learning of more instances like this, you can find German blood primarily all throughout the middle/north area of the U.S., essentially from Texas all the way up to Minnesota and Montana. In fact, almost 50% of U.S. citizens in the Northern States and 30-40% of the Midwest have direct roots to Germany. My German relatives came to the U.S. prior to World War I. Liebe Grüße von einem US-Bürger mit deutschen Urgroßeltern aus Oklahoma 😁
Love this. In the 1960s, I attended the Univ. of Texas in Austin. I met a girl there who spoke English quite well, but had grown up in a household that spoke nothing but German. She grew up on a farm outside of Fredericksburg. I was required to learn the German language for my degree, and she helped me immensely. Her pronunciation was a bit different on some words than my instructors, but pretty close. She told me that she didn't speak English at all until she started 1st grade.
I lived in Fredericksburg, Texas for 18 years and knew many descendants of the original settlers who spoke fluent German and even thought in German! Nicest people I've ever met. They made me wish I was of German descent but alas! my ancestors were Scottish. LOL!
Loved this. My family is strongly German descent but many generations in America so none of us speak German. I had two years of German in high school but have forgotten most of what I learned. Am now learning some German online. I understand more written German than spoken. People talk too fast for my brain to process!😂
My family settled in North Dakota. My mother learned English in school but spoke low German at home. Her uncle Frank served in World War II, was shot and captured in his first battle at Monte Casino. He ended up in a prison camp in eastern Poland and served as the camp translator. Prisoners as well as German guards fled the Russian advance together. They had to walk across Poland and Germany during the coldest winter ever. Many a stray cat ended up in the steel helmet they used as a stew pot.
He has a book written about him, "Under the Twisted Cross."
It would be interesting for you to play these videos for a much older native speaker. In many cases, the way we do or say things in American English is the way they did in England at the time we separated. So America became a bit of a time capsule. I wonder if at least some of the dialect and non-standard pronunciations you are hearing could be in part to the way German may have been spoken in various parts of Germany 100-150 years ago.
This definitely happened with French Canadian, I was told by a French liguist that they love to study the French Canadian language as it is more like French spoken from the time of Louis XIV
This did happen with Texas German as well we say airplane and skunk differently than the modern German language there are other words and phrases that are different as well but those are the two most well known 😂
One thing interesting about Germans in Texas - from what I've heard, German musicians in Texas had an impact that carried over into Mexican music.
German militia saved Missouri from seceding in 1861. Many Germans had migrated to St Louis and the Mississippi Valley after the revolutions of 1848. They were staunchly pro-Union and anti-slavery. When the Missouri state assembly gathered to vote on secession in St Louis, it was German militia, armed secretly by the Federal Government, and placed under Federal Service, which marched into St Louis from Jefferson Barracks, captured the entire Confederate Missouri State Guard without firing a shot, and then rounded up all the treasonous legislators before they could vote secession.
as a St. Louisan I am very thankful for the role the German immigrants played in the Civil War, one of few proud moments in the state.
Yes! This was my family!
So sad that they supported the tyrant Lincoln
As importantly, the Union was able to secure the St. Louis Arsenal, which if it fell into CSA hands would have changed the course of the war in Missouri..at the very least.
@@franciet99 Your ancestors probably ended up in the 11th Corps under Steinwehr. Most of the St Louis German militia were absorbed into 11th Corps. They received very rough handling from Stonewall Jackson in the Wilderness campaign, and on the right flank of Gettysburg on the first day. Hard service, hot fighting.
I'm a german living in the USA , I can understand every word she's saying, she even has a dialect, love it !!!!!!
Chris I strongly suggest you investigate Fredericksburg, Texas and it's story. My family has its roots deep in that area. My family has a Sunday house. They're small houses to stay in so you could go to church. Many like my family lived so far from town it was an all day trip. Rather than miss church, they built small houses, came from the ranch in Saturday. The next morning they were ready for church. Then nap after service an be ready for evening service.
