Editing Languages of the United States (section)

===German (857,000 speakers; 1.29 million including Yiddish and Pennsylvania German dialects)===
{{Main|German language in the United States}}
[[File:Americans with German Ancestry by state.svg|thumb|upright=1|[[German American]] states.]]
[[German language|German]] was the 13th most common language spoken at home, according to the 2020 ACS survey. If German-related dialects such as Yiddish and varieties such as Pennsylvania German (Amish) are included, German ranks among the top ten languages spoken in U.S. homes. (The ACS lists both Yiddish and Pennsylvania German separately from German.) In the United States, German was a widely spoken language in some American colonies, especially Pennsylvania, where a number of German-speaking [[Protestantism|Protestants]] and other religious minorities settled to escape persecution in Europe. Another wave of settlement occurred when Germans fleeing the failure of 19th-century German revolutions immigrated to the United States. Throughout the century, a large number of these immigrants settled in urban areas, where entire neighborhoods were German-speaking and numerous local German-language newspapers and periodicals were established. Germans also took up farming around the country, including the [[Texas Hill Country]], at this time. The language was widely spoken until the United States entered [[World War I]].

In the early twentieth century, German was the most widely studied foreign language in the United States, and prior to [[World War I]], more than 6%{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} of American schoolchildren received their primary education exclusively in German, though some of these Germans came from areas outside Germany. Currently, more than 49 million Americans claim [[German American|German ancestry]], the largest self-described ethnic group in the U.S., but less than 4% of them speak a language other than English at home, according to recent [[American Community Survey]]s.<ref name="2005 ACS German">{{Cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |title=United States - Selected Population Profile in the United States (German (032-045)) |access-date=November 27, 2008 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090403034514/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-date=April 3, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Amish]], concentrated in the State of [[Pennsylvania]], speak a dialect of German known as [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]]; it is widely spoken in Amish communities today.

Waves of colonial Palatines from the Rhenish Palatinate, one of the Holy Roman states, settled in the [[Province of New York]] and the [[Province of Pennsylvania]]. The first Palatines arrived in the late 1600s but the majority came throughout the 1700s; they were known collectively as the [[Palatine Dutch]]. The [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] settled other states, including Indiana and Ohio.<ref name="newyorkstate">{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the Senate of the State of New York on the Life, Character and Public Service of William Pierson Fiero|author=New York (State). Legislature. Senate|year=1915|pages=7}}</ref><ref name="homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com">{{cite web|url=http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brobst/chronicles/chap2.htm|title=Chapter Two – The History Of The German Immigration To America – The Brobst Chronicles|website=Homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com|access-date=August 28, 2017}}</ref> For many years, the term "Palatine" meant [[German American]].<ref name="jodiescales">{{cite book |title=Of Kindred Germanic Origins: Myths, Legends, Genealogy and History of an Ordinary American Family|author=Jodie Scales|year=2001|publisher=iUniverse|pages=46}}</ref>

There is a myth (known as the [[Muhlenberg legend|Muhlenberg Vote]]) that German was to be the official language of the U.S., but this is inaccurate and based on a failed early attempt to have government documents translated into German.<ref>{{Citation
|url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_026.html
|title=Did Hebrew almost become the official U.S. language?
|date=January 21, 1994
|access-date=February 22, 2008
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213081707/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_026.html
|archive-date=February 13, 2008
}}</ref> The myth also extends to German being the second official language of Pennsylvania; however, Pennsylvania has no official language. Although more than 49 million Americans claim they have German ancestors, only 1.24 million Americans speak German at home. Many of these people are either Amish and Mennonites or Germans having newly immigrated (e.g. for professional reasons).

