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For someone who speaks German, this is so fascinating! When you consider that what is preserved of the German of that time is almost 200 years or older. I would have no communication difficulties at all with the lady in the video 😃

Ich weiss gar nicht, warum man ihr Deutsch kritisieren sollte. Ist doch klasse nach so langer Zeit.

@Leonstar811

4 жыл бұрын

finde ich auch.

@denonegaming657

4 жыл бұрын

Ja finde ich auch, also ich kann alles verstehen!

It is interesting to hear the combinations of sounds she had learned. You can hear dialectal features from Central and Southern German (soft 'Ich', the dipthong and soft g in 'burg'), and the muddling from years of being mixed with English (over-rhotisation, approximating ö with e). Many people might just hear crappy German, but given the story behind her dialect, and almost 100 years removed from when her ancestors got here and when she was born, it seems like this was just the way she learned it when she was a kid.

@gordian1259

7 жыл бұрын

Southern? The "Ichlaut" is pretty northern, is it not?

@svenjee

3 жыл бұрын

@@gordian1259 Yes, very much so. (I'm from the South)

@hanshansen1140

2 жыл бұрын

@@gordian1259 yes, very much so

I hope this language is preserved and taught to future generations like Louisiana French is. These unique dialects reflect the history of the place it developed.

@magnus877

4 жыл бұрын

It won't be sadly

@thefirepenguins74

3 жыл бұрын

don't worry there's a whole country in Europe preserving it

@jquins19

2 жыл бұрын

@@thefirepenguins74 isn't it more like 5 countries? Germany, Austria, Switzerland, some parts of Belgium and don't forget Liechtenstein

@uli_m_m

2 жыл бұрын

@@jquins19 German is also one of the official languages in Luxemburg. It is also spoken by many people in France (Elsass) and Italy (Südtirol), but not as an official language.

@DokuFREENET

2 жыл бұрын

@@thefirepenguins74 Texas German is nothing like Standard German, it is a dialect, no one speaks like that in germany

Die Dame habe ich in Fredericksburg, zusammen mit einer älteren Texas-German sprechenden Dame, im Pioniermuseum kennengelernt. Habe einen Kühlschrankmagneten bei ihr im Souvenirshop gekauft und wir haben uns nett unterhalten. Grüße aus Koblenz ✌️

It seemed like she spoke a lot more fluidly about mid-way through the video, once she 'warmed up', so to speak.

I'm from this part of Texas, and many of these old timers who still speak this are dead or are very old now. Also, it's not just "bad" American German, it has several funny words and pronunciations that are unique. The one that comes to mind is stankekatz (apologies if that's misspelled) for a skunk. I wish I had spoke to some of these folks when there were more around.

@mehditalib

5 жыл бұрын

Josh Coward I guess the word you mean is “stinke Katze” and it means “stinky cat” lol makes sense to call a skunk like this doesn’t it?

@JustNatax3

5 жыл бұрын

Stinkkatz! It's Stinktier - "Smelly animal" in regular German too. So yeah makes perfect sense

@8bitwiz_

2 жыл бұрын

Skunks are sometimes referred to in the southern US as "polecats", so this is a sensible mash-up.

@andyc.4387

Жыл бұрын

Also, Luftschiff instead of Flugzeug. They didn't know the word for airplane so they called it an airship, like Dampfschiff or steamship.

Her German is very clear, but as with many languages spoken by generations after immigration, she complements vocabulary with English words. Is her's the last generation that speaks Texas German? She explains that the next-generation understands but no-longer speaks German, and the younger people who moved out of town to make a better living will probably only have a faint memory of what language their ancestors spoke.

@vickiwilliamson3732

7 жыл бұрын

My family is from the New Braunfels, TX area and my grandparents (now in their 80s) were the last generation to speak Texas German in the home to their kids. Their oldest child (my uncle) could speak it pretty well, but their youngest (my mom) could mostly just understand it and not really speak it. I didn't hear German growing up at all except for when we were at my grandparent's house. It's unfortunate to see that it will probably die out soon and I'm sad that I never got to learn it myself.