My grandfather and his entire family spoke German most of the time at home. My uncle all went to school in a tiny one room school that taught every grade. It wasn't until ww1 that as a group they decided to not speak German in public anymore
Ah, so cool to hear directly from someone that’s associated with the area. I stayed in many of the Sunday houses when they were rented out during the 80s and 90s. I’m not sure if they are still rented out as I haven’t been in the area for quite a while.
Howdy Chuck, looks like we might have the same last name. My parents didn't come to Texas untiil the 60s, but great to meet you just the same!
I speak German, and I have to say that it is actually harder to understand than German from Germany. Usually when I'm speaking with someone with a dialect I can focus on the differences, but she hops all over the German map. The occasional English word makes me smile because it sounds so Texan.
I'm a first generation American raised by German parents. As a child, my parents only spoke German when they didn't want me to know what they were talking about....which was very often! As soon as I was able, I took three years of German in school which ended the "secret" German. My mother also had a very unique accent. Even though she was born in Germany, she grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I remember she would make rouladen with potato pancakes and collard greens.
Same with my parents. They spoke Polish to each other when they didn't want us kids to know what they were saying. I learned a little Polish on my own but by that time they stopped speaking it.
Also, my mom could understand German but couldn't speak it (her mom came from German occupied Poland - late 1800's).
I'm of German descent here in KS. Great grandma was the granddaughter of the one who immigrated here. Her maiden last name was Frerking and they are from Esperke
Fascinating. My ancestors came over from Germany in 1714 to Virginia. Eventually ended up in Indiana. From South of cologne. I was always told we were low dutch. There are still street signs here that say strasse. And many families still have an accent.
The reason people mistakenly refer to Germans as Dutch is because of the Germans would tell you they are Deutsch..
@@cuzz63 I could be wrong but I believe Dutch was the term for all continental Germanic peoples for a long time, especially Germans and Dutch. after all, it just means 'people'
@@keegster7167 cant say thats isnt true doesnt refute my point. Deutsch sounds like they are saying Dutch.
@@cuzz63especially if they are speaking plaut..…as deutsh comes out sounding like dootsch
I'm not German, I'm just an American who has studied a bit of German. I thought it was really interesting to hear her talk. I did notice the "R" sound is more of the balled up tongue American "R" sound. I also found it really cute to hear the Southern US accent in German. That kind of singsong inflection that you get only in the south of this country. Or elsewhere if people listen to too much country music. These things would be corrected by my German teacher when I was taking classes, but it's kinda nice to hear this as a separate dialect. I think it's kinda cool.
That was wonderful Chris. I studied German when I was young, but don't speak it much. I still understand quite a bit. Just yesterday, I was thinking that I need to review my German so that I can hopefully become fluent, again. It was fun listening to this and seeing what I understood. I would appreciate this more educational approach, and, I love the type of videos you usually do. Thanks again. Peace
American here who can stumble along in German and understand maybe 80% of what people are saying, generally. It's so interesting to me, seeing your reaction (and yes, I really appreciated the background of this). When I heard a STRONG Texas accent, you were comparing it to Plattdeutsch. When her Texas accent was far less prominent, you said you heard an American accent. Really interesting. Thanks for this video.
Here in Minnesota there was a town of German speakers but the last fluent speaker probably isn’t alive anymore because he was in his 80’s in the early 2000’s. We do have German available in high school here in Minnesota still.
My boss knows very limited German because of her family, they are also from Minnesota.
My mom and dad were born and raised in Kansas in German communities. They were both bilingual. It's my understanding that dad's family was from Bavaria and mom's was from Prussia. School was in German until WW1. Then everything was switched to English. I never learned to speak German. There were a number of different dialects. There were Volga Germans, Mennonites, Prussian and Bavarian.
Fredericksburg is the home town of Chester Nimitz, the US Navy admiral in charge of the Pacific fleet during most of World War 2. There is a museum for him there. The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN68) is named after him. Just a little US history to add to this video.
