@CountryFenderBass
I’m from Lancaster Pa. My Uncle came to visit from Germany. He is a farmer and he wanted to visit an Amish farm. I took him to Amos Stoltzfus’s farm. Within 10 minutes they found common ground language wise and he spent 3 hours visiting him. You need to come here and speak with real Amish
@norman3605
Remember that the immigrants who brought Pennsylvania Deutsch to the US came over in the 1600s to the 1800s, while the Texas Germans immigrated in the mid 19th Century. Pennsylvanian German has therefore had a much longer time to diverge from standard German than Texas German.
@jpbaugh
We need "Chris visits Pennsylvania Dutch communities" - this needs to happen!
@mgd18972
I am an English speaker who was born and raised in a town full of Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites. I learned basic phrases in Pennsylvania Dutch in order to have conversations with my neighbors. When I got to high school and took German as a foreign language, it took me a while to adjust. Both pronunciations and actual words can be dramatically different. The differences between the two languages are partially explained by how insular many of the Pennsylvania Dutch were, especially the Amish and the Mennonites. This allowed the Pennsylvania Dutch language to evolve in ways that its German language cousin did not. After years away from my hometown, I moved back three years ago. It is now just a suburb of Philadelphia, and sadly, most of the Pennsylvania Dutch speakers are gone.
@pushpak
I'm American and I worked for a Dutch company and my boss, who was Dutch, asked me what I thought of the language. I said it sounds like German spoken badly. He laughed.
@martingingerich8830
IM Amish I speak Pennsylvania dutch and also High German...it's so cool to watch you unravel the similarities of the languages...also what throws you off is the Swiss that's mixed in 😆
@dennisgehris969
This person must never have been to the Pfalz or Palatinate in Southwestern Germany in the 1700s. This is where my ancestors lived before immigrating to Pennsylvania. I have visited there several times and their dialect sounds similar to Pennsylvania Dutch. In fact local people overheard me talking to my wife in Dutch and they thought that I lived in Germany.
@hazelleblanc8969
That was crazy - when the gentleman started reading, I thought I understood what he was saying, even though I am an English speaker who knows very little German. When you started to translate what you thought he was saying, I thought my first impression was incorrect. But I wasn't. It turned out that I could recognize Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater simply from the rhythm of it being read, even though I couldn't understand the words.
@kennethbosley1915
The Pennsylvania Dutch from the Pennsylvania Deutch is derived from a combination of Anglo-Saxon English influences and the German language as it was spoken by the Hessian Troops who stayed behind after the Revolutionary war and Amish influences brought to America. This also occurred before the Brothers Grimm began the standardization of the Germanic languages into a common language for all Germans.
@jeraldehlert7903
The older gentlemen doesn't sound like he's a native speaker of the language.
@classic_sci_fi
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater. Had a wife and couldn't keep her. Put her in a pumpkin shell and there he kept her very well.
@gingersnap22
I live in western Pennsylvania. The funny thing about it is the "English", as what the Amish call us, pick up on their words also and use it in our own language.
@norman3605
German was still in widespread use in central Pennsylvania during the Civil War. The Union Army had entire regiments that spoke only German. I also read a memoir from one of General Lee’s lieutenants who complained that, as the Confederate army advanced on Gettysburg, they couldn’t understand the local farmers who spoke only German. See here for more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Americans_in_the_American_Civil_War
@Echowhiskeyone
It was explained to me that PA Dutch is German from 300 years ago that stagnated; whereas, in Europe, German evolved into modern German. Not exactly true, but close enough. More like they diverged 300 years ago and PA Dutch hit a wall and changed slowly. My ancestors came to America in the Early 1700s from Germany and Switzerland. I grew up hearing this spoken and it was easy for me to learn German.
@karenk2409
I love how curious and enthusiastic Chris is about everything he explores! His delighted smile is infectious.
@davidweiss8710
I'm adopted but my grandfather on my Dad's side was PA Dutch and after researching that ancestry I could back to when they came over to the US when it was the colonies. It was crazy to go back to the the German and Swiss ancestors. My Dad, if he was still alive, would have been amazed.
@gkiferonhs
You might want to see how close Yiddish is to German.
@johnking8896
Doug is a German teacher so he knows German and Penn. Dutch which is probably why sometimes you can understand him perfectly and othertimes not. He switches back and forth in his video.
@jonathan19082
It’s a poem. Called Foot prints. Where there is one set of foot prints. Jesus carried me
@hardheadjarhead