@Ian-dn6ld

5 жыл бұрын

Rafael Rabinovich exactly. It’s a common misconception that there’s only one dialect of Texas German when in reality, there’s multiple dialects that are able to be grouped regionally. The idea that being bilingual as an important thing isn’t there anymore not to mention the way german is presented in the US makes it really seem mainly for old people. It makes it unattractive for younger generations in a way what with all the fake dress and all. Anyway before WW1 and in even her grandparents, you would have heard actually a very stronger less texas accent with fewer English words. This is probably attributed to the after effects of the early 20th Century language laws which began in the decline at a rapid rate accrost the entire span of the United States which resulted in families going from German to broken and heavily accented English overnight. The loss of communal support for certain words would have been lost hence the loss of original words from the time period. What I mean by this is if you have a village where people speak a language then suddenly 85% speak something else suddenly but the other 15% speak the original, you might forget words and so put an English word in place instead because the availability to be reminded of the word was lost. Anyway look up on google for the number of German speakers as of 2012. It’s a map from the US census and you’ll see the large expanse. Other than that, it should probably be dually noted that the standard Hochdeutsch and dialects of American German are older than European german and the dialects. You might could find that interesting.

@hansfranz8795

5 жыл бұрын

@@vickiwilliamson3732 Just learn it now. English and German are rather closely related, you'll do just fine! Languages are awesome, everybody should speak at least two, in my humble opinion. :)

@sebastianstolz9214

5 жыл бұрын

You are right

@sebastianstolz9214

5 жыл бұрын

I guess u speak german or jiddish

My grandparents on my mother's side lived in the Castroville-Hondo area. My grandfather spoke fluent Texas German. He used to give me a quarter if I would count to ten in German for him!

Texas german sounds VERY similar to Plattdeutsch, the dialect of northern germany. Interesting: the saxons who conquered britain (anglo saxons) and whose german is the basis for english, lived in northern Germany, so english and plattdeutsch are more similar than german and english in general. Example: i have forgotten = ik hav vorgoten (Plattdeutsch) and= ich habe vergessen (standard german).

@kira-wd2jq

3 жыл бұрын

junge kommentiersg du das unter jedem texas german video

@blub11984

Жыл бұрын

doesn't sounds platt to me, but sounds like German that's spoken in the northern parts of Germany

I used to think Cajuns had an odd English accent because of the French background. Once I actually heard them speak Cajun French, they had the same odd accent! This is the same: it's German with a Texas accent.

Meine Grossmutter wuchs in der ehemaligen Tschechoslowakei an der Grenze zu Deutschland auf, wo auch eine Art Deutsch gesprochen wurde. Als sie am Ende vom 2. Weltkrieg in die Schweiz flüchtete, wurde ihr „Schwoben“-Deutsch gar nicht gern gehört! So war sie gezwungen so schnell wie möglich Schweizerdeutsch zu lernen. Aber der Akzent blieb bis ganz am Ende ihres Lebens. Ich habe ein halbes Jahr vor ihrem Tod noch eine Aufnahme von ihr gemacht, ein Interview!

Dear Wikitongues, Please do Silesian, Pomeranian, Sudetenland and the Prussian German language, for the millions of expelled germans of WWII. Their culture and languages are about to go extinct and it's not fair to let them be silenced just because of the war. 🙏

@derWunschpunsch

3 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure there is time left for it. The youngest possible speakers are in their 80s now, and probably haven't used the dialect in decades. It's been more than 15 years since I last heard a lady speak East Prussian in a queue behind me, and it was a rarity even then.

@clouds-rb9xt

Жыл бұрын

@@derWunschpunsch East Prussia? Isn't that east poland now?

@derWunschpunsch

Жыл бұрын

@@clouds-rb9xt It is, but of course the people who fled/were expelled from there as adults, kept speaking their dialect, or at least kept the regional accent. So when I was young, I sometimes heard those now moribund dialects.

@JHaras

11 ай бұрын

@@clouds-rb9xtIt’s mainly Kaliningrad, Russia I believe

Ich bin jetzt in der Türkei, lerne ich Deutsch hier, und verstehe ich. Vunderschön. Great culture.

Very nice, I think I would feel right at home in Texas.