I am of German heritage, but my ancestors came to America in 1750. One of my German ancestors fought in the American Revolution. After the Revolution, that ancestor was a pioneer in Kentucky, and fought for the North in the Civil War. My Great Grandfather was the grandson of one of these men, and moved, with his family, to Minnesota, where my grandmother, father and I, were born.
My recently-passed 96 year old mother was born in Austin and raised in the Hill Country, too, in Wimberley, not far from the German-Texan towns you mention. She always spoke of German- speakers by her, yes, but also of * Russians *, a very secretive group of Russians who moved to the Hill Country the early 1920s. They were so secretive, and came up from the south (Mexico), that the people in Wimberley always figured they were Trorskyites escaping the Purge. There was a little girl my Mom's age from one of these Russian families who always kept strictly to herself: never played with the other children, went to school and shot back home every day. Acted like she was scared to death. That little girl stayed in that house, aging, as her Russian family died around her. Might even be there still today.
My grandfather spoke Texas German, but he didn't outside of the house. He grew up with a bit of a stigma around it, was an indentured servant to his uncle. Didn't really talk much at all. He didn't teach my mom or her siblings. Would be pretty cool if I'd learned it.
Here's a fun fact. The first Continental Congress of the United States of America voted on what language would be our official language. English won by ONE vote. The runner-up was GERMAN. We came damn close to German being the official language of the USA. lol
Really? I never knew that 😮
The U.S. doesn't have an official language. English is the most common language.
@@jamiemoss3633 You are full of crap.
@@jamiemoss3633true, and Spanish is #2
I lived in the San Antonio, Texas area for over 20 years. I was born in Germany (Bitburg) to American military parents (I still have my German birth certificate) and lived in Germany (Ramstein) when I was in 4th, 5th and 6th grades. My ancestry is largely Scandinavian and German. German is the third most spoken language in San Antonio (after English and Spanish) and is the first language of about 10% of the people in the area. The German influence is obvious--from the King William district in south downtown San Antonio (which is beautiful) to the neighboring cities--Fredericksburg, Boerne, New Braunfels, and where I lived, Schertz. Germans will feel very much at home in the San Antonio area, and I strongly encourage them to visit, they will really enjoy themselves.
There is also a community of Polish settlers in the same area. They came from Silesia. A close friend of mine married a guy from that area. I didn't know he was of Polish descent until I went to their wedding.
I'm Polish and I was raised in Texas. But I could not understand a single word they said. Compared to regular Polish, they mispronounced EVERY SINGLE SYLLABLE. I had to concentrate hard to understand a few words here and there. Even their wedding traditions were different from all the other polish weddings I've attended. They spoke with a heavy country accent just like the old granny in the video.
My great grandma was Polish. She was born in the 1890s, further south from Fredericksburg. She married my great grandfather, and they had a farm in George West, Texas. I never knew her since she died 6 months after I was born. I do remember my great grandfather but was young when he passed away. My grandfather was the oldest of their 10 kids (9 boys and 1 girl).
A sizeable number of Wends/Sorbs ( with an ' o') moved to Texas from what is now the eastern part of Germany. There're some vids about them here on YT.
Are you sure they weren’t Czechs? We have a big Czech presents in Texas. Might explain the difficulty you were having understanding them.
Maybe their language was based on Silesian (śląski) dialect?
I learned Hochdeutsch in Braunschweig and then moved to Graz (Austria), where I got used to the various Austrian and also Swiss dialects (which can be very difficult). I have found that these very different experiences help me understand just about anyone who is speaking a form of German. Texas German is MUCH easier to understand than Pennsylvania Dutch. I'm from Oklahoma, so the Texas accent that underlies here is known to me, and that helps with understanding some of the vowels that are mixed.
My Oma's family was one of the original families to settle New Braunfels, Texas. They made the journey in 1845 with Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels and settled much of Comal and Guadalupe counties in Texas after leaving their home near Fulda.
