You’re driving through Lancaster County or maybe the rolling hills of Ohio, and you see a black buggy. You pull over at a roadside stand to buy some of that legendary sourdough bread or a jar of apple butter. As you approach, you hear the family talking amongst themselves. It sounds like German, but not the kind you heard in that one college semester or on a travel vlog. It’s melodic, fast, and peppered with words that sound strangely like English.
People often assume the Amish live in a total bubble, but their linguistic world is actually a complex, three-tiered system. It’s not just one language. It’s a survival strategy.
So, what language do the amish speak when the "English" (that’s us) aren't around? Most folks will tell you it's "Pennsylvania Dutch." They aren't wrong, but they're only giving you about a third of the story.
The Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery
First things first: they aren’t from the Netherlands. The "Dutch" in Pennsylvania Dutch is a classic case of a 300-year-old game of telephone. The Amish refer to their language as Deitsch, which is their word for German. Early English settlers heard Deitsch and thought "Dutch." The name stuck, and honestly, at this point, it’s a point of pride.
Pennsylvania Dutch is a living, breathing dialect. It’s primarily descended from the Palatine German spoken in the Rhine Valley. Back in the 1700s, when these families fled religious persecution in Europe, they brought their regional speech with them. Over centuries of isolation in America, that speech evolved into something unique.
It’s a "hearth language." This means it’s spoken at the dinner table, in the fields, and while fixing a barn. It’s rarely written down. If you saw it in print, it might look like a chaotic mix of German phonetics and English loanwords.
Actually, Dr. Mark Louden, a leading expert and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, points out that about 10% to 15% of the Pennsylvania Dutch vocabulary is actually borrowed from English. You’ll hear them use English words for modern inventions that didn’t exist in the 1700s—think "refrigerator" or "computer"—even if they don't use those items themselves.
The grammar, though? That’s still pure, old-school German.
Why it sounds so different from Standard German
If you took a tourist from Berlin and dropped them into an Amish farm in Indiana, they’d be confused. They could probably catch the gist of the conversation, but it would feel like a native English speaker trying to understand a very thick, archaic Scottish dialect.
The Amish haven't had a "software update" on their German from the motherland in three centuries. While European German modernized, Pennsylvania Dutch stayed rooted in the 18th century, then took a sharp turn into its own Americanized evolution.
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The High German Gap
While Pennsylvania Dutch is for the everyday, it’s considered too "common" for God. This is where things get interesting. When the Amish gather for church—which happens in a different neighbor's home every two weeks—they switch gears entirely.
They use High German (or Hochdeutsch).
This is the language of the Martin Luther Bible from 1534. It’s formal, somber, and ancient. Most Amish can read it and understand it when it’s preached, but they don't really speak it in conversation. It’s a liturgical language, much like Latin was for the Catholic Church for centuries.
Imagine only using Shakespearean English for prayer but speaking like a modern New Yorker at the grocery store. That’s the mental jump an Amish person makes every Sunday.
The "Schwitzers": The Swiss Amish Exception
Wait, it gets more complicated. Not every Amish person speaks Pennsylvania Dutch.
If you head to Adams County, Indiana, you’ll run into the "Swiss Amish." These groups arrived later than the original Pennsylvania settlers—mostly in the mid-1800s. Because they came directly from Switzerland, they brought various Bernese Swiss German dialects with them.
They call themselves Schwitzers.
Their language is so different from Pennsylvania Dutch that the two groups can have a hard time understanding each other. It’s a bit of a linguistic "fence" that keeps the different Amish settlements somewhat separated. A Swiss Amish person from Berne, Indiana, has more in common linguistically with a farmer in the Swiss Alps than with an Amish person in Lancaster.
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Where English Fits In
You might wonder if they even speak English. The answer is a resounding yes.
Almost every Amish person is bilingual. They refer to anyone outside their faith as "English," and they use the English language as a bridge to the outside world.
- Schooling: Amish children are taught in English in their one-room schoolhouses.
- Business: When selling furniture, quilts, or produce, they switch to English fluently.
- Reading: Most of their newspapers (like The Budget) and books are in English.
Kinda funny, right? They spend their childhoods speaking a German dialect at home, but they learn to read and write almost exclusively in English. This creates a strange dynamic where many Amish are highly literate in English but struggle to write a simple letter in their native Pennsylvania Dutch.
Is the language dying out?
In a world of TikTok and global English, you’d think a niche German dialect would be gasping its last breath.
It’s actually the opposite.
The Pennsylvania Dutch language is one of the fastest-growing minority languages in the United States. Why? Because the Amish population doubles roughly every 20 years. They have large families, and more importantly, they are incredibly successful at passing the language down.
While "Fancy Dutch" (the non-Amish descendants of German settlers) have largely lost the language, the "Plain" people have kept it as a spiritual and social firewall. If you speak the language, you’re in the community. If you don't, you're an outsider. It’s that simple.
Honestly, the language is the glue. It's much harder to leave the community and "go English" when your entire inner thought process is structured in a dialect the rest of the world doesn't understand.
Breaking Down the Daily Usage
To truly understand what language do the amish speak, you have to look at the "code-switching" they do every day. It’s not a random mix; it’s highly structured based on where they are and who they are with.
- At home with the kids: 100% Pennsylvania Dutch.
- During a church sermon: High German (reading) and Pennsylvania Dutch (preaching).
- At the hardware store: English.
- Writing a business invoice: English.
- Whispering to a spouse in a crowded market: Pennsylvania Dutch.
It's a tool. They use the language that best fits the boundary they are trying to maintain at that moment.
Real Examples of the Dialect
If you want to hear the "flavor" of the language, look at how they've adapted English concepts.
Take the word for "refrigerator." In standard German, it’s Kühlschrank. In Pennsylvania Dutch, you might hear Eisbox (Ice box).
Or consider the phrase "It's raining."
- Standard German: Es regnet.
- Pennsylvania Dutch: Es weitert or Es macht nunner (literally "It's making down").
You can see the English influence creeping into the structure, but the soul of the sentence remains Germanic. It's a hybrid that shouldn't work, but for 300,000 people, it’s the only way to talk about the world.
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What to Keep in Mind
If you ever find yourself chatting with an Amish neighbor, don't feel the need to try out your high school German. They won't expect it, and honestly, they might find it a bit confusing. English is the respectful way to bridge that gap.
The best way to respect the culture is to recognize that their language isn't a "quaint" relic of the past—it’s a living, growing part of the American landscape.
Next Steps for the Curious:
- Listen for the "V" and "W" swap: Many Amish speakers carry a distinct accent into their English, often swapping the sounds of "v" and "w" (e.g., "vater" for "water").
- Look for Local Literature: Seek out copies of The Budget, a newspaper that serves Amish and Mennonite communities. While the articles are in English, the syntax often reflects the "Dutch" thinking patterns.
- Visit a Swiss Settlement: If you're near Berne, Indiana, notice the architectural and linguistic differences compared to the more famous Lancaster settlements. It’s a completely different branch of the Anabaptist tree.