Where German is Still Spoken

When Norman Sunday sits in front of his barn, he sometimes finds himself looking wistfully over his property. The 82-year-old farmer from the northeastern state of Pennsylvania knows that a decades-old family tradition is coming to an end. He once bred cattle here, but he‘s retired now and knows his children are unlikely to follow in his footsteps. Like many in Berk County, Sunday is the descendant of German immigrants who came from the Palatinate region of southwest Germany in the 18th century to find a new home. They were farmers who worked hard, believed in God, and cultivated their German culture.

While the farmer himself has never been to Germany, his parents spoke Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch („Pennsylvania Dutch“), a German dialect spoken by the rural population for 300 years that is still alive today. „Ich kann‘s ned gud schwätze, aber ich verstehe“ („I can‘t speak it well, but I can understand it“), said Sunday in the local dialect.

German dialect born in the USA Patrick Donmoyer of the University of Pennsylvania wants to preserve this German heritage for future generations. At the German Cultural Heritage Center in Kutztown in Berks County, he teaches Pennsylvania Deitsch in a former German school from 1870 that is now a museum.

The language is not at risk of extinction, says Donmoyer. Around 40,000 people speak the dialect in Pennsylvania alone, and around 400,000 across America. The number is rising since many Amish and Mennonites faith communities who speak Pennsylvania German as their mother tongue traditionally have large families. Some 30% of Pennsylvanians have German ancestors, and many of the descendants still speak some form of German at home. Donmoyer says a Pennsylvanian German dialect has developed into its own language across 300 years.

Old customs reborn The popular Kutztown Folk Festival attracts 130,000 annual visitors who come to experience the lifestyles of German immigrants who have shaped Berks County to this day. In the Wursthaus, one can get their fill of German-style Pennsylvanian sausages with sauerkraut, while a brass band plays music that would not be out of place in the southern German state of Bavaria.

The band‘s trumpet player, Leon Moll, regularly spoke Pennsylvania Deitsch with his parents as a child. Since their death, however, he rarely speaks the language, while his children „tun es nid mehr schwätze“ („don‘t speak it anymore“), he explains. For many, it is only during the nine days of the annual festival that their old country customs come to life.