Introducing an exchange student from Germany to Lincoln

[My Name Is Kate]

(02-24-2020 12:42 PM)Amy L. Wrote:  Hey - here's something from NPR this week about the dying German language in Missouri and Kansas. (Mentions the many German newspapers in the mid-1800s.)
https://www.kcur.org/post/how-save-dying-language

(Ich kann fast nichts verstehen, was die Leute hier sagen. Ist das Deutsch verständlich, ihr Muttersprachler?)

There is at least one place in the USA where keeping anything German (language included) alive is a vested interest for the entire community. That place is the Amana Colonies, located in Iowa, and designated a national historic landmark in 1965. The seven villages attract over one million tourists a year, and are famous for being one of the longest-lived "utopian" communal societies in history.

German used to be the primary language spoken in the community, and some of the old-timers still speak German among themselves. Every Sunday, a church service is still conducted in German in the Middle Amana church.

Mom grew up in West Amana and German was her first language. English was taught as a second language. School books, Bibles, prayers, everyday communication, was all in German. That began to change in 1932, when communal living came to an end by majority vote of the residents. Mom, who is nearly 94, is one of the very last (former) Amana residents who lived during the communal days and remembers them from personal experience.

https://amanacolonies.com/