Learn Pennsylvania Dutch (Lesson #1) 

I recently started working with the Amish. I absolutely find it fascinating when they mix the Dutch and English language seamlessly in a conversation. Im just now starting to learn and this is the first video I've watched on learning the language and I am so happy I found you! You are a very good teacher!

This is wonderful. My ancestors were Old Order all the way down to my dad. He left for an English girl (my mom). I only know a handful of sayings but as I am so close to Lancaster County, I practice as much as I can and make as many Amish and Mennonite friends I keep in touch with (some phone calls but mostly writing each other of course). I just wish I learned the language as a youngster. I am a grandmother now and have started bringing my grandbabies to PA Dutch Country so they can enjoy what I did as a child.

I love this! My grandma was Amish and married a Mennonite, so my mom and her siblings grew up speaking some PA Dutch. My mom didn't hang on to it as much as some of her siblings, so I only learned a few words and phrases growing up. I have an uncle that drives the Amish around and speaks it fluently. I'm excited to go through all your videos.

My Mom and siblings grew up speaking Pennsylvania Dutch but unfortunately, didn’t teach it to us. I learned some phrases later in life but regret not learning more. Thank you for the video. You did great!

Im a Puerto Rican from Lebanon city Pa , and I always trip them out when I say things in Dutch 😂

Thank you for sharing! Looks like you’re helping a lot of people connect to their heritage. My family stopped speaking the language only a few generations ago. It’s a shame and I often feel like I missed out on such a unique part of Pennsylvania Deutsch culture.

grew up in northeastern PA and my great grandfather spoke the language but never passed it down to us. now my wife and I are looking to learn PA dutch thank you for the resource

Sehr interessant und für mich als Deutsche total goldig und putzig pennsylvania deitsch zu hören ! Super :-)

I am German and I can tell that you have a very good intuition and knowledge of Pennsylvania Dutch.It is so good to know that so many German words are being actively used and it is so nice that I can understand so much.Ich finde es super,dass du diese Videos machst.Vielen Dank.

Ohio amish country here... always good to learn more of the language! Thanks for sharing this video!

Hopefully the PD language will not die out some day. So Danke for keeping it alive!

You did good teaching this great language, thank you for making these videos.

Thankyou !!! You are an Awesome teacher !!! We have very good friends that are old order Amish from Northern Ontario...just nice to learn more of the language ...They do teach us a few words here and there.... DANKA

I’ve discovered this late… Please keep rolling with this!

Thank you for taking the time to put this together.

My family just moved to a Amish area and have befriended quite a few. We are adopting a lot of the practices. They say we are adopting Pioneer way. Lol. But I hope you keep them coming as we are learning and teaching our children. My 6 year old son wants to talk to the other kids but it is hard. So this is helpful for my wife and I.

I’m so glad I found these videos! I would love to learn this language!

Thank you so much for your time and effort in making these videos. Just what I’ve been looking for.

Please keep the videos coming! I took German in school but have learned it much different speak than the Dutch my Amish friends and neighbors speak. I would love to be able to impress them with taking the time to learn their Dutch.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

This is awesome! I told my wife I want to visit Lancaster and be able to speak Pennsylvania Dutch with the Amish there and I just found your channel. Thank you for teaching this language on RU-vid. I hope you keep posting videos!

I have been wanting to learn my family’s native language (dads side Ohio Amish) and didn’t discover your page til just now, I’m so happy I feel home again and am going to learn again!🥺🥺

I grew up Mennonite, from Old amish family. There are phrases my mother remebers, but doesn't understand, and i remember my grandmother telling me things phrases she remembered from her childhood in the 20's . Thanks for your post.❤❤

I just came across your channel. Thanks for sharing! I hope you are still making these videos. I live in Southern Lancaster County and have good Amish friends. I tried some of your phrases on them. They got a good laugh so I guess I have some work to do on this! Ha! Thanks again.

Nice start!!! I have studied German and Yiddish. There are similarities that help but of course many differences. I have been trying to learn some Pennsyfaanische Deitch from a few books I have but it’s very good to hear it *spoken* in addition! Thank you!!