====Pennsylvania Dutch====
[[File:Pennsylvania Dutch map distribution.svg|thumb|[[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]] areas of the [[United States]]]]
{{main|Pennsylvania Dutch language}}
[[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]] or Pennsylvania German is a dialect of [[Palatine German language|Palatine German]] that is traditionally spoken by the [[Pennsylvania Dutch]], and has settled the Midwest, in places such as Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and other states, where many of the speakers live today. It evolved from the [[German dialects|German dialect]] of the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]] brought over to America by [[Palatines]] from the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in the 1600s.<ref name="First German-Americans">{{Cite web|url=http://www.germanheritage.com/postal/germansettlers/|title=First German-Americans|website=Germanheritage.com|access-date=October 5, 2006|archive-date=May 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509091415/http://www.germanheritage.com/postal/germansettlers/|url-status=dead}}</ref> They settled on land sold to them by [[William Penn]]. Germantown included not only Mennonites, but also Quakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/historic-germantown-new-knowledge-in-a-very-old-neighborhood-2/|title=Historic Germantown – Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia|website=Philadelphiaencyclopedia.org|access-date=August 28, 2017}}</ref> The Pennsylvania Dutch speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and adhere to different Christian denominations: [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], [[German Reformed]], [[Mennonite]]s, [[Amish]], [[Schwarzenau Brethren|German Baptist Brethren]], [[Catholicism|Roman Catholics]]; today Pennsylvania Dutch is mainly spoken by [[Old Order Amish]] and [[Old Order Mennonite]]s.

====Texas German====
[[File:Map of USA TX.svg|thumb|The [[State of Texas]]]]
{{main|Texas German}}
Texas German is a group of High German dialects spoken by Texas Germans, descendants of German immigrants who settled in Texas in the mid-19th century.

====Yiddish====
[[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] has a much longer history in the United States than Hebrew.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joshua A. Fishman|title=Yiddish: turning to life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MKJFx1b3xAC|year=1991|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=978-90-272-2075-2|pages=148–159|chapter=Appendix: The Hebrew Language in the United States|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MKJFx1b3xAC&pg=PA148 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102091443/https://books.google.com/books?id=4MKJFx1b3xAC|archive-date=January 2, 2016}}</ref> It has been present since at least the late 19th century and continues to have roughly 148,000 speakers as of the 2009 American Community Survey. Though they came from varying geographic backgrounds and nuanced approaches to worship, immigrant Jews of Central Europe, Germany and Russia were often united under a common understanding of the Yiddish language once they settled in America, and at one point dozens of publications were available in most East Coast cities. Though it has declined by quite a bit since the end of WWII, it has by no means disappeared. Many Israeli immigrants and expatriates have at least some understanding of the language in addition to Hebrew, and many of the descendants of the great migration of [[Ashkenazi Jews]] of the past century pepper their mostly English vocabulary with some Yiddish loan words. Yiddish remains the lingua franca among American [[Haredi Jews]] (particularly [[Hasidic]] Jewry), whose communities are concentrated in Los Angeles, Miami, [[New York City]], and the suburbs of New York.<ref>{{Citation
 |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/a-yiddish-revival-with-new-york-leading-the-way/ 
 |title=A Yiddish Revival, With New York Leading the Way 
 |author=Sewell Chan 
 |date=October 17, 2007 
 |work=The New York Times 
 |access-date=August 15, 2008 
 |url-status=live 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930033940/http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/a-yiddish-revival-with-new-york-leading-the-way/ 
 |archive-date=September 30, 2008 
 }}<br />
+ {{Citation 
 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jul-07-me-yiddish7-story.html
 |title=Yiddish Program Aims to Get Beyond Schmoozing 
 |author=Patricia Ward Biederman 
 |date=July 7, 2005 
 |work=Los Angeles Times 
 |access-date=August 15, 2008 
 |url-status=live 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221210206/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/07/local/me-yiddish7 
 |archive-date=February 21, 2009 
 }}<br />
+ {{Citation 
 |url=http://yiddishkaytla.org/index.html 
 |title=Yiddishkayt Los Angeles 
 |publisher=yiddishkaytla.org 
 |access-date=August 15, 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724032322/https://www.yiddishkaytla.org/index.html 
 |archive-date=July 24, 2008 
 }}</ref> A significant diffusion of [[List of English words of Yiddish origin|Yiddish loan words]] into the non-Jewish population continues to be a distinguishing feature of New York City English. Some of these words include ''glitch, chutzpah, mensch, kvetch, klutz'', etc.