# Non-English speaking communities in the USA **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153 "2010-02-23T19:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/1 "2010-02-23T19:18:52Z")
I’m currently reading a book about the history of beer brewing in Minnesota and it got me thinking. Many of the records and advertisements from brewers in the 1800s were in German. I assume many of the first and second generation immigrants still spoke their former countries’ languages. As generations passed, so did the tradition of entire towns and communities speaking their non-English language. A friend’s grandfather was from Ontario and of Scottish descent. Apparently, though English was the language of daily conversation, when it came time to talk business his grandfather’s generation would speak Gaelic. I have another friend who mentioned his grandpa, who lives in northeast Minnesota, still speaks Finnish to other older people around his small town. Are there any communities within the US now where English isn’t the first language of daily life for a significant percentage of the population? I’m aware that there are certain segments of cities with large populations that speak another language within their communities (in Chicago - Chinatown, Greektown, Ukrainian Village, etc). I’m more curious about things like rural communities that speak [Pennsylvanian German](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_German_language). ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/2 "2010-02-23T19:21:05Z")
A lot of very Hassidic communities, such as New Square, are primarily Yiddish-speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/3 "2010-02-23T20:00:16Z")
There are a lot of these. 1. Indigenous languages (e.g. Navajo) 2. Heritage languages from former colonies (French in Louisiana, Spanish in the southwest) 3. Heritage languages of American immigrants’ descendants (German in the OP’s example, more Spanish in the southwest) 4. Large immigrant communities (still more Spanish in the southwest) Unless there is a continuing influx of immigrants or isolationist tendencies among the language group, most languages do not persist more than a single generation after the immigrant group. Exceptions abound, though. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States) is a good place to start. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/4 "2010-02-23T20:02:32Z")
In Amish communities, little kids don’t even know English until they go to school. The whole family will speak to each other in Pennsylvania German. They do all know English, though, because they need to know it to communicate with everyone in the English world and get their work done. They’re real quiet and seem shy when you speak to them in English but if you pipe up in PG then they just go on and on 🙂 It’s not a written language, I don’t think, so you won’t see advertising using PG. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/5 "2010-02-23T20:02:38Z")
Miami has a _huge_ Haitian community and a huger Cuban community and there are several neighborhoods (though not towns or cities) within the Broward/Dade county area where a majority of the residents primarily or only speak Haitian Creole or Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/6 "2010-02-23T20:58:34Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > It’s not a written language, I don’t think, so you won’t see advertising using PG. Nonsense - PG very much has a written language and there are publications in it by Amish and for Amish. But if you’re not Amish you’re not likely to see them. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/7 "2010-02-23T21:11:16Z")
The town where I live has some large strip mall shopping centers which are almost exclusively Chinese, in that the signs outside are in Chinese first, and Chinese is primarily spoken by both patrons and help. I also live in walking distance from one of the largest Afghan communities in the US, I believe. Lots of older people in both communities don’t speak English well, if at all, and an important part of the listing for medical offices is the languages spoken there. ---
**Author:** ![TNWPsycho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@TNWPsycho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNWPsycho)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/8 "2010-02-23T21:41:31Z")
Not sure about the present day. But my grandfather grew up in Mountain, North Dakota. And he said all of the residents spoke only Icelandic amongst themselves, and still did when he went to visit (mid 90s) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Facts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@The\_Facts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Facts)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/9 "2010-02-23T21:45:24Z")
The Gullah of South Carolina have their own language. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/10 "2010-02-23T21:53:47Z")
I have heard a number of people (shopkeepers, customers) speaking German in Fredericksburg, Texas. According to Wikipedia citing the Census, 12% of the residents speak “Texas German”. > **[Fredericksburg, Texas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredericksburg,_Texas)** > > Fredericksburg (German: Friedrichsburg) is a city in and the seat of Gillespie County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 Census, this city had a population of 10,530. > Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Old-time German residents often referred to Fredericksburg as Fritztown, a nickname that is still used in some businesses. It is approximately eighty miles west from Greater Austin. This city is also notable as the home of Texas German, a dialect s... ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/11 "2010-02-24T01:53:25Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > I have heard a number of people (shopkeepers, customers) speaking German in Fredericksburg, Texas. According to Wikipedia citing the Census, 12% of the residents speak “Texas German”. > [Fredericksburg, Texas - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredericksburg,_Texas) That whole part of the Hill Country is heavily German- you still find guys with first names like Werner and Johann around, and you do hear German occasionally spoken as well. The area a ways south of there (Schulenburg, Weimar, Shiner, ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/12 "2010-02-24T02:27:34Z")