You are doing a good job and as time goes by you will improve. I’m looking forward to your next class, can’t wait for the next class! Thanks for what you are doing, I really appreciate your efforts and generosity.

I'm Pennsylvania Dutch was raised and born in Shamokin PA up by Lancaster. But we were never taught the Pennsylvania Dutch language it was on my mother's side she would say a few words but that was it. My grandmother died before I was born there was only one picture of her and she had that little white cap on her head in the back. I don't believe she was ever Amish my grandmother I don't know it was never spoken that she was so I guess she wasn't. I'm so glad I came across this Channel. So I'm going to practice saying these words and get it into my vocabulary. Thank you for taking the time and consideration of teaching us. God bless

My step-grandmother was Pennsylvania Dutch and I remember her saying some words now and then so I'm really happy to find this to learn and you make it easy to understand so thanks again for the videos

Danke dir für die Lektionen! I started learning German at the beginning of the year and absolutely love it, so as such I love learning about the many dialects as well! Ich bin in diese Sprache (und alle Dialekte) verliebt, tolle Arbeit!

You’re doing a great job. Do not be discouraged. It was helpful. More helpful then you know. Well done!

You did a great job. I am from Ephrata, Pa.

Thank you for doing this. My grandparents spoke PA Dutch and it was my dad's first language, but I never learned. Now that I retired, it's time for me to look into my heritage. Also, my daughter is a barber and she has some ol' Dutchies that come in. I'm gonna tell her about your videos so she can learn, too. Cindi (Clauser) Reitz.

Please keep making these language videos !! They're great ! Denki ♥️

Great job! Thank you!

Thank you for this video. I'm an English man that is deeply connected to several small communities south of Holmes county ohio. I am a very trusted member of these communities to the extent that I work 6 days a week with the Amish and even alternate Sundays with my church and theirs. My goal is to join the church and they work with my language skills daily but I don't have any thing like this to help me... As you say its not written

This is awesome. I actually drive an Amish taxi in Ohio near Berlin. I’m trying to learn the language to connect more with my clients. Thank you for this!

So... I watched your video and then I went to your website and read your testimony - such a sweet story of journeying with the Lord! Thank you for sharing!

I think you did a WONDERFUL job with this first lesson, and I am very grateful that you are taking the time to make these videos. We are raising 2 toddler granddaughters in the middle of Kentucky which is rich in Amish and Mennonite communities and friends. We really wanted to teach them the PA Dutch so that they could communicate with the community better. I subd and will take lesson plans for them from your videos. Thank you !!

You did a fantastic job. I am from Elkhart County in North Central Indiana. Also a huge Amish population. I am a driver and auction ring man for the community. This is going to help me a lot.

Living in Philadelphia, thanks for helping all of us learn amish

Enjoy this very much. I grew up in berks county. I live in Missouri Now

Hi from your f b group I know some from reading Amish books. I also know one or two words. Thank you for doing this

Thank you! I have Amish friends! Very helpful!

Enjoy this very much.. this helps me with the Amish folks I visit

Please keep these coming. Thank you!

Sahn dich spader is pretty close to literal german sehen = see, dich = you and später = later. Very nice videos and great to see the american heritage kept alive.

Interesting and helpful... how do we say, "I only know a little Pennsylvania Dutch!" LOL I fear saying Gude Mariye and getting a long response I don't understand!

Thank you!!! I love that you are doing this for us! We appreciate it!!❤😊

Thank you so much for starting these sessions. My grandma was born and raised Amish but didn't teach her family because she married a non speaking P.D. man so it got lost on us grandchildren.

It's an interesting mix of German and English. Amazing what you can learn today with the help of the internet.

I already speak German so this is cool, its the same but pronounced differently. I like it and I subscribed.

