Did German almost become America’s official language in 1795?

[Fractal]

I can't imagine Americans speaking any other language than English.

Also Europeans here who say "so and so should learn our language before moving to so and so country" should just the fuck up, every European immigrant here speaks their own language in the public, especially Russians.

[Dandelion]

I can't imagine Americans speaking any other language than English.

Also Europeans here who say "so and so should learn our language before moving to so and so country" should just the fuck up, every European immigrant here speaks their own language in the public, especially Russians.

You also speak Gujarati, right? Well, learning the language of the country is always a good idea. But you are right, the US are less monoglot then given credit for, due to fresh immigrants.

[CertifiedCracker]

You also speak Gujarati, right? Well, learning the language of the country is always a good idea. But you are right, the US are less monoglot then given credit for, due to fresh immigrants.

Ive honestly only met 5 immigrants in my entire life.

[Dandelion]

Ive honestly only met 5 immigrants in my entire life.

A sea of monoglots in other words. It's a weird argument. 'I hear foreigners speak their own language'. It's as if if you learn a language you forget yours, that you can only be a monoglot.

It's like here:



Even if they weren't, it'd be embarrassing, for chances are high they understood you.

[CertifiedCracker]

A sea of monoglots in other words. It's a weird argument. 'I hear foreigners speak their own language'. It's as if if you learn a language you forget yours, that you can only be a monoglot.

I mean basically thats the idea. I wanted to become a linguist, but honestly Americans who speak other languages are seen as weird or exotic.

[Dandelion]

I mean basically thats the idea. I wanted to become a linguist, but honestly Americans who speak other languages are seen as weird or exotic.

One aspect I wouldn't like there. You'd get respected but in the way you wouldn't like the be respected, the oddball's respect. It's best to play dumb in that regard I assume and then you're fine.

[CertifiedCracker]

One aspect I wouldn't like there. You'd get respected but in the way you wouldn't like the be respected, the oddball's respect. It's best to play dumb in that regard I assume and then you're fine.

"Playing dumb" 9/10 times means acting normal.

[Mingle]

What about Pennsylvania Dutch? This is commonly known as a misnomer, as Pennsylvania Dutch is actually considered to be a dialect of German. I'm not familiar with these languages to be able to state whether PA Dutch is closer to modern Dutch than German. However, I am not under the impression that this is the case at all.

PA Dutch is called Dutch because that was the name given by the English to all Continental West Germanics originally. It's actually descended from the dialect of German spoken in the Rhineland-Palatinate region.

[Fractal]

You also speak Gujarati, right? Well, learning the language of the country is always a good idea. But you are right, the US are less monoglot then given credit for, due to fresh immigrants.

Learning the language is mandatory of course, Indians pick up English faster than most other ethnic groups.

Yes I speak Gujarati as does the rest of my family.

I'm talking about the European immigrants here especially Russians and Ukrainians. Almost all of them speak their own languages in public.

[Dandelion]

PA Dutch is called Dutch because that was the name given by the English to all Continental West Germanics originally. It's actually descended from the dialect of German spoken in the Rhineland-Palatinate region.

We also used to call our language 'Diets' or 'Duits' depending on era and dialect. This is why in English our language is called Dutch and not Netherlandish today. As during the 16th and 17th centuries the Dutch called our language 'Duits' and that's when they had intensive contacts with the English.
Our language also used to be called 'Nederduits' in history, but nowadays we use that word for Low German only and we use the word 'Duits' for German.

Prior to standardisation of our language, we only had to need to define Duits (Germanic) from Waals (foreign/ langue d'oïl/French). We currently call only the regional language of Walloon, Waals today, but it used to mean all of the langue d'oïl oor Old French basically in our language during the Middle Ages.