I'm from this part of Texas and it's an actual dialect of its own, my uncle's family speaks it. It's not just "bad German," it's similar to the way German was spoken when Germans settled in these parts of Texas in the 1840s. If you understand High German, you'll understand this and many other dialects spoken not only in Europe but here in the US like Texas German and Pennsylvania Dutch. There are native Germans who are studying it at universities here. It's a dying language only spoken now by older people from the Hill Country- Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Schulenberg, etc. But if you visit the German festivals here or go to the Tex-Czech restaurants, hell, just drive down the street in these places, you'll see how the Texan and German cultures have blended over the last 175 years. Talk to these old people and you'll hear things like "der cowboy", and "luftschiff" (airship) for airplane. Why? Because when the Germans settled here, there were no modern airplanes, only balloons and zeppelins.

Kompliment, sie sprechen sehr gut. Viele Grüße aus Hessen nach Texas.

Wunderbar, meine Enkelin wohnt in Texas und spricht ach noch deutsch….in der Schule gelernt❤️🧑‍🎨🦋

Sehr gut verständlich!

Hallo Texas! - From your PA Dutch cousins

sehr sehr interessant. ein bruder meines ururgroßvaters ist auch ca.1850 nach vermont ausgewandert. eine nachkommin die 2005 gestorben ist hat bis dahin auch fast nur deutsch gesprochen, berichteten noch lebende verwante.

I love it! Sounds just like my Granny and her family. They were all from around New Braunfels.

thought it was a repost, but no. look at Vernell's video of the same language. similarities!

Don't forget about the German-Creoles of Louisiana! I'm also one of them!

@Wikitongues

4 жыл бұрын

Would you like to send us a video? We would love to publish it! Wikitongues.org/submit-a-video :)

@ninpobudo3876

4 жыл бұрын

@@Wikitongues My apologies I don't speak the language.

@Wikitongues

4 жыл бұрын

@@ninpobudo3876 No worries at all, thank you for following us! :)

the history of fredricksburg is quite amazing. espcially the funding days with rebells from the pre-march of the german revolution 1848.

@accountsample4834

3 ай бұрын

Fredericksburg*

I am german,from North west, near to Holland, i understand every Single Word!!

@TheSurvivor1963

3 жыл бұрын

But she kept blending in english words, my impression is that english is what she use most frequent.

@artemmarkelov3070

3 жыл бұрын

Well take no offense, but it would bè worrying if you didn't 😂

It's interesting that "ö" (/ø/) has become "eh" (/ɛ/). The reason why makes sense, but I'd love to know if "kennen" and "können" are different to her at all, or if they've collapsed into 1 sound.

@Culmaerija

7 жыл бұрын

Yiddish has a similar vowel-merger, and "to be able" and "to know" are indeed both pronounced /kenən/. Most of the umlaut sounds have merged with other vowels in Yiddish : eg the plural of /bux/ "book" is /bixər/

@JesseWiener

7 жыл бұрын

Ahhhhh yes! I hadn't thought of that! The classic example, of course, is German "schön" /ʃøn / and Yiddish "שיין" /ʃeɪn/. My grandmother speaks Yiddish and she would sing me Bei Mir Bistu Shein when I was a kid. When I learned German, that vowel difference was among the first things I noticed. Thank you for reminding me!

@RolandHutchinson

7 жыл бұрын

Pennsylvania Dutch (another High German dialect) also merges the two infinitives as (/'kɛnə/), but they differ in some of the finite forms ( 'I can' vs. 'I am acquainted with', but for both verbs). As in Yiddish, the umlaut sounds have by other vowels--pretty much the same ones as in Yiddish, reflecting the shared geographic origins of Pa Dutch and Yiddish in the upper Rhine (unless you hold to the theory that Yiddish's origins were Bavarian rather than Western).

@Ian-dn6ld

7 жыл бұрын

Jesse Wiener you'll find that in dialect especially in the south of Germany. "I mechte ein Gipfeli," "ich möchte ein Croissant." "mer kenned alles, außer Hochdeutsch." "Wir können alles, außer Hochdeutsch." Böblingen becomes Behblinge, gehört becomes ghaird/kherd. There's other examples but yeah. Keeping it short

@JonVonD

5 жыл бұрын

there is an identical process in Austrian German, as well as Alemannic dialects (Bavarian/Schwabian) My grandmother and mother both still say "Ehsterreich" instead of "Österreich"

waoh...danke Evelyn - was ein interessantes video :-)

She speaks pretty good German, considering she was born in Texas. Sie sprecht ziemlich gut Deutsch.