Love this. I checked out your website the recipes look scrumptious. I've always loved learning languages..and was always interested in PennDutch...it reminds me of Swiss German too...there's not too much available so this is great. Thank you

Thank you for your video! I have many good memories of my grandparents and great-grandparents speaking PA dutch *particularly when they didn't want me to know what they were saying* 😂 My grandparents have since passed, and I am learning to speak the language abd hope to get my kids to learn with me. I live in Lancaster county currently, so i think I'll have plenty of folks to help me practice. Mach's gut!

Great lesson! Thank you for teaching. I think you did a great job! You got right into the lesson. You are the perfect person to teach this. My grandmother spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. I live close to the Lancaster Amish and I buy a lot of food from them. Now maybe I can say something to them in their language.

This is so wonderful, thank you very much for sharing! I will go through all of your learning language lessons, my family is from Lancaster but I unfortunately could not get to know many of them before they passed away. You are helping me connect to my family through language, which I appreciate so, so much.

Seeing as how I ain't since as boy, conversed actively, it might be little bit broken: Pennsilvanya Holendish vorts klang zeyer enlekh tsu Yidish-Teysh. Ikh gelernet es fun meyn Zeyden. Amerika iz a multi-shprakh land dos iz vos di internationalyer mentshn ton nit farshteyn. Far antyelyn, A dank. That's "Pennsylvania Dutch words sounds very much like Yiddish. I learnt it from my Grandfather. America is a multi-lingual nation is what folks in rest of world don't realize. Thanks for sharing" 🙂

I love this cause i live right by Lancaster pa ty

Hello. I think you did great for a first lesson. I am a student of Hoch Deutsch and speak at almost a B1 level. It occurred to me that i would like to learn a dialect as well as the standard highly regulated (almost artificial) German. Pennsylvania Dutch is perfect because my grandparents were mennonites... back when mennonites commonly spoke PA Dutch so it would be a great way to connect with my roots. That and I do plan to live in Germany soon. I think my friends there would be very interested to hear a distinctly American German Dialect. Keep it up! I enjoy this content.

I am interested in teaching my kids so mabye they will learn something and listen to in the shops..

You did a GREAT job! I love the live writing!

Very interesting, seems most of the dialect is a version of informal high German. Very interested to add this do my German knowledge.

I grew up in Amish country and my family used to be Amish, mostly my grandparents. So I kinda talk already in an accent from my grandparents. I also work with Amish people. For me developing the accent isn’t hard because i’ve been surrounded by it for so long. I even know a few things in PA Dutch but I’m not sure how to write them lol.

I think you made an awesome video. As an English speaker learning German, everything in this video is so relatable. It's so easy interesting to see how the similarity of the languages. I reckon PA deutsch speakers would fine if very very easy to learn German.

In German: gute tag,hallo, wie bist du,hallo,wie bist du heute, ich bin gut, wie gehst. Es geht gut. Was ist deine name.meime name sit.Danke.ich liebe dich❤.Gute morgen. Gute abend. Gute nacht. Schlaff gut. Siehen sie spater. Sehen sie bald wieder.

This is Awesome I live around tons of Amish and go to their store and I wander what their saying

Here in The USA 🇺🇸, A lot of Words that we use are From Different Languages, Such as French, German, and Others. Until we’re taught, We May think it’s an English word, Then We find out where the word originated from. English, and German are Sister Languages.

Hi, thanks for putting these lessons together. I've copied all of them through #8 and also the conversation in Pennsylvania Dutch. I subbed you.

These are very important videos. PA Dutch is a rapidly dying language (likely because it's taught orally only) and there is very little archived information on the subject.

You are doing a great job. My girlfriend is ex Amish. This is wonderful. Keep it up.

thank you - danka- danke - Mein Name ist Dina - I am learning from the German perspectiv :-) it feels very natural to me as I am speaking a 'Schwäbisch Dialekt' with many sch

Hallo Anna! Mei nahma iss Schock from the Berks/Schuylkill Co area. I am wanting to learn enough to read the old records for my family history-especially wills. Dengki

See you later, I recall hearing and thinking "Sandy Sweater" now, I know what I was politely echoing.

You are really helping me.

Very good 👍 I just watched a movie 1985-WITNESS with Harrison Ford. A great movie which I started to research Amish heritage. I have Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, plus Southern Germany.