> [@The\_Facts](#): > > The Gullah of South Carolina have their own language. Gullah was alive when I was a kid (1970’s, Beaufort, SC), but is all but dead now. The “Gullah” I hear at festivals is a watered down version of what I heard in elementary school at the advent of busing. As for Miami, Hialeah is a city in Miami Dade County where English is rare. Wiki says 90.01% white, with 4.1% non-Hispanic white. Overall 92.17% Hispanic or Latino, with 92.14% having Spanish as a first language. And I lived near there for five years, I am not just relying on Wiki. ---
**Author:** ![boilercake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@boilercake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boilercake)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/13 "2010-02-24T02:32:22Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > French in Louisiana Nope, some may still be able to speak some pidgin or regular French, but they all speak English as a first language the days, for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/14 "2010-02-24T02:58:02Z")
> [@boilercake](#): > > Nope, some may still be able to speak some pidgin or regular French, but they all speak English as a first language the days, for decades. In the Cajun strongholds around, say, Lafayette, you can find some Cajun French speakers, but few will speak it as a first language, and almost none other than a handful of very, very old people will speak it exclusively. My mother told me that when she was my age (1970s) she knew a lot of Cajuns, and the pattern was their grandparents (at that time born c. 1900-1910s) spoke only Cajun French, their parents (born c. 1920s to 1930s) spoke both Cajun French and English, and her friends (born c. 1940s-1950s) spoke only or primarily English. Louisiana school systems teach in English, and once Cajun kids were sent to school their English quickly outstripped their French. These days, I meet a lot of Cajuns myself, but even the older set will only know a bit of Cajun French and cannot communicate fluently. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/15 "2010-02-24T05:30:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Miami has a _huge_ Haitian community and a huger Cuban community and there are several neighborhoods (though not towns or cities) within the Broward/Dade county area where a majority of the residents primarily or only speak Haitian Creole or Spanish. There’s also the cities of Hialeah (92% Spanish as a first language), Medley (83%), Doral (75%), West Miami (87%), Miami Lakes (72%), Virginia Gardens (71%) and Hialeah Gardens (95%). Miami proper is 60%. All these numbers are from Wikipedia, and as many times as I’ve been to Miami I can attest that people who are not bilingual English / Spanish can be at a serious disadvantage. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/16 "2010-02-24T05:43:20Z")
I know you are looking for rural examples, but the borough of Queens in New York city is worth mentioning. It has over 2 million residents with many non-English speaking communities: > **[Queens | Demographics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens,_New_York#Demographics)** > > At the 2020 census, 2,405,464 people lived in Queens. In 2018's American Community Survey, the population of Queens was estimated by the United States Census Bureau to have increased to 2,278,906, a rise of 2.2%. Queens' estimated population represented 27.1% of New York City's population of 8,398,748; 29.6% of Long Island's population of 7,701,172; and 11.7% of New York State's population of 19,542,209. The 2019 estimates reported a decline to 2,253,858. In 2018, there were 865,878 housing u The... “In Queens, 48.5% of the population are foreign-born. Of that, 49.5% were born in Latin America, 33.5% in Asia, 14.8% in Europe, 1.8% in Africa and 0.4% in North America.” ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/17 "2010-02-24T14:17:44Z")
There are a few towns in the St. John valley in northernmost Maine where a majority of people speak French as their first language. The area is just across the river from a francophone part of New Brunswick. The towns include Madawaska, Fort Kent, and (surprise) Frenchville. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/18 "2010-02-24T21:06:02Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > In the Cajun strongholds around, say, Lafayette, you can find some Cajun French speakers, but few will speak it as a first language, and almost none other than a handful of very, very old people will speak it exclusively. My mother told me that when she was my age (1970s) she knew a lot of Cajuns, and the pattern was their grandparents (at that time born c. 1900-1910s) spoke only Cajun French, their parents (born c. 1920s to 1930s) spoke both Cajun French and English, and her friends (born c. 1940s-1950s) spoke only or primarily English. Louisiana school systems teach in English, and once Cajun kids were sent to school their English quickly outstripped their French. These days, I meet a lot of Cajuns myself, but even the older set will only know a bit of Cajun French and cannot communicate fluently. When we lived in Lafayette in the late '70s, my wife was the quality control director of a vegetable cannery (Trappey’s) and the ladies who worked for her all spoke Cajun French to each other by choice. They all spoke English also, of course. I got the impression they spoke it at home too. The influence of oil was just beginning to be felt then, and there were lots of foreigners (from Texas) living there, so I suspect the kids now are much more English speakers than that generation. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/19 "2010-02-24T21:55:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The area a ways south of there (Schulenburg, Weimar, Shiner, After you’ve wandered off to get that Shiner Bock, you need to remember to come back and finish your sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153/20 "2010-02-24T22:24:13Z")
> [@The\_Facts](#): > > The Gullah of South Carolina have their own language. Clarence Thomas has stated that he spoke Gullah as a young child, and that this is actually one of the reasons he is normally silent during oral argument - speaking non-standard English made him shy. (Jeff Toobin was rather skeptical about this claim in “The Nine”, but Thomas stands by it.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-communities-in-the-usa/530153.md?page=2)