Berks History Center to offer virtual classes in Pennsylvania Dutch language and culture

Jan. 3—Many people falsely assume Pennsylvania Dutch was historically spoken only by Old Order Amish and Mennonites, said Bradley K. Smith, archivist and associate director of the Berks History Center.

Though the language now thrives mostly in plain communities in Pennsylvania, Midwestern states and elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada, that was not always the case.

"Historians estimate that in the year 1900, there were approximately 700,000 speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch," Smith said, noting the vast majority of these were the so-called fancy Dutch living in or near the region including Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery and York counties.

The fancy Dutch, also known as the church Dutch, did not belong to one of the Anabaptist, or plain, sects.

The language, also known as Pennsylvania German, was spoken — or at least understood — by plain and fancy descendants of German-speaking immigrants to Colonial Pennsylvania and could be heard in homes, shops and elsewhere throughout Reading and Berks County as recently as the 1960s.

Its steep decline outside of plain communities in the latter decades of the 1900s means an important component of the region's cultural heritage is rapidly disappearing, Smith said.

Helping to preserve that heritage is the primary reason the history center started offering classes in Pennsylvania Dutch. After a series of successful in-person classes held through fall, Smith is trying something new. Beginning the week of Jan. 9, he will lead an eight-week virtual course introducing participants to the language.

Beginners will learn fundamentals, such as pronunciation, vocabulary and common phrases, with each 90-minute session building on the previous lesson.

Classes will be offered at various times on different days and limited to 12 people.

Smith said keeping the class sizes small will allow him to focus on the participants and encourage conversation in the language.

"We're not expecting anyone to give speeches in Pennsylvania Dutch," he said, "but I am going to teach some simple phrases and will have some very simple conversations with students. That kind of active learning is a much better way for students to learn a second language than a purely passive experience where they just listened to me speaking."

Registration is required, Smith said, and the response so far has been gratifying. Not only locals but people from more than a dozen states across the U.S. have signed up.

Many of the out-of-staters grew up in or near Berks or trace their ancestry to the region.

"They see this as a way to reconnect with their home county or connect with their ancestors," he said.

Smith's experience revealed most of his students generally fall into one of two categories of learners.

"Some folks just want to learn some basics, say a few things, feel connected with their heritage a little bit," he said. "Other people really are committed to learning and want to become fluent speakers."

The challenge, he said, was developing a curriculum to meet the needs of both groups.

Reaching more people and introducing them to the history center and its mission to tell the story of the county and its diverse people is just part of what motivates Smith. The Lebanon County native, who also has Berks roots, said he also has a personal reason for wanting to promote interest in the Pennsylvania Dutch language and culture.

"I feel like I'm honoring my parents, grandparents, great grandparents and all my ancestors who spoke Pennsylvania Dutch," he said.

Although there is a difference of opinion on whether Pennsylvania Dutch should be called a language or dialect, Smith said he agrees with Mark Loudon, a leading expert on the subject and professor of Germanic linguistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It is a distinct, American language, Loudon argues, formed from the blending of regional Germanic dialects brought by Colonial immigrants from the Palatinate area with about 10% to 15% of vocabulary derived from English.

Although these immigrants and their descendants spoke the language, Smith said, there was no written form. Reading and writing were done in standard German. It wasn't until the 1950s that a standardized Pennsylvania Dutch orthography, a system of spelling and phonics, was developed by Albert F. Buffington and Preston A. Barba.

Now known as the Buffington-Barba system, it is the basis for the "Pennsylvania German Dictionary" by Eugene S. Stine, published by the Pennsylvania German Society, an educational nonprofit devoted to the study of the Pennsylvania Dutch people.

The system will be used in the virtual classes offered by the history center, but those registering can expect more than a dry course in linguistics.

"In every class, we'll have a culture lesson where we'll talk about aspects of the culture," Smith said. "So things like music and food and decorative arts and folklore will be covered."

Enrollment will offer a fun opportunity for students to enjoy the fellowship of other Pennsylvania Dutch language and culture enthusiasts, he said, but it has another purpose, too.

"More importantly, it allows an opportunity to celebrate and preserve this rich cultural heritage," Smith said. "The Berks History Center is honored to play a role in this important work."

To register, call 610-375-4375 or visit www.berkshistory.org/event/virtual-pa-dutch-classes/.