Thank you and God bless you

Thank you so much .

I was looking for a Pa Dutch Teacher. It is very close to German.

I am swiss and most words are really similar to swiss german, especially the "sch" stuff. Most germans would be able to understand every thing you mentioned in the Clip. But it is obvious that english had a big influence on it. It is german but often a 1 to 1 Translation from english, which Sounds weird in german but every body is going to understand it.

Thanks. This is interesting and helpful.

I love this....have you thought about doing flash cards ?

I am from Old Colony descent and speak German and Plautdietsch currently living in Mexico, while the pronunciation is quite different I can basically understand everything.

I work with the Amish and Mennonites in home construction. Cool dudes. I chat with them in German and they respond in Pennsylvania Deutsche. We can converse fairly well, but their language is much more English slang than the German I learned.

Danke shen !!!!!!!!

Guder mariye ! Wie bischt du Heit ? Denki for starting these videos!! Please continue to make them. I understand that since it is a spoken language it can be a challenge when trying to write it out for us but I say just write it as close as you can to how it sounds and don't stress yourself. ❤️. Besides, we get to hear you speak it too so we'll be fine. Again...thank you sooo much ! I'm learning so much in such a short amount time 😁👍 You're doing an awesome job ❤️

Oh my goodness, please and thank you. I only know bits of PA dutch, and would very much like to expand my vocabulary

I wonder if anyone has ever tried to compare Pennsylvania Dutch with the German Hunsrik dialect of the South of Brazil. I don’t speak it, but a few things sound similar to me.

Nice!

Du hast nach einer Übersetzung für" Good bye " gesucht, und eigentlich später geliefert... " Mach's gut " bedeutet im Deutschen good bye ;) macht Spass das zz lesen, als Deutscher. Charmante Unterschiede

I am a speaker of pennsylfaanischdeitsch and I find this very interesting. The vocabulary is slightly different from how speakers in my community would use but it's interesting nonetheless! (For example, in my area Wie bisht du is not a correct sentence and instead the correct phrase would be Wie gehts, like German, although I am aware vocabulary varies between amish and mennonites)

I love this! Thank you!

Guda dag from Ulm, Germany! I watched some videos about Pennsy-dutch and I noticed, that it has many parallels to the "Russlanddeutsch". My ancestors emigrated in the early 1900s to New Russia, wich is now Ucraine, from Stuttgart and Karlsruhe in southern Germany. My Mother fled with her parents to Western Germany at the end of WWII, but my uncles and aunts came here 1978 with their children and grandchildren and spoke still the southern german of the early 1900s with new words from the russian Language (Kosmonaut instead of Astronaut for example). For example "schlof gut" is exactly the same. It is good to hear that old language still alive, because nearly all the germans from russia are back in germany and the old generation is not alive anymore. Russlanddeutsch is dying, because nobody cared for it. so: "Mach´s gut" and I subscribed!

At our house we said "Where's breakfast"?

I may never live near any Amish people. I am moving to the midwest this year. It would be awesome to be able to interact with them in a PA Dutch. I feel a kinship to those who live simply. (I could only be that black-sheep distant cousin as I am athiest.) I met a couple ladies selling pies at a market who seemed really nice. And the two pies I bought were awesome. I would be that neighbor who would want to help at the barn raising and would buy my furniture/lumber from my neighbors. Subscribed. And I am checking out the website as soon as I hit enter. :-)

It's so linked to Germain!😊

As a Swiss that sounds like a swiss grrman/high german mixture 80% high german tough)

I was born and raised amish and can talk and still do to all my family but I can not write it at all.

Danki

Good job. No offense, but it would be so much easier if you knew German or had a German speaker in the back ground. Appreciate your attempt to keep pa Dutch alive

Thank you!

something needs to be corrected... I'm dutch speaking Belgian so i'm from north Belgium Flanders!! I also speak and understand German and both languages are different. Most German people don't even understand us dutch speeking people, but most of Dutch speaking people do understand German! This is absolutely in no way dutch, but 100% German!