General Discussion

TBF

(36,817 posts)

20. I grew up in Wisconsin -

Wed May 14, 2014, 08:20 AM

May 2014

and my dad can remember his grandparents speaking in German (he is about 70 now) - he could understand it when he was young but can't speak it anymore other than a few words. It was very common for the parents/grandparents to still remember some German or Polish when I was growing up.

Here in Texas I'm actually not surprised by the Vietnamese because I have met many folks in hair salons/spas who originally lived in Vietnam. They are more recent immigrants and interestingly many have US-born fathers (obviously the liasons between soldiers/locals during the Vietnam conflict). It is interesting that it includes Oklahoma though - Texas also had a lot of German settlers back in the 1800s and I would have expected more German speakers - maybe it comes in second after the Vietnamese immigrants/speakers (who would be more recent so they may still be teaching Vietnamese to their children).

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Most Common Language Spoken By State (Other than English or Spanish) [View all] Fearless May 2014 OP

You know what this means don't you? Putin is going to invade Oregon next. nt okaawhatever May 2014 #1

First laugh of the day!! OKNancy May 2014 #2

DUZY! nt TBF May 2014 #21

Definitely sakabatou May 2014 #48

....... Louisiana1976 May 2014 #53

Hahahaha etherealtruth May 2014 #55

only one state has a native language as the second roguevalley May 2014 #64

That's awesome. joshcryer May 2014 #3

Very interesting. Behind the Aegis May 2014 #4

Me too, Nebraska as well. LuvNewcastle May 2014 #5

Actually, I figured it would be German or Czech. Behind the Aegis May 2014 #6

Anywhere there are big military bases, there will be a lot of Vietnamese, Koreans, and Filipinos Ex Lurker May 2014 #7

After Saigon fell DURHAM D May 2014 #18

The Cherokee Nation... AnneD May 2014 #19

The Cherokees are pretty spread out Art_from_Ark May 2014 #26

There are 11 at large groups.... AnneD May 2014 #28

I love languages, even though I'm not fluent in any of them. hunter May 2014 #39

We have commercials in Native languages here in Oklahoma. Behind the Aegis May 2014 #63

Very interesting Art_from_Ark May 2014 #62

meat packing dsc May 2014 #43

Me too, and Texas treestar May 2014 #24

That is surprising. According to the museum at Ellis Island, Italians were merrily May 2014 #8

This map is of current speakers of a language starroute May 2014 #33

French here in the Carolina's Lee-Lee May 2014 #9

Me too. Maybe some of them work for Michelin, but where do the rest of them come from? nt raccoon May 2014 #17

wouldn't a good number of Vietnamese also speak French? CTyankee May 2014 #25

Cool map! A Little Weird May 2014 #10

OMG, the Germans are secretly taking over! reformist2 May 2014 #11

Ah, Boston Portuguese.. Recursion May 2014 #12

Not spanish Benzene25 May 2014 #29

Caldo verde! LiberalEsto May 2014 #30

Interesting NewJeffCT May 2014 #13

Me too.... dixiegrrrrl May 2014 #16

Tagalog is easily the third most common language in our California community. hunter May 2014 #42

They left out the language in Dakota Capt. Obvious May 2014 #14

This is probably why they didn't use *Foreign* Language in the title line. lpbk2713 May 2014 #27

I'm surprised there are so many German speakers still. Though I know those roots go back centuries. nomorenomore08 May 2014 #15

A lot of the Anabaptist Communities speak German. greendog May 2014 #46

They call French "Freedom Language" in WV. Arugula Latte May 2014 #50

Oh shit! nomorenomore08 May 2014 #57

I grew up in Wisconsin - TBF May 2014 #20

Surprised French over Italian in Connecticut NewJeffCT May 2014 #22

I'm somewhat surprised about Tennessee..... socialist_n_TN May 2014 #23

I'm surprised by French in Maryland LiberalEsto May 2014 #31

No, not what is taught in school Fearless May 2014 #36

Lot's of Hatian's SteveG May 2014 #45

must be the Francophone countries ... kwassa May 2014 #59

I'm moderately surprised that 2naSalit May 2014 #32

I correctly guessed that ours would be Korean. dawg May 2014 #34

Cool map. I heard yesterday that Hmong was the MineralMan May 2014 #35

Hmong will probably overtake Dakota in South Dakota pretty soon. If not already. Comrade Grumpy May 2014 #54

They teach Portuguese in the local schools (Rhode Island) nt hack89 May 2014 #37

In MA too Fearless May 2014 #38

Explains a lot about racial and social discrimination INMHO. nt kelliekat44 May 2014 #40

That's a whole lotta German. Iggo May 2014 #41

No Dutch left ?? Not even in Iowa ? eppur_se_muova May 2014 #44

Also, the ancestors on my father's side came over from Germany in the 1800s. Plenty of German names Elwood P Dowd May 2014 #51

Thanks, I didn't know that. Was this in Cullman county ? eppur_se_muova May 2014 #60

Is Spanish second everywhere? N.T. Donald Ian Rankin May 2014 #47

German? Seriously? Arugula Latte May 2014 #49

I'm good. Blue_In_AK May 2014 #52

Wow, it looks like MI is the only state that speaks Arabic most. There is a huge catbyte May 2014 #56

Tacoma has 'Little Saigon' on 38th Street, just east of I-5. Aristus May 2014 #58

The German is largely due to Amish people. DemocraticWing May 2014 #61