Everything about Texas German totally explained
Texas German is a dialect of the
German language that's spoken by descendants of
German immigrants who settled in the
Texas Hill Country region in the mid-19th century. These immigrants founded the towns of
New Braunfels,
Fredericksburg,
Boerne,
Schulenburg,
Weimar, and
Comfort. Most
German Texans continued to speak German in their homes and communities, but were required to learn English when Texas education rules mandated English-only instruction during and after
World War I. Due to the growth of these communities and
cultural bias during
World War I and
World War II, Texas German speakers drifted towards English, and few passed the language to their descendants.
The
dialect is near extinction, as it's now only spoken by a few elderly
German Texans. Currently, Dr. Hans Boas at
the University of Texas is recording and studying the dialect, building on research originally performed by Glenn Gilbert in the
1960s.
Current distribution and population
Some 1,035 people report speaking German at home in
Fredericksburg (External Link
), the town with the largest community of Texas German speakers, where they constitute 12.48% of the total population, 840 in
New Braunfels (External Link), 150 in
Schulenburg (External Link), 85 in
Stonewall (External Link) 70 in
Boerne (External Link), 65 in
Harper (External Link), 45 in
Comfort (External Link) and 19 in
Weimar (External Link), all of which lie in the traditional Texas German heartland of the Hill Country.
Gillespie County, with the communities of Fredericksburg, Harper, Stonewall and Lukenbach, has a German-speaking population of 2,270, 11.51% of the county's total population. Almost all of these speakers are in either the 18-64 or the +65 age groups. 82,100 German-speakers reside in the State of Texas
(External Link), but most of those are probably not Texas German speakers.
Comparisons with German and English
Texas German is intelligible to anyone with an understanding of continental German, though it adapted to U.S. measurement and legal terminologies. German words were invented or English was "Germanicized" for words not present in 19th century German.
Refer to the table below for some examples of differences:
| Texas German |
Literal translation |
Standard German |
English |
| Stinkkatze |
Stinkcat |
Stinktier |
skunk |
| Luftschiff |
Airship |
Flugzeug |
airplane |
| County |
County |
Kreis |
county |
| Blanket |
Blanket |
Decke |
blanket |
| all |
every/gone |
alle |
gone |
Further Information
Get more info on 'Texas German'.
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