This is weird, really weird but cool!!

she’s so cute

pretty good.. Can understand everything :)

Sehr sehr gutes Deutsch. Ich habe alles sehr gut verstanden. Viele Grüße aus Deutschland

Her pronunciation of burg as boyg is purely American. Very interesting clip.

I'm fascinated by her very good German after about 70 years. I understood it very well. And I am impressed by achieving their culture and their ancestry. I think it wasn't easy for her talking about the experiences from World War II

Es klingt manchmal wie Plattdeutsch.

@hansfranz8795

5 жыл бұрын

Eigentlich nicht, nein

@mustyfan1584

4 жыл бұрын

Nein, Platt ist ganz anders. Meine Großeltern sprechen Plattdeutsch, und es ist wie Niederländisch. Evelyns Deutsch klingt wie Hochdeutsch.

@DDrake-rc5oe

4 жыл бұрын

@@mustyfan1584 genau

@diymicha4905

4 жыл бұрын

quatsch. Eher richtung Pfalz.

@FrAzzorE

4 жыл бұрын

Warum ihr alle immer was heraushören wollt! Die haben mit unsere Sprache nicht mehr viel zu tun was nach über 150 Jahre in einem anderen Land ja sicher normal ist!

Meine Großmutter sprach Texas-Deutsch. Ich habe eine Aufnahme, in der sie Deutsch spricht, aber leider spricht sie von einer gynäkologischen Untersuchung!

klingt einfach nur wie ein Amerikaner der versucht Deutsch zu sprechen😂

@thotchocolate9042

7 жыл бұрын

Ich wollte es nicht sagen aber stimmt :')

@Gaeilgeoir

7 жыл бұрын

Bella_ P Entschuldigung, ich bin Amerikaner und meine Aussprache ist perfekt! 🙄😑

@Volzotran

7 жыл бұрын

Gaeilgeoir schön aber bei den meisten ist es aber nicht so haha

@Tigrimitry

7 жыл бұрын

Ich mag wie es klingt, though.

@vladimirputinjr5703

6 жыл бұрын

Ich bin Britischer und hab Deutsch sowohl in der Schule als auch kurzzeitig in Deutschland gelernt, und der Dialekt den sie spricht errinert mich an der englischen Aussprache die ich zu oft hören musste. Das war aber auf Hochdeutsch, und mit diesen anderen Vokabeln/Aussprachen ist es ganz komisch für mich, denn sie errineren mich am modernen vermischten schwäbischen Dialekt (der scheinbar mehr Hochdeutsch nutzt, mit den typischen "i bi" und "du bisch" usw. noch da). XD

Do any of you Texans have a Gottscheer heritage?

01:08 Hier steht im Untertitel "???". Ich bin mit aber ziemlich sicher, dass sie hier "dichter" gemeint hat, also im Sinn davon, dass sie näher nach Hause kommt.

1:12 die Fragezeichen im subtitleles denke ich sollte dichter sein. ich kam wieder dichter nach hause she moved closer to home

I am an L2 speaker and i understand every word , but they dont gave the umlauts (ö,ä,ü)

1:10 Dann kam ich wieder dichter nach Hause.

It sounds exactly like an american who learned proper German and speaks with a heavy accent

It's very fascinating how some words she pronounces in a way that I would not doubt they're coming from a native German speaker. Then at other points it sounds like a beginner or someone who's never spoken German reading off words and guessing pronounciation. Especially ä ö ü seem to be difficult to pronounce for her. The grammar is also very interesting - I wonder if she is simply not used to speaking Texas German anymore or if that is just how their grammar evolved.

Das ist sehr Schön, du gehst in ein anderes Land u. kannst dich dort in deiner Muttersprache verständigen. MfG

Sounds like a Netherlander speaking German in American accent😒

What is she talking about? And I also heard my country?

@joergfro7149

5 жыл бұрын

Sorry for my Bad english ,i am GERMAN! ThisLady is talking about her Family History, her ancestors , and she is speaking german very well...

