A Frisian Enclave in the USA? | Friesland Wisconsin (1881-1945)

The West-Frisian language is spoken in the province of Fryslân in the north of the Netherlands. But, from about 1880 onwards, a community of Frisian speakers continued to speak their language in the wilds of Wisconsin, even naming their town 'Friesland' in honour of the province of their birth. But how was this possible in the predominantly Anglophone USA?
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[@historywithhilbert146]

Did you know there was a Frisian-speaking pocket in the USA? