Amish speak both English and Pennsylvania German or “Dutch”
Amish speak a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania German, or Pennsylvania Dutch. There are some similarities with dialects of German spoken in Europe today, though Pennsylvania German includes numerous English words. Accents and manners of speaking Pennsylvania Dutch can vary between communities.
Additionally, the so-called “Swiss Amish”, primarily found in Indiana, speak a Swiss dialect which differs from that spoken by the majority of Amish. This can even cause difficulties in understanding between a Swiss-speaking Amishman and one from a Pennsylvania German language background.
Pennsylvania Dutch is not a written language
Pennsylvania German is generally not a written language. However, some attempts have been made to transcribe the language to a written form. Dictionaries have been compiled and some books written in the dialect.
Amish speak English
When Amish write letters, they do so largely in English, with some occasional use of German possible. Amish use English when conversing with non-Amish individuals, and when doing business with outsiders. Old Order Mennonites speak Pennsylvania German as well, and Amish and Old Order Mennonites will converse in the language. Amish tend to switch to English when non-Amish enter within earshot, out of respect and to involve the others.
Amish children learn English in school
Pennsylvania German is the language of the home. It is the first language an Amish child learns. Most Amish children have limited exposure to English before entering first grade. In Amish schools, instruction is in English, along with some classes in High German. Some Amish children become quite proficient at English at a young age. This phenomenon has become more common with the rise of Amish business and greater exposure to the non-Amish world.
High German, language of Amish church
High German is the language of Amish worship
Bibles used by Amish are written in High German, and verses read in church are also in High German, as is the Amish songbook, the Ausbund. Proficiency in High German can vary among Amish. It is safe to say that Amish are a bilingual people, with individuals having a varying degree of ability in High German.
Pennsylvania German, symbolic of Amish identity
The Pennslvania Dutch dialect is not only a means of communication but also seen as important in a symbolic sense. Along with Plain clothing and the horse-and-buggy, it is seen as a marker of the Amish and other Plain people, marking them in contrast with the outside world. Thus the preservation of the Pennsylvania German language is important to the Amish. In some communities there is concern that Pennsylvania Dutch may be falling out of use in favor of English.
For further information, see:
“Group Identity and Language Maintenance: The Survival of Pennsylvania German in Old Order Communities”, Karen Johnson-Weiner, Diachronic Studies on the Languages of the Anabaptists, 1992
“Community Identity and Language Change in North American Anabaptist Communities”, Karen Johnson-Weiner, Journal of Sociolinguistics 1998 2/3: 375-394
“Kannst Du Deitsch Schwetza?”, David Luthy, Family Life, July 1975
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131 responses to What language do the Amish speak?
Oh, absolutely Valerie! I was only teasing. I am quite intrigued by the postings above. Please, carry on
Har du hørt om ; Flammeküeche??
Hei GreyCatz!
kan opplyse deg at der ikke mye fransk i den elsassisch kjøkkene de har det som de kaller for “haut cuisine” kanskje på en tallerken en liten erte lit sause på, en halv sopp noe små steikte kartoffler til en dust med persil og det var det! Vi elsasser vi leker ikke med maten, vi spisser for å leve og ikke omvendt. Det som er for meg norsk-elsasser den fine en kveld en glass hvitvin en Muskat og en Flammküeche det er toppen lett og godt! Flammeküeche ??? enhver elsasser vet hva dette er. “Froske spiser” kaller det noe annet, som ofte ellers. Gjett?
What language do the Amish speak?
Flammekueche = Tarte flambée?
Hej E R,
Er “froske spiser” en franskmand eller en tysker?
Jeg har set billeder af Flammekueche, og det ligner Tarte flambée. Hvis det er rigtigt, så har jeg spist det et par gange – meget velsmagende.
Jeg kan lide din sætning, “Vi elsasser leker ikke med maten”; det svarer præcis til min forestilling om folk i Elsass.
Benytter Amish folkene flammeküeche??
Hey GreyCatz!
det vae en ny vri, E.R hvofor ikke!
Vel den rette skrive måte er riktig f l a m m e k ü e c h e jeg er lit stiv på måte de skrive den på. Flammkuchen er på tysk (uten e og ü)men “tarte flammbèe” er en total mislykket oversettelse = flammberte torte??? Altså frukt brennvin (snapps) a 62% alkohol og så tenner de på?? Da ser du Grey hvem som er “froske spiser” i dette. Jeg har den riktige original flammeküeche resept i min hukommelse (håper ikke på Alzheimer med det første!) en må kjenne selve bakgrunn for flammküeche for å forstå hvofor den ble laget. Tror nok ikke at den fantes – sikkert er jeg ikke – da Amish folkene hold seg til i Elsass.
What language do the Amish speak?
Hovsa!
Hej R E,
Jeg beder om forladelse. Som lingvistiker bør jeg selvfølgelig være mere præcis
Nuvel, det skrives ‘flammeküeche’ på elsassisk, men ‘flammkuche’ på tysk. Fint nok, men det lyder, som om man ‘tænder ild på en kage’ (flamme + kuche/küeche) – er det korrekt forstået?
Nej, jeg tror heller ikke, at Amish-folket forbereder så ‘avancerede’ madretter, men vi kan jo kigge nærmere på Eriks fine artikler.
What language do the Amish speak?
Do You Understand A Word of This?
If so, whether you’re Amish or not, please let us know. Our theory is that PA German/Dutch is derived directly from Elsass-German, as written below, and that Amish therefore should be able to understand people from Elsass.
*****************
Liewer R. E.
Du isch e bissel ebbs iwwer die Amish. Güeter Empfàng Griess vum P. un Malou
A/ Die Sekt « Amish » wo in d’r Schwitz existiert het zitter d’r Luthrische Reform ,erschint im Elsàss ands 18te Johrhundert. Sie sinn die Wiedertäufer (dann sie erkanne d’Kindtaif nitt àn). Schun ànne 1529 mit der Ankunft vun de Tirike in Wien ware se verjoejt un verfoligt. Empfànge in Struussburi, ware se geduldt awwer ihri Predjerei g’fällt nitt im Louis XIV : nu ware viel verhàft zum Beispiel in Riquewihr. Wann d’r Napoleon d’r Militärdienscht insetzt, gehn d’meischte vun ‘ne uf Amerikà.
Nuch 1648 lockt se d’r frànzisch Stààt in unser Lànd un verspricht ne dàss sie ken Stiire brüche bezàhle un gibt in denne Schwitzer Anabaptiste viel Faldsticker umesunscht.Viel instàlliere sich in Ohnenheim un Marienkirich mit’em Jakob Amann. 1693 hànn sich die Amish getrannt vun de Mennonite in Mariekirich (Elsàss).
Dutch will heisse hollandisch .
B/àwwer ‘s Pennsylvànian Dutch vu die Amish rede isch verwàndt mit Pfälzisch, Elsässisch und Schwäbisch au Schwitzerdütsch; es isch amerikànisierts Alemànnisch (wie ziemlich ‘s Elsassisch in Castroville).
*****************
The text has been provided by R E Kronenberger from his private correspondance with Prof. Paul Adolf in Obernai, Elsass.
R E Kronenberger and GreyCatz.
What language do the Amish speak?
RE: Do You Understand A Word of This?
Hello,
My first language is English and I’m in my third year of studying High German. I know I’m a little late to the conversation, but I just wanted to comment on this post in particular. Which dialect was that again? Elsass? I could only understand a little of it. I know nothing of PA-German, either. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Anyway, I am very much a fan of linguistics, particularly how dialects can evolve into completely different languages. So it’s been very interesting reading your comments.
Tschüß,
Jaspar
What language do the Amish speak?
I can understand a fair bit
I am English. I speak (almost) fluent German. I can understand quite a lot of this. It sounds a bit like the German spoken near the border with France in Saarland and SW Germany.
P.
Jo, I’kann dat ziemlich gut Versteh! Aber, Flammekueche?MfG,WiedertauferMuesse
Do You Understand A Word of This?
Hello,
I know this is quite late but I only found thes website today and your thread is highly interesting.
I am German and I understand the above text quite well, even probably could translate every word when putting a bit of effort into this (not the Dutch or Swedish, although I had guessed at what it might have been
I am not entirely sure that it indeed sounds completely like a South Western Dialect, although probably people in that region might understand the spoken Amish Dutch (which i never heard).
You might however consider another aspect also of the German language. Since the time when the above text was written and the Amish went to America a few 100 year had passed. At the time being German started to combine from various dialects into High German. Actually the time frame might fit to the so-called Frühneuhochdeutsch (Early New High German). Actually Martin Luther’s translation of the Holy Bible into German would have been an early example of that language. And indeed his translation and Gutenberg’s printing of the Bible in German helped to form and unite the later HIGH GERMAN, which means a unique German language. At the time being there still seemed to have been regional variations:
Oberdeutsche Druckersprachen
die bayerisch-österreichische mit Ingolstadt und Wien
die schwäbische mit Augsburg, Ulm und Tübingen
die alemannische mit Basel, Zürich und Straßburg
die ostfränkische mit Nürnberg, Bamberg und Würzburg
Mitteldeutsche Druckersprachen
die westmitteldeutsche mit Frankfurt, Mainz, Worms und Köln
die ostmitteldeutsche mit Wittenberg, Erfurt und Leipzig
Upper German Print Languages
- bavarian – austrian
- swabian
- alemannian (around Basel, Zurich and Strassburg)
- east franconian
Middle German
- west middle German
- east middle German
Which means the alemannian Language part might fit with the Dutch PA
http://lexikon.freenet.de/Fr%C3%BChneuhochdeutsch
I do not know whether this does make any sense to your or whether you think it is worth to be considered but i just learnt a lot about the origins of High German myself as well as about Amish culture in the US.
Thanks a lot for this great website.
Christine
What language do the Amish speak?
Dispersing the fog - if slowly.