Seems like many expressions are literally translated and the word order is closer to English than German in Germany: make more money: mehr Geld machen, do something: tun ..., speak it with each other: sprechen es miteinander...

My German isn't very good, but I actually understood part of what she was saying.

Klingt Amerikanisch ja, aber ist noch natürlich. Keine Überraschung, dass die grammatischen Fälle verschwunden sind !

It sounds like German spoken with an American accent.

What I don't get is that they obviously struggle to speak German. I thought this is just some kind of heavy dialect like there is in Germany but it just sounds like they can't speak German fluently. So do they actually struggle a bit or are they fluent in that dialect and it just sounds like that?

@Wikitongues

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your question! Most endangered languages and dialects are endangered because, over the 19th and 20th centuries, governments implemented policies of forced assimilation to prevent communities from passing their languages onto their children. This was often achieved through the use of corporal punishment in schools, forced enrollment in "cultural education" boarding schools, and social campaigns that created stigmas around these languages. So sometimes, elder speakers appear to struggle to speak their own languages, either because they no longer speak them daily, or because speaking brings up trauma. In the US, German varieties-including Texas German and Pennsylvania German (Pennsylvania "Dutch")-became stigmatized after World War II. A combination of nationalistic social stigma and prohibition in public schools forced the languages into decline. On this channel, a less historical explanation is that many of our contributors, especially older contributors, aren't used to speaking on camera. We have another Texas German video that you may find interesting: kzread.info/dash/bejne/Y5OYqpZpY9PXgrg.html. Both Evelyn and the speaker in our other video work at a Texas German historical society in Fredericksburg, Texas. We hope this answer helps, and thanks for being a part of this channel! If you're new, we publish new videos every week of languages from around the world.

@andrewk.5575

3 жыл бұрын

@@Wikitongues Ich weiß nicht if you will ever see this, but the comment about post war stigma for German speakers is absolutely true. I am actually surprised that Evelyn still knows any German when she is five generations removed from the Old Country. My family arrived in Wisconsin in the 1890's, these would be my great-grandparents, and that generation spoke fluent German among themselves but my grandfather, who grew up in the 1920's, barely knew a few words. Was it because he wasn't interested? Did he forgot later in life? No. It's because when he was growing up his parents informed him "We speak German because we are German. YOU are American, and Americans speak English." I don't know for certain but I suspect that they told him this because they had seen German-American internment during WWI and wanted to protect him from being caught up in something like that. On the some what more cheerful side, my grandfather did retain quite a bit of German-ness apart from the language. He was named Leo (a pretty common male name in Germany), he was a stereotype of German discipline and efficiency, he was extremely cheap and frugal with his money, he insisted on having some form of potatoes with every meal, and I once even heard him say that something that had been pounded flat "had been really schnitzeled!"

#GMG

As an English speaker learning Standard German (Hochdeutsch), it sounds like the cases have fallen out of use. For example, when she said "Ich hab ein Bruder und eine Schwester", compared to standard German "Ich habe *einen* Bruder und eine Schwester"

@sorakaraJIN

6 жыл бұрын

Dan Lyle Actually in modern colloquial Hochdeutsch, it’s quite normal to drop cases.

@kefka34

6 жыл бұрын

@sorakaraJIN I think sometimes people use the wrong case,but it is not normal to drop the cases entierly.

@maxonite

6 жыл бұрын

Seno The -en in einen is often dropped i think that's what he meant

@kenzoali4295

5 жыл бұрын

Ich habe geschwister

@Reshquill

5 жыл бұрын

@@maxonite I feel like it isn't dropped but you just say a longer n in Bruder or you say 'nen.

:O

this is how the dutch language was made lmao

Honestly I see no difference to regular German. I understand this better than bayerisch

die kann gut deutsch sprechen ohne scherz

English Dialect of German :)

Reminds me a bit of jiddish.

I dont know tex german, but it sounds like her german is seriously rusty. maybe they all sounds like that

Moin Moin aus Deutschland. Dafür daß dies ein Dialekt ist, habe ich alles soweit verstanden. Aber muss sie darauf hinweisen, dass die Grammatik bei manchen nicht stimmt. Man mach kein Geld, denn sie erzeugen das Geld nicht, sondern Sie verdienen ein höheres Einkommen.

