[78-L] speaking english,

[Steven C. Barr]

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From: "Geoffrey Wheeler" <dialjazz at verizon.net>
> Fnarf says: “When I was doing extensive newspaper research in places
> like Minnesota and Iowa, I found that the Midwest states up until about
> WWI, and in some cases WWII, had dozens upon dozens of German-language
> newspapers for the many first-generation immigrants who, like all
> first-generation immigrants, struggled with English, or never tried.
> The second gen speaks both; the third gen only English. This has always
> been true. Polish and Norwegian and, ahem, "Bohunk" ones too.
>
>
> Absolutely!  On my first visit to Europe where I lived for a year, I
> returned to the States on the QEII. Two of my table mates had been
> living in Chicago for more than 20 years and neither spoke English.
> Fortunately, I knew a little German. When I high school, I worked on a
> summer construction crew where everyone was Sicilian and spoke no
> English. At first, it was a case of “me” and “them,” but gradually we
> warmed to one another. My mother asked me why I would want to work with
> people who spoke no English. I told her I expected to learn something
> from the experience.
>
The small-town high school I attended when much younger offered only
German as its "foreign-language subject!" As a result, I took a number of
German courses while in university. This worked out for the best (in an
odd way)...when I joined the USAF (1966) my first assigned base was in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany! There was, however, one problem;
that city is in deepest Bavaria...and the inhabitants speak a dialect
("Bayerisch" or Bavarian) which is not even widely understood by other
Germans!

There were two resulting problems; first, I couldn't understand most of
the spoken German I heard (though I could comprehend the language
quite well as writing...?!)...and, second, I picked up a "Bavarian accent!"

Sadly, that was about 40 years ago; I haven't needed to use my German
since then...!

Steven C. Barr