Greetings, Christine:
Thanks for your very illuminating response. I think we’re all beginning to understand a bit more of the submitted text and so about the Amish linguistic origins.
The first part of our theory is that PA Dutch is very close to Elsass/Alemannic, and now you’ve provided more precise information to support this theory. As I recall, Jakob Amman came from the Basel/Zürich region, and the Amish later settled in and around Strassbourg. Therefore, they would have spoken Alemannic.
The next part of the theory is whether present-day Amish can in fact understand Alemannic. So far, the evidence seems sporadic if encouraging.
Nice to get a German, academic view on this topic – as you’ve noticed there are many languages involved in this thread.
What language do the Amish speak?
Den original flammeküeche bakes i steinovne.
Hei Grey!
Det er en lang historik bak flammeküeche, men ingridiensene burde være de samme som i begynnelse : løk og cottage cheese først og fremst (cottage chees) eller quark = bibelekaas på elsassisk) tynn meget tynn og Flat brøddeigbunn rulles ut massen på strykes utover , steikes i steinovnen der det brenner ennå ved, og de tree glødene er samlet i en halv sirkel og en skyver med en bred tresleiv en firkant (som pizza) inn i ovnen og steiker flammeküech på ettervarme på den ovnsteinplate. Franskmennene fornekter seg ikke og kom med masse tilleggs krims-krams at det ligner mer i en pizza en flammeküeche. Jeg er konservativ også i mat veien.
What language do the Amish speak?
Hvorfor flammeküeche ?
Hei Grey!
hvorfor skriver jeg om denne flammeküeche? vel for å kunne stadsfeste omtrend + – hvor gamel denne matreten kunne værer! Allrede når Amish folkene var bosatt i Elsass? Eller kom den matretten senere? Cottage Cheese eller bibelekaas fantes lenge (surnettmelk som blir presset ut i en stoffk \ lin luten)de laget hvitoster av denne utpresset surmelken, den resterende væske drakk de eller ga den til kalvene. Flammeküeche bli laget av restdeigen etter brøden var ferdig bakt, ofte bakte de lørdagene fem til 6 7 brød som kalles for Leibbrod (på norsk leivbrød) da enhver familien hadde opp til 8 til 13 børn eller mer (som tidl. refer.) så de hadde en ny-Leibbrød hver dag og som uke har 7 dager så! Etter baking ble når brøden var kalde pakket inn i lin dykk eller strisekk og lagret på en planke som henger ned fra vinkjellertaket (grunn mus-rotter) . Brødene muglet ikke (surdeig av surnethvitvin) og hardnet ikke. I vinkjellerne er antall % fuktighet konstant.
What language do the Amish speak?
Hey, I’m not sure what to make of several of these posts above.
I taught all subjects including German in an Amish Parochial school for about 10 years and I never needed to decipher anything like some of the posts in the conversation above. WOW.. looks like Greek to me.LOL
I had a teacher friend in Fort Wayne, Indiana who spoke ‘schweitzer’ as their everyday langusage. When a group of Amish teachers from several communities got together one night we had to speak English so we could all understand each other. Otherwise, we got ‘alles verhodelt’. We had fun with our differences in dialects. The English language was the common language that everyone could speak and understand.
What language do the Amish speak?
Greetings, Ernie:
Thanks for comment. As mentioned in the post “Do You Understand…” this is a theory about Elsass-German we’re testing, and we may have to accept that it isn’t working.
Several languages are used in this thread, including Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish, and at times it does look ‘verhodelt’. However, we have yet to introduce actual Greek, as spoken in Greece, but who knows…
What language do the Amish speak?
So Ernie Yoder ! Wenn Du (Hoch)deutsch gelernt hast wie Du es Schreibst, kannst Du mir hier mit Antworten, da sollte es Du auch dir bewusst sein das A L L E N deutsche dialekten gesamelt sin im Hoch-Deutsche! Das ist Goethe sein Werk, das die bayern mit den nord-deutsche Sprechn können, da die Talk op Plat haben. Die schweizer die elasser\alemanne innbegriffen die schwaben und franken(Rheinland-Pfalz) sprechen sozusagen ein gemeinsamen dialekt, mit underschiedliche Wörter beteutung doch verständlich im grosse ganze.
Da wass die Amish sprechen steht unter andere lenger oben folgende : Pennsylvania German is generally not a written language! Wass erzählt uns das? Das Du alemannisch oder schwizer-dutsch damit auch nicht Lesen kannst da Ihr wie Du schreibst auf verschiedene dialekter gesprochen haben unter Euch! Ernie Yoder! Geografisch fehlschlag, Griechenland liegt am Mittelmeer, aber richtich geraten dort sprechen die grieschisch!
What language do the Amish speak?
Grækere.
Hej R E,
Det engelske udtryk “it’s Greek to me” betyder ‘det rene volapyk eller nonsens’. Det kan lyde som en fornærmelse mod grækere, men bruges udelukkende humoristisk.
It Seems R.E. is Excited!
Ernie, I believe you riled up our friend R.E.!
A+ for effort-at least the mystery is solved. We’ve
been waiting for you to check it out!
God morgen Grey !!
Hei Grey ! ja jeg forstå dette men satt det på “spissen” jeg er og klar over at amerikaner stor sett ikke er så sterk i geografi, så derfor en liten leksen. Han tok en “spanske” der!! Når jeg skriver, vis han kan høy-tysk som han skrev kan han svare til meg. Han skriver selv at de “bare snakket forkjellige dialekter mellom seg” og som det står lenger opp Pennsylvania German is generally not a written language!. De begynnte så langsam å skrive på dialekt i sammeheng med teater og skuespill ikke før og mange som snakker dialekt kan ikke lese det. Reiser du i min landsby Dauendorf i Elsass og til neste landsby, Uhlwiller 3 km (1,87 US mi) lenger øst snakker de ord og eller utrykk som er ganske forskjellige. Han kan umulig kunne lese dialekt untatt hvis han er en språk nerd derfor griper de til engelsk. Så i Texas der bruker de to-språklig til og med offisiel ; spansk og engelsk!
What language do the Amish speak?
It's 100!
I’m just writing this in order to hit the 100-post mark on this thread
GreyCatz
Hei Grey!
Jeg trekker meg fra denne side jeg for allikevel ingen svar på høy-tysk, som vis, jeg har forstått det riktig han har lært! Skal jeg skal skaffe meg noe reel mening med mine teser, så må jeg nok reise “over der” og snakke og spørre med\ut folkene på stedet. Forresten jeg har min røtter å gå tilbake på, men har Amish folkene det? Dette spørsmål ligger i “tåkehavet”! Mening min er å knytte dem opp til deres språklige røtter! Da som jeg skrev tidligere, at dialektene ikke ble brukt som skriftspråk (det skrev Erik \ Amish America selv) og at alle i Tyskand dengang, alle tysk talende fra sør til nord og øst til vest, skulle forstå hverandre, laget Goethe et felles talle-og skriftspråk. Mens som Prof. Paul Adolf sa til meg at dialektene er eldre en høy-tysk.
What language do the Amish speak?
Slaget er ikke tabt endnu.
Hej R E,
Jeg tror ikke, at Ernie Yoder forstår elsassisk, og hans hoch-deutsch er måske ikke godt nok til at skrive tekster.
Men som Valerie skriver, kan der stadig findes folk på denne hjemmeside, som kan hjælpe. Så fortvivl ikke! Kom tilbage med jævne mellemrum.
Det største problem er, som du skriver, at PA-German ikke er blevet dokumenteret i skrift på ordentlig, akademisk vis. Men prøv dette link, som jeg fik fra Lance:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Pennsylvania+German+dialect%22
Der findes f.eks. gamle ordbøger.
What language do the Amish speak?
GreyCatz
Ja da Grey1
jeg fortviler ikke, men det virker som om at Amish selv ikke ønsker “på en ordentlig akademisk vis” å få det dokumentert, da de i er utgangspunkt mot fremskritt, i alle fall tilsynelatende. Det var et forsøk vert men som skrevet jeg skal stille og rolig med min kone tas oss en tur “over dammen” når vet jeg ikke, og likke stille snakket \ spørre komme i kontakt med de som snakker språket. At en sier “jeg ikke forstår…!” Betyr egentlig liten, 1-en svale gjør ikke våren! Det trengs som du skrev en akademisk vurdering men tviler at Amish folk er berette. Ha en hyggelig (og solrik helg) fra Lysefjord sør fra Bergen.
R. E. K.
What language do the Amish speak?
Ich musz lachen uber unsere poste die nicht miteinander reden konnte.
Mein hoch Deutsch ist nicht gut… as ihr alle sehen konnen.
The Amish read the Bible in high German.. but are unable to speak high German. Therefore much of the Bible is not understood in depth… except for those that study their Bible in English.
Ernie Yoder!
Das Lese ich, das Du nicht sehr gut Deutsch Schreibe kannst, aber Lese kannst Du!…aber bitte gibt nicht auf Du hast das ganze Leben vor Dir, und immerhin ein gutes Lachen … verlengert das Leben! Verstehe das die Amish Hoch-Deutsch benutzen da die Bibel auf Gotisch und Hoch-deutsch geschrieben ist. Doch was GreyCatz und ich selbst (mit viele andere) feststellen wollte oder möchten, ist die umgangssprache zwischen Amish…nicht mehr oder weniger!! Wenn Du Ernie Yoder, bei diese gelebt hast da weiss Du auch wie die Sprechen.Englisch so klar aber das ist nicht die Antwort! Elsassisch,Schwizer-Dütsch (Schwizerisch) Schwäbisch,Alemannisch, oder Frankisch? Die Frage zu Sprachwurzel das ist für mich interessant!!
What language do the Amish speak?
To Jaspar
Hey Jaspar !
Du schreibst dass Du Hochdeutsch lernst OK es ist ein wenig schwierig Dir als amrkaner zu erklären, da solltes Du zuerst die Landkarte über Europa vor Dich nehmen! Oder auf Google Earth gehen!
So wenn Du Europa ansiehst, da siehst Du Deutschland und die Schweiz und Frankreich. Da stehn Stadt Namen wie Basel, Freiburg im Breisgau, und Strasbourg, auch Mannheim und Stuttgart und der Fluss Rhein!
Vielleicht steht auch der Namen Alsace wenn Du, Strasbourg siehst! Das ist die Grenz Region wie seit 1648, altso in 400 Jahre die 5-funf mal die “seite” wechsel musste: Bis 1648 war dieses Landteil mit Namen ELSASS, ein teil des Heiliges Römisches Reich war die offizielle Bezeichnung für den Herrschaftsbereich der römisch-deutschen Kaiser vom Mittelalter bis zum Jahre 1806. Der Name des Reiches leitet sich vom Anspruch der mittelalterlichen Herrscher ab, die Tradition des antiken Römischen Reiches fortzusetzen. Das Heilige Römische Reich ist der Ursprung der heutigen Nationalstaaten Deutschland und Österreich. Zur Unterscheidung von dem 1871 gegründeten Deutschen Reich bezeichnet die moderne historische Forschung es auch als „Altes Reich.”
Das Reich bildete sich im 10. Jahrhundert unter der Dynastie der Ottonen aus dem ehemals karolingischen Ostfrankenreich heraus. Der Name „Sacrum Imperium” ist für 1157 und der Titel „Sacrum Romanum Imperium” für 1254 erstmals urkundlich belegt. Seit dem 15. Jahrhundert setzte sich allmählich der Zusatz „Deutscher Nation” durch.Aufgrund seines vor- und übernationalen Charakters entwickelte es sich nie zu einem Nationalstaat moderner Prägung, sondern blieb ein monarchisch geführtes, ständisch geprägtes Gebilde aus Kaiser und Reichsständen mit nur wenigen gemeinsamen Reichsinstitutionen.
Die Einwohner im (Alsace) Elsass hatten ein gemeinsame Sprache (oder dialekt) ; Alemanisch wie auch in der deutsche Schweiz gesprochen wird und in Baden Württemberg. Es ist sozusagen kein Schriftsprache. Noch nicht!!
Kein Schrift Sprache wie die Sprache der Amish!
Professor E. Zeidler gibt bald ein Leksikon raus darüber. Und Professor Paul Adolf hat ein Sprach Leksikon herausgegeben ; Englisch-Elsassisch-Englisch.
Doch ist dieser alemannische dialekt viel viel Älter, als das Hochdeutsch wie Du Lernst!
Es gibt; plus + minus -, ca 300 dialekten in ganz Deutschland.
Jaspar Hey!
You write that you learn standard German OK, there’s a little difficult to explain to you as american, because you should first have the European map in front of you! (Google Earth).
So, if you look at Europe, in the area of Germany, Switzerland and France. Take a look at city names such as Basel, Freiburg im Breisgau and Strasbourg, and Stuttgart and Mannheim and the river, the Rhine!
Now find the city Strasbourg (its the capital of Alsace)! This area is the border region as since 1648, all so in 400 years, they have changed nationality five times. Until 1648 the country was part called ELSASS, apart of the Holy Roman Empire was the official name for the dominion of the Roman German emperor from the Middle Ages to 1806. The name of the empire derives from the claim from the medieval rulers to continue the tradition of the ancient Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire is the origin of today’s nation states Germany and Austria. To distinguish between the German Reich, founded in 1871 is the modern historical research, it also as the “Old Empire.”
The kingdom was formed in the 10th Century during the dynasty of the Ottomans from the former Carolingian Ostfrankenreich. The name ”Sacrum Imperium” is for 1157 and the title ”Sacrum Romanum Imperium” was for first time in 1254 documented. Since the 15th Century saw the gradual addition of the ”German Nation”. Because of this its strong national character
before and it never developed into a modern nation-statecharacter, but remained a monarchy run, corporatist
structure of embossed Emperor and Diet, with only a few common
imperial institutions.
The population in (Alsace), Elsass had a common language (or dialect); Aleman spoke German as well as in Switzerland, and in Baden Wuerttemberg. There is no written language, so to speak. Not yet!
No written language as the language of the Amish!
Professor E. Zeidler is writing a dictonary about the Alsatian writing and its getting published soon. And Professor Paul Adolf, has published a speech Leksikon, English- Elsassisch (Alsatian) English.
But this is Alemannic dialect much much older than the standard German as you learn!
There are ; plus minus + -, about 300 dialects in Germany.
What language do the Amish speak?
And : Pappa Charlie
Pappa Charlie
” I can understand a fair bit
I am English. I speak (almost) fluent German. I can understand quite a lot of this. It sounds a bit like the German spoken near the border with France in Saarland and SW Germany.”
Correct! That’s what we’re trying to convey Dad Charlie, both GreyCatz and myself!