My grandmother's family also.
@@paigeharrison3909 if their surnames are Schwab or Friesenhahn we may be related, 🙂
I bet our decedents knew or knew of each other. On my mother’s side, Christian Guenther made it with the original group of settlers to New Braunfels. Both of his parents passed away on the journey. He grew up in an orphanage in New Braunfels. It is still standing and is a private residence but somewhat of a museum. A mount of a deer that he had taken is still hanging there. My Nana’s name was Edna (Voit) Guenther.
@@johncollins1177 , I don't see any Guenthers or Voits in my tree but there are a few Voigts
@@kenttaylor9238 I get my spelling off sometimes. My grandfather who passed before I was born was spelled as you have it. Voigt. Egon Voigt. He passed in the late 50’s or early 60’s.
I had no idea this existed but it checks out. I lived in corpus Christi for a couple years when I was a kid. I moved alot cause my dad was in the military. The germans I met there made such an impression. They were some of the nicest friendliest people you'd ever meet.
I’ve known some Texas Germans. I always thought they had a fascinating Texas drawl.
Years ago I lived near Bremen in Norddeutschland, so I understand how you hear the Plattdeutsch similarities. I think you ought to check out the Pennsylvania Dutch (not really Dutch-German, and a little antiquated at that). In my opinion the hardest German to understand is the Swiss German.
My mother is a CNA, she takes care of the elderly that wish to live out their last days at home. She took care of a man in New Braunfels TX and he spoke the Texas German. One day my mom showed a german song to her client and asked him what he thought of the lyrics, he laughed and said "she's after the boys" the song is from Sandra Ledermann and its called "Lasst uns Heute Feiern" (you can watch her sing it on youtube)
Hey Chris, so I actually live in Texas, more specifically New Braunfels (Fredericksburg is maybe about an hour away from me), but aside from that, you are correct in that this Texas German language is indeed dying as majority of people around here just don't care to learn either it or just regular German. The closest thing that we have to it is our local Wurstfest, but even then all they do is sing one small song which is all German lyrics, and even then I went there once and no one else spoke any German (even the people who worked the festival). The slogan there is '10 days of beer and sausage'. They should also add 'and ridiculous amounts of traffic for 10 days' as well.
Definitely can't beat the sausage from that area.
I'm of German heritage. My great-grandmother grew up bilingual and we have a German Bible that's been passed down in our family. I learned German in college and made it my major. I also spent a year abroad at Uni Bonn. I've forgotten a lot of it since I haven't used it. But enough beer and hearing it enough, I can switch over! When I did live in Germany I was near fluent and I was able to fool many Germans! No one knew I was American!
This sounds like early days of all us learning German, mixing in our accents and even English words. Whenever speaking with other American Austauchstudenten we often spoke "Denglish". When we'd talk to family back home, we'd mix German words that we couldn't really translate back into English. Luckily, my mother also learned German and could understand me!
I think you'd love it in Texas however just be prepared for the heat and humidity.
I’m a Texan and my mother’s family, the Briesemeisters, are Texas Germans. My tante often spoke Texas German before she passed away, however my mother’s grandfather was a teacher, and my mother learned German in school, so they spoke/speak the German you would hear more in Germany. I do not speak either dialects of German, but I do understand quite a bit of both. I attempted to learn, but realized that learning Spanish first made my mouth better at making softer sounds.
*fun fact. The middle school in Seguin, Texas was named for my mother’s grandfather. (A.J Briesemeister Middle School.)
My great grandmother came over from Birkholz Pommern with the Briesemeisters. Your great great grandmother was step daughter to my Siegfried Schievelbein. Contact me. Let's talk. Floyd Pönitz here.
