There’s a lovely German-speaking community in Kitchener, Ontario. You’ll get some brainworms, but they’re mostly the kind of ones you’d hear from your sweet lib grandma or the like, because it’s mostly a community of little old grandparents who listen to polka and like nice mustards. There are several other German-speaking communities in the US but I can’t speak to them.
Alternatively, pivot to learning Yiddish and speaking to the 5 people online who can speak it.
I always “suspiciously” timed visiting my in-laws during oktoberfest when they still lived in the area. We stook out like a sore thumb, but it was always a great time.
i think germans can understand yiddish if they try a bit. a bunch of new words, some of the grammar’s different. basically yet another german dialect. you’d have to learn the hebrew letters to read it though.
like, two people speaking fluent yiddish next to you might stump you if you’ve never heard it before, but if you meet a yiddish speaker and you both want to communicate, it’s bound to work (and get progressively better very fast). italians and spanish speakers can do the same, more or less.
There’s a lovely German-speaking community in Kitchener, Ontario. You’ll get some brainworms, but they’re mostly the kind of ones you’d hear from your sweet lib grandma or the like, because it’s mostly a community of little old grandparents who listen to polka and like nice mustards. There are several other German-speaking communities in the US but I can’t speak to them.
Alternatively, pivot to learning Yiddish and speaking to the 5 people online who can speak it.
Kitchener also has a great Oktoberfest, lots of fun.
It really does! I visited it most years with my grandparents as a kiddo!
I always “suspiciously” timed visiting my in-laws during oktoberfest when they still lived in the area. We stook out like a sore thumb, but it was always a great time.
How easy do you figure yiddish would be to learn if you already speak german?
i think germans can understand yiddish if they try a bit. a bunch of new words, some of the grammar’s different. basically yet another german dialect. you’d have to learn the hebrew letters to read it though.
like, two people speaking fluent yiddish next to you might stump you if you’ve never heard it before, but if you meet a yiddish speaker and you both want to communicate, it’s bound to work (and get progressively better very fast). italians and spanish speakers can do the same, more or less.
kinda wanna learn yiddish now. for like the street cred. Imagine being able to back up calling somebody a putz with knowing yiddish