A dialect that is much older than high-German, it has the name – alemansk – that they speak, in the German-speaking Swiss and clear in Baden-Wurttemberg – Schwab Country – perhaps Amish people speak it, and (?), Partly in Bavaria, also in Alsace and partly Lorraine which is the dialect of the Fränkische as in Rhineland-Palatinate, where they talk Fränkische.(Franfurt – Hessen)
Hope you can read what I write using a translation program and it is far from perfect! .
Translated in German :
Dass ist richtig Pappa Charlie, dass haben wir beiden GreyCatz und ich selbst versucht zu erklären. ‘
Ein Dialekt, der viel, viel älter ist das das Hoch-Deutsche, der Namen diesen dialekt ist – alemannisch -, diesen sprecht man, in der deutsch-sprachigen Schweiz und klar in Baden-Württemberg – Schwabenland – vielleicht sprechen die Amish Leute diesen dialekt oder nur teilweise(?) Das ist eben die Frage!!
Dieser dialekt wird auch teils in Bayern auch noch im Elsass und in Lothringen gesproschen, da geht aber das alemannische rüber auf dan frankische dialekt zu. wie im Saarland und in Rheinland-Pfalz, wo es ein rein fränkische dialøekt ist (Frankfurt – Hessen)
What language do the Amish speak?
The Amish language "Pennsylvania Dutch"
I found a great website that has a list of Amish words. It tells you how to pronounce them etc…. They are just basic words but it will help you to learn some of the words the Amish speak. Here is the link www.wandabrunstetter.com/amish-life/amish-words. I hope this helps.
-Jasmine
To Jasmine Mitchell
Merry Christmas and many thanks to you I shall first look at the page you sent, all of us who have linguistic interest in the Amish speak and how they speak it.
with best regards Jasmine Mitchell
R. E. K.
Hallo, wie es gehend ist?
So the Amish speak a dialect of German and Dutch hmm interesting?
Also in my opinion if a person is going to write a book on a German or Dutch dialect when it comes to telling that person that does not know about the dialects at all when wanting to learn about it and possibly wanting to try to speak to others by showing respect to the Amish when it comes to there own culture.
It should be none other then the Amish or the native speaker that should be writing these books so that every little details such as the alphabet to when it comes to constituents and vowels.
How you pronounce the word and the meaning of the word and using them in sentences and phrases when by talking and greeting each other and when it comes to everyday things.
Things like that if you know what I mean by?
In my opinion that’s how these books should be made.
You all have a great time. Bye, Aufwidersehen.
What language do the Amish speak?
Which book would be considered correct??
There are many different Amish communities and some have accents and verbage that is hard for Amish of another community to understand.
For an example; The Amish in Illinois have a hard time understanding some of the Amish in Daviess County, IN. The only way to get around that is to speak a common language,’English’.
Then there is also the Schweitzer speaking Amish. I have attended many Amish schoolteacher meetings. After the meeting some of the teachers from various states get together and have a social get-together and discuss ‘teacher challenges’. I noticed that when the group laughed, there was one Amish teacher that continuously nudged his wife and whispered, “what was that?” ‘What did he say?” Needless to say, after that we Amish teachers spoke ‘English’ so we could all understand each other. (That was the common language in the classroom- and most school subjects are in English.
My point is this… Writing one book explaining the Amish language will not be correct for ALL Amish communities.The Amish language is very complex because each community will practice their own version or dialect of the Amish language, and pass that down from one generation to the next generation. Overall, most communities are still able to understand each other- but there are exceptions.
The only reason for th
What language do the Amish speak?
The End of the Road?
Hello, Ernie:
I think you’re absolutely right. Anyone attempting a comprehensive study of the Amish language would have to deal with these initial issues:
A) Given the significant dialectal variety that you experienced first-hand, is it even possible to talk of “an Amish language”, or would it be more correct to view e.g. PA/German and IN/German as distinct languages? (Entailing several small books.)
B) Would it be academically viable to presume that the Amish do in fact speak one language originating from PA/German, or Alemannic, and consequently view the prevalent dialects merely as variations thereof? (Entailing one large book.)
C) Can we even use “Amish” as a linguistic delimiter, or will we have to consider the language spoken among Mennonites and Hutterites as well? (Entailing who knows what.)
Judging from the material available today (e.g. through helpful links on this site), it seems that people, scholars and non-scholars alike, go by A). The discussion that Kronenberger and I opened earlier largely presumed B).
Personally, I don’t believe a single, comprehensive study is going to be undertaken any time soon – and that’s OK with me. I guess it merely adds to the mythical aura of the Amish.
What language do the Amish speak?
I meant Aufwiedersehen just a miss spelling that’s all.
Auf WiederSehen
Sorry just trying to get the spelling right.
Auf Wiedersehen, lieber Sean!
Sorry I thought European German would be okay gotta think what I’m saying bye.