It's impressive: as a non-native German speaker, her German is really understandable to me. Probably also because she speaks slowly.

@insanitytruth

7 жыл бұрын

Technically she's a native speaker, just of a dialect of German that's been isolated and influenced by English for over 100 years

@PietroGrandi909

7 жыл бұрын

Sorry: I meant that I am a non-native German speaker. I consider her being native, as you correctly pointed out :-)

@esperanza945

6 жыл бұрын

I lived in Germany as a child, so I learned German when I was 6. I am technically a "near native" speaker because I learned it so young by native speakers. Since I have an ear for German as it comes from Germany, more particularly the dialects in Nord-Rhein Westfalen, her German is definitely foreign sounding to be, but since I am a native English speaker, I can understand as we pronunciation is like than in American English. I'm curious if it is easier to understand to non-native or non-near native speakers as it sounds more familiar? I also notice they have dropped some of the grammar. Definitely interesting. I'm curious how they would do if they came to Germany around more of Hochdeutsch.

@jgr_lilli_

5 жыл бұрын

She has a very "english" way of forming her sentences. All her sentences are pretty much english sentences just "overlayed" in German. The German grammar is very different. We would say "Want you the butter having?", for example.

@unnamedchannel2202

4 жыл бұрын

@@jgr_lilli_, nope! This is proper Lower Saxonian word order, thus perfect German.

I thought she was speaking English at first.

As an English speaker who just moved to Germany (a month ago) and is actively learning German, I find it much easier to understand her than the native speakers I meet here. I wonder why that is? Perhaps the accent?

@grandmak.

2 жыл бұрын

probably.

@srinidhisrinivas9434

2 жыл бұрын

She is speaking slowly and expressing very elementary sentences. Maybe the accent also helps if you aren't used to German phonetics yet :)

Much like American English better preserves the OP of the period before the revolution than does modern British RP so too does Texas German preserve lots of the nasal vowels and distinct consonants of German before 1848. Much of the 'American ' accented German you detect isn't influenced by American English at all but reflects how much closer was English OP (Original Pronunciation) and various German dialects before the mid 1800s. If Germans want to revisit their past then they should not just visit quaint festivals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland watching folk dance and wearing lederhosen but also visit places where rural isolation cut off and preserved German dialects like Texas German.

@hansfranz8795

5 жыл бұрын

Wrong. She just speaks with an American accent. Her German is very broken in general, you can tell she doesn't really speak it anymore. She sounds (almost) no different from an American who's learned English as a second language. Also, Germany to this day has very distinct local dialects, North Germany has even preserved two languages distinct from High German (Low German and Frisian) due to it being pretty isolated until not that long ago, cut off by moorland, mainly. Your assumption that Lederhosen are relevant to anyone but a tiny bit of the population also goes to show your lack of understanding of what Germany actually is like - Lederhosen are distinctly South German, and even there virtually nobody really gives a shit about them. They are not in any way connected to the vast majority of Germany.

Diese Brille ist nicht entspiegelt.

Ihr deutsch ist wie mein Englisch

Often English Grammar applied on German...

@chuckfriebe843

5 жыл бұрын

Yes. I thought the same.

@unnamedchannel2202

4 жыл бұрын

Nope! This is proper Lower Saxonian word order, thus perfect German.

What's wrong with young Americans? They march towards the opposite direction of the rest of the world: squandering the chances they got to learn foreign languages.

@DavidandAngeloDNA

7 жыл бұрын

Going to Spain for a study abroad sounds more interesting to them than to learn High German in Central Texas...a little sad but inevitable

@RolandHutchinson

7 жыл бұрын

But 't ain't a foreign language. Texas German is an American language! Here's another one; it even says so in the book's subtitle, so it must be true: padutch.net/book/

@Xyaleon

6 жыл бұрын

I don't know. It makes sad though. I'm a young American, who was taught to value language and culture. I'm learning Swedish, Latin, and Lakota. I think more people should reach out and learn as many languages as possible. Language exposes the learner to new cultures and ways of thinking which helps them to keep an open mind when interacting with new and different people.

@mustyfan1584

6 жыл бұрын

Matheus G. S. I agree it’s very sad. I live in Iowa and my grandparents as well as a few other older folks in their town can still speak the Plattdeutsch dialect that our ancestors brought to the Midwest. I’m forever saddened that they never spoke it to me as a child. The thing is, in the early to mid 20th century, speaking German was made illegal in Iowa due to WWI, so it was repressed and not passed on. I’m learning German now in college, but it will never be the same as their dialect...

@adamhovey407

6 жыл бұрын

Musty Fan I was born in Iowa, my brother used to study German at school, which is how I learned it. Keep in mind, the Iowa state government was outright hostile toward German after World War 1, even going so far as to ban any language other than English from church services. So when that happens, you tend to lose your language. Because you lose your culture along with it. personally, I think everyone should be at least bilingual

This sounds like someone in my third-year High School German class. Lots of people in the midwest U.S. where German language class was popular can speak at this level or better (and with better accents).

@jordanjacobson6046

5 жыл бұрын

This is a different dialect though, so its not possible to make a comparison of better or worse because this is her native pronunciation whereas your classmates are just failing to speak the way that they are learning and trying to emulate. For her this is correct, just like General American is no more correct Than Received Pronunciation is the UK, but someone who speaks one and fails to emulate the other is incorrect. Linguistic prescriptivism is the worst.

No offence intended but... you're kidding right? that's plain German with strong american accent.. isn't it?

@kap9415

7 жыл бұрын

em. Actually it's really not, there's a whole history behind the Texas German dialect she's speaking.

@kolbyhowell8236

7 жыл бұрын

Right. It's very similar to Pennsylvania Dutch... Here, if you wanna fiddel around: www.padutchdictionary.com/

@RolandHutchinson

7 жыл бұрын

It's a dialect that's fairly close to Standard German, so it's quite understandable that it sounds like that to you, +em. Compared to Pa. Dutch (which Kolby mentioned), I hear a couple of pretty prominent features in this video that are closer to Standard German. Texas German has a preterite tense for verbs other than "to be" (sein/sei), where Pa. Dutch has only the perfect; Texas German keeps the final "-n" sounds at the end of words, where Pa. Dutch drops them. So I'd say (just a layman's opinion; I don't do comparative linguistics professionally!) that this Texas German is considerably closer to Standard German than Pa. Dutch is, although all three dialects (Texas, Pennsylvania, and Standard) are from the High German branch of German dialects. I think someone who knows only Standard German would have quite a bit less difficulty understanding Texas German than they would understanding Pa. Dutch. On the other hand, there are similarities between the two American dialects where as Texas German does show some of the same sorts of English influences that Pa. Dutch does: There's a very noticeable American English influence on pronunciation, as you spotted. Sometimes instead of a German word, another German word that is cognate to the English translation has been substituted. (For example, where the Standard German preposition "vun" or "durch" would be translated by English "by", an Americanized dialect of German might use the German preposition "bei". My favorite example is that Standard German "gleichen" 'to resemble' has a Pa. Dutch cognate "gleiche" that, under English influence, has come to mean 'to like'). And there are English borrowings and loan-translations. (For example, in this Texas German video, Hochschule means "high school", whereas in Standard German it means something like "teaching University"; Texas German has meanwhile innovated "höhere Schule" for "university.) This is really interesting! It's a shame that the Texas German dialect seems to be dying out, while the number of Pa. German speakers is still growing (mostly, though not entirely, among the Amish).

@korinnab.2318

6 жыл бұрын

em. no. it's a dialect.

@theicemanleaveth

6 жыл бұрын

Since it's directly descended from the German language spoken in Germany, it's really no different than American English. Around the beginning of the 20th Century, before the two World Wars happened, it was predicted that German would pass English as the #1 language spoken in the United States. So in a different world, this might have simply been the way Americans spoke, and we'd just call it a "Texan accent" rather than "Texas German"

NOT good German. You can tell she doesn't speak often. Her grammar is not good.

@unnamedchannel2202

4 жыл бұрын

Is there a textbook on Texas German grammar? Keep in mind, grammar varies heavily among German dialects.

this sounds atrocious to my ears @.@

Are you sure you can count this as German "dialect"? Or is this just some Americans speaking German really, really badly?

Sorry but all I can hear is butchered German.