Early immigrants slow to learn English

This research shows that German immigrants in the 1800s were slow to learn English, their children and grandchildren were slow to learn it too. They lived in their own communities, spoke only German and, at the same time, were patriotic Americans. Our current immigrants usually speak some English and by the second generation, are proficient. DP

United Press International, Inc.

upi.com: MADISON, Wis., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- A study of 19th century immigration finds little evidence earlier generations of immigrants to the United States learned English to survive, research indicates.

Joseph Salmons, a professor of German at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said research into the lives of German immigrants in Wisconsin from 1839 to the 1930s shows many early immigrants appeared to live and thrive for decades while speaking exclusively German.

In many of the state's original German settlements, German remained the primary language of commerce, education and religion well into the early 20th century. He said some second- and even third-generation German immigrants who were born in Wisconsin were still monolingual in German as adults.

"These folks were committed Americans," Salmons said Thursday in a release. "They participated in politics, in the economy, and were leaders in their churches and their schools. They just happened not to conduct much of their life in English."

The study was published in the journal American Speech.