Has anyone mentioned the Pennsylvania Dutch New Testament? It was published by The Bible League, South Holland, Ill., 60473. The first edition was published in 1993, and the second edition in 2002. It can be ordered from:
Committee for Translation
3864 Twp. Rd. 162
Sugarcreek, OH 44681
The work was done under the auspices of the Wycliffe Bible Translators. The title is: ES NEI TESHTAMENT: Pennsylvania Deitsh un English Mitt di Psaltah un Shpricha. The New Testament has both Pennsylvania Deitsh and English; the Psalms and Proverbs are in English only. Maybe Pennsylvania Dutch is finally becoming a written language.
In Montezuma, Georgia, a restaurant owned by the Beachy Amish is named Yoder’s Deitsch Haus.
THE BUDGET newspaper has a column, “Es Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch Eck” with editor C. Richard Beam of Millersville, Pa.
It seems like I heard that the Hutterite language was also in the process of being written into a New Testament.
What language do the Amish speak?
Correction
In ES NEI TESHTAMENT, the Psalms and Proverbs are in Pennsylvania Deitsh only, without the English.
Die Sprache der Amishen Leute
Was for eine kaulterwechslende Sprache durcheinander. I’ bin yo halb Pennsylvania Deitsch – auf der Seite meiner Mutter. Die Familie meines Vaters kam auf Ulster-Irland, Derry County. Er is abver in eineim halb deutsch-sprenchende, Katolisch und nicht Amish Haushalt. Er koennte so view deutsch wie meine Mutter (nicht sehr viel). Das Ostteil Pennsylvanias ist eine religoese Mischmasch weil es in kolonie Pennsylvania veiel mehr religose Toleranz gab, und dennoch hat William Penn eine Art Fremdenverkehrsbuero in Dem Palz getrieben um moeglice Emigranten nach Pennsylvania zu locken. Die Amish und Mennoniten hat shon eine Art Diaspsora erfahren. Sie kamen nach Poland, Frankreich, in dem Palz, Holland und andere Gebieten. She haben Ihr Allemanishe/Sueddeutsche Dialekt mitgebracht auch mit die verschiedene Einflusse von der verschiende Gebiete. Spaeter kam auch viele Deutschen nack Pennsylvania von Bayern, Schwabia, GHz Baden und Rheinland. Pennsylvania Deutsch war/ist eine gemischte Sprache von dieser(und vielleicht Andere) Dialketen.
Mer interessant her er de mange kommentarer paa dansk og norsk. Vi er ogsaa glad for unser danser og normaend her in Pennsylvania, og vi lade et par svenker ind ogsaa. Dom har vi inte saa mange af, men vi har en Wasa Viking Klub, och daer sammlas vore svenske pojke og flicker.
I can more easily read platdeutsch than Pennsylvania German, but with an effort I can read it. Buchstabierung ist aber peinlich.
What language do the Amish speak?
Another PA dialect option
Another printed guide to what some call Pennsylvania German/Dutch or what grandma used to call Pennsylfannie Deitsch is the book by Allan M. Buehler entitled The Pennsylvania German Dialect and the Life of an Old Order Mennonite. It was printed in 1977 and the author is deceased but there are copies of it around, including the archives at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario.
As a child, I understood PA Dutch to be the language that my grandfather spoke– even though he was a Mennonite from Waterloo County and wasn’t from PA. I understood “Deitsch” to be all German dialects spoken in the melting-pot of the Waterloo region. I think Ernie Yoder is correct, that there isn’t any one book that can teach someone to speak what the Amish speak. My grandmother, whose Amish Mennonite lines came through PA from Switzerland, had a different pronounciation for the same words. My husband’s family were Amish who came directly to Canada from Alsace, pronounced things another way. All of these families experienced the same religious persecution, in varying ways, and had very different journeys, eventually ending up here. They can all understand each other quite well even though they sound slightly different. For myself, platdeutsch is not well understood.
From the perspective of Anabaptist historical origins, it has come to be understood that Anabaptism is more of a spectrum than a single origin. The Amish are simply one of the many streams of Anabaptism, flowing specifically from the Swiss-German stream, having separated in 1693 from the Swiss-German Mennonites. Most of my/our ancestors have been to the same places. Having worked for years, on a genealogical study of my/our family, it became apparent that there were several places in Alsace where various of our ancestor had lived for signifciant lengths of time– between persecutions etc. One of those places was Ban de La Roche, in Alsace. This episode added a French element to our language mix. It is evident in many records of the early immigrants here that they spoke and wrote French as well as German. They were very literate indeed. Unfortunately, the efforts of pioneer living soon limited those activities and the struggle to learn yet another language– English– resulted in French being dropped in favour of the German that was spoken by the near-by Mennonites, German Lutherans and German Catholics.
My understanding is that the most common dialect/patois used in the Ban de La Roche region is known as “welsches”. The main characteristic seems to be that it has a whole lot more vowels. You can still see that around here in the way in which dialect-speakers love to draw out those vowels! For example– the village of Wellesley is pronounced Wells-ley by many peole while dialect speakers always call it Well-les-ley. A small difference but noticible to many.
All the best in your study.
Catherine
By the way Dale wagler– here is Shakespeare we call the 20 points of crokinole — a dookey!
What language do the Amish speak?
A Language is just a Dialect with an Army
Hi
It was interesting to read some of these posts.
To illustrate this posts title (Language = Dialect with an Army), let me talk about my language (or dialect)
I speak Flemish, which is considered a part of the Dutch language. The story about the High German coming into existence only after the Amish left was quite convincing for me. Certainly when you also consider that not all Amish ancestors left for America from the same region and time.
Today in every-day life, we percieve Flemish as a region-wide dialect, consisting of sub-dialects. And Flemish itself a dialect of the standard Dutch. However, this is not quite true.
In historic times there were several dialects in the region we know today as Flanders+Netherlands. Standard Dutch was ‘created’ by Vondel, and is based on the dialect of Amsterdam. A version of this Standard Dutch is used in the national media and in our schools. If it wasn’t for this, speakers from different regions would not be able to understand each other very well. Since all our dialects are Germanic, people don’t consider themselves to be speaking 2 languages. (the dialect + standard Dutch) But I’ll illustrate: I could easily find two persons, living only 100km apart, who wouldn’t understand a word when only using their dialects. (they HAVE to know standard dutch)
On a dayly base, I meet people who live only 40km away. Me, I speak not the real dialect, but a broader dialectic version of Dutch. I have no real problems talking to those people, since they try to clean their language when they speak to me. (I mean, try using only standard dutch words) However, even then I sometimes have to stop them, and ask to rephrase what they’ve said. (I’m very used to speak the mixture of dialect and standard dutch. When foreign people who have learned standard dutch, hear me, they allways have a hard time understanding my accent)
I think I’ve illustrated that even close dialects, (lets say within a 50kmx100km region) could have big trouble understanding each-other.
Then there’s a second thing: the writing. I don’t think it’s easy to say if “you can understand” a piece of text written in a foreign language.
For example, do you make any sence of this: “Aai hef toe bieheef”
Would you think this is a dialect close to American English? I’m not sure, since I can read this. It would be the result if you would give a 7-year old Flemish kid a recording of an American saying the sentence “I have to behave”, and ask the kid to write this down. I’m guessing here, but I think the writing “Aai hef toe bieheef” would seem pretty foreign, even to an English speaker.
Since both Pensylvenia Dutch and the Elzas dialect have no standard writing, only showing pieces of text to each other will be problematic, even if they’re closely related. Since probably the Elzas-speakers will write some phonetic form of they’re dialect, with High German in mind. (or maybe French) Where the Amish who try to write pensylvania german, would probably base their phonetic writings on the English way of writing.
But there’s light. Me, as a speaker of Flemish, I got a 60 hours cours (probably even less) of the High German. I can say I can read it pretty well now. Although I would not be able to write consistenly, nor speak. When High German is spoken to me very slow, I can make some good sense of it. (basically, if really needed, I could get around in Germany, I hope)
But when I read the Elzas dialect, it is difficult to me. (and I assume I base on the same writing systems + I can read French)
I first thought you would need to test it with an Elzas and an Amish dialect speaker. And let them both use the High German writing system, to write. However to do this, they would both have to be fluent in High German. Which is a strong bias. (like the Flemish dialect speakers understanding eachother, not because of their dialects being close, but because of the standard dutch bias)
So the best way to test this would be to put an Elzas dialect speaker in an Pensylvania Dutch setting (or the other way around). If they say they can understand eachother pretty fluently by the end of the day (maybe 2), I would think it’s safe to say their dialects are very close.
What language do the Amish speak?
A Language is just a Dialect with an Army
Previous post got longer than I intended.
About the title: it’s probable that, if the Netherlands wouldn’t have been politically seperate from the Holy Roman Empire, Flemish would now be considered a German dialect, as would Dutch. (instead of Dutch being a seperate language)
Another great example is Norwegian and Swedish. Which as I understood it, only became known as seperate languages instead of dialects, after the separation of Norway and Sweden into 2 different countries.
What language do the Amish speak?
Frederik, thanks for this fascinating post. I had no idea that there was such variation in spoken languages in your region. An interesting way of thinking about what comes out of our mouths.
Mark's experience
My son, Mark, just returned from a three week trip to Germany with three other Amish visiting some friends. In the German village where they were staying they were asked to participate in a church service in the village Catholic church by the priest. I think they sang some Amish hymns and I don’t know what all. But, afterwards Mark said this old man came up to him and said that when the Amish were speaking it was like he could hear his old grandmother speaking. His grandmother had been an old farm wife from the Pfaltz area of Germany. This man was in his 80′s and his grandmother was probably born sometime in the 1870′s I would guess. Mark says this old man was just fascinated about how the
Amish accent, vocabulary, idioms, etc. were just like what his grandmother had used who lived all her life in the Pfaltz. He said he hadn’t heard some of the words Mark and the other Amish had used since his grandmother had died mamy years before.
What language do the Amish speak?
Also, Mark visited the Alsace region of France last year. He said that Alsatian German is somewhat similar to Pennsylvania Dutch but that he really had to listen hard. Also, the Alsatian speakers had a hard time understanding him and his Amish friend who were visiting there.
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