My grandma was from Germany and married a man from Poland.By the time they both passed away in their late 70's neither one could speak their native language .still have 3rd/4th cousins somewhere in Germany sooooo if you run into any BEITZ tell them that AMERICAN cousin said HI 😊
I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Historically, this city had a very large German immigrant community. It was just a part of Baltimore culture. Early on in the 19th Century, German was spoken commonly in all district of the city. Gradually, however, with Baltimore being a port city, that was diluted by other large cultures like Greek, Italian, Irish, etc. German language still crept into everyday speech when I was growing up in the 1950s -- 1960s. For example, in South Baltimore, the common word for a kitchen sink was pronounced ZINK, just like the metal. There were many other words borrowed from German (especially food terms), but since I did not know they were of German origin, I did not know they were borrowed. They were just the words we used to describe things. Excellent video. Thank you.
There are maps that show where the Germans live across the USA. Mostly German speakers from all over live here in the highest numbers. Check you tube for the videos. Very interesting to watch. Heritage matters to everyone. America is a Melting Pot - from all over. We are Americans who also love and recall their original lands. Many cities are their original heritage culture remains today to look like the lands they came from & are sprinkled all across the nation. Lindsborg, Kansas is Little Sweden. Solvang, California is Danish.
Leavenworth, Washington is Bavarian...etc..etc.. Thank you! Appreciated.
Growing up in San Antonio, TX, I had an older friend from Fredericksburg who was born in 1915. He did not learn to speak English until he was 6 or 7 years old. Before WWII, German was indeed the spoken language in these places.
We have a bunch of German people here in Huntsville, AL. Operation Paperclip
Rocket city is alive and well.
I really enjoyed your video. My parents were older and both grew up speaking German. I'm the last of seven kids and when I came along, my dad had no accent but my mom had a strong German accent. I only learned nouns and very little sentence structure because I only heard German around Christmas time when my parents were discussing presents or during their domino games with friends.
Thank you for your video!
The Mennonites and Amish also peak a dialect of German.
I grew up in Priddy TX and Hamilton TX. My grandmother, mom, and aunts still spoke German as I was growing up. My grandmother would watch her soap operas, then phone her friend in town and would gossip about them in German. I sure miss her.
I find the Texas German puzzling. To my ear, it’s sounds as though the speaker learned the language from text rather than naturally through speaking with others.
Well, they didn't. They learned it at home. In fact, for many years they were not allowed to speak it at school. But as with every language, it drifted...like American English to British English.
@@stischer47 I studies French but find Canadian French more understandable in that it sounds harder and Spanglish is a dream. Listening to the first woman was almost as clear as English. My great-grandmother born in 1872 spoke German at home and her schools in Baltimore Maryland were taught in German.
I learned German as a complete beginner in Vienna and Humburg long ago. Now I am back in Japan and miss German accents a lot. I love your videos. Thank you very much.
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I am a born & raised Texan and descendant of German immigrants. There is a surprising amount of German influence around Central Texas, the Hill Country, and the Gulf Coast. The other interesting thing about many Texans of German descent that they themselves may not know is that there was a sizable immigrant group called the Wends/Wendish/Sorbs/Sorbisch that settled in the same areas during the same years as many Germans, mostly for the same reasons (freedom of religion, financial opportunity, etc) and they all began to intermarry. You would be hard-pressed to find a Lutheran church in Texas that didn't have members with German and/or Wendish surnames to this day. There were a few churches that offered services in each language for a long time - English, German, and Wendish - for the people who attended. I know of at least two churches that still offer German services every now and then, a few times a year. So many Texans of German descent are probably also of Wendish descent, but might not even know. For example, my husband's paternal grandfather's surname was Döhring (and then Anglicized to Doering), which is German, and his paternal grandmother's surname was Michalk (Wendish).
As a Brit who speaks a little German, although it has been a while, I was surprised at how easily I understood her. Much easier than German German. 😅 There were many times I didn't even look at the subtitles, especially when she was talking about her children.
Texan here. I can hear just a hint of a Texas accent, even though I can't really understand the language.
German did have an influence on the Texas accent, so it makes sense.