In which countries in the Americas do immigrant descendants keep up their native tongues the most?

[JMack]

Do you think that Italian is completely non-existent in the US? I've met a number of Italian-Americans that speak Italian fluently (or have parents that do). They're a small minority obviously but they still exist.

Regarding German, it's spoken by a tiny amount (mainly the Amish I think). Don't recall meeting a German-American that spoke German here except on one occasion though.

Most Italians who migrated to the New World couldn't even speak Italian. No one in Brazil speaks Italian because it is a Tuscan language that was adopted as national language very recently. Until the 50s many Italians from Italy couldn't even speak Italian. People here can speak regional dialects.

''Italian''-Americans who can speak Italian learned it out of pure curiosity.

[Erronkari]

Maybe in some rural areas of SC, PR and RS, but in the cities?

You are right.
In big cities is more difficult because people marry with other communities.
As I told you, here people don't live in communities like the US or probably Canada, and right now don't care to stay with other people of the same ancestry.
Imagine that in the bulding where I live there are 31 appartments and if I am not wrong 26 or 27 to 31 of the families which live there are owned by people (marriages) of =/= ancestry (including my wife and me hehe).
This is a huge melting pot...
It's difficult to keep a language/dialect in these conditions.

[JMack]

It sounds 90% Italian and 10% Portuguese. And I thought that ban was only a temporary measure in World War II because Brazil had declared war on the Axis powers, which of course included Germany, Italy and Japan?

Venetian language isn't identical to Italian, I don't know what you're talking about. Well, after the ban people started to adopt Portuguese and the regional languages disappeared.

But nowadays the German and Italian dialects are considered national patrimony in RS, SC, PR and ES. In all those states you can find in the countryside even people who are fluent in Pomeranian (a dead language in Germany) or Tyrolean/Trentino dialects.

[Erronkari]

Do you think that Italian is completely non-existent in the US? I've met a number of Italian-Americans that speak Italian fluently (or have parents that do). They're a small minority obviously but they still exist.

Regarding German, it's spoken by a tiny amount (mainly the Amish I think). Don't recall meeting a German-American that spoke German here except on one occasion though. German and Italian probably also spoken only by a tiny amount in Brazil as well.

Oh yes... In America I don't have any doubt.
But in my country it's totally different.
At least in the cities the most of people don't talk in their ancestry language, because at this time the most of people have a multiple ancestry.
Probably one of the exceptions is the "yiddish".
Most ashkenazi people still speak in that language.

[Tooting Carmen]

You are right.
In big cities is more difficult because people marry with other communities.
As I told you, here people don't live in communities like the US or probably Canada, and right now don't care to stay with other people of the same ancestry.
Imagine that in the bulding where I live there are 31 appartments and if I am not wrong 26 or 27 to 31 of the families which live there are owned by people (marriages) of =/= ancestry (including my wife and me hehe).
This is a huge melting pot...
It's difficult to keep a language/dialect in these conditions.

Well my British father doesn't speak much Spanish (though he can understand a good amount), but still my Mum is able to converse with me in Spanish. In fact, there is something quite droll about Latin Americans complaining about US imperialism and racism, when Spanish thrives there far more than any immigrant language (including even English - how much have the Anglo-Argentinians still preserved it?) would anywhere in Latin America.

[Mingle]

Most Italians who migrated to the New World couldn't even speak Italian. No one in Brazil speaks Italian because it is a Tuscan language that was adopted as national language very recently. Until the 50s many Italians from Italy couldn't even speak Italian. People here can speak regional dialects.

''Italian''-Americans who can speak Italian learned it out of pure curiosity.

Nope. The Italian-Americans that speak it picked it up from their parents. Do you think Italian immigration came to a complete halt in the early-mid 20th century? It didn't. Many Italian (and even Irish Americans) know specifically which part of Italy (and Ireland) their parents come from and still regularly visit it. In some Italian-dominated dining places, you'll sometimes see Italians speaking among each other in Italian. I don't know exactly which part of Italy these guys are all from, so Italian in this context might actually be "Neapolitan" or "Sicilian". I do know of around two or so guys from back in high school that stated that they speak Italian and heard them speaking it on the phone, it may have been because their parents were born in Italy and grew up with Standard Italian (not sure).

[Mingle]

Oh yes... In America I don't have any doubt.
But in my country it's totally different.
At least in the cities the most of people don't talk in their ancestry language, because at this time the most of people have a multiple ancestry.
Probably one of the exceptions is the "yiddish".
Most if ashkenazi people still speak in that language.

It's very uncommon in America too. I'm just saying such people exist here.

[Tenma de Pegasus]

Southern brazilian members could clearly answer your question. Many of them speak their language families, in Curitiba some churches have hour to portuguese, hour to german and hour to polish. The rest of Brazil, only Sao Paulo and Mato Grosso would have people that speak other languages than portuguese.

[arkas]

Suriname and Bolivia are the most linguistically diverse countries in the Americas, not sure if that exactly means immigrants their keep their languages.


Linguistic diversity map ^

Definition of what constitutes a language vs a dialect range, also many languages could simply be native.

[Tenma de Pegasus]

It sounds 90% Italian and 10% Portuguese. And I thought that ban was only a temporary measure in World War II because Brazil had declared war on the Axis powers, which of course included Germany, Italy and Japan?

It does not sound so italian, its something different of italian and portuguese, but more close to portuguese because I understand 70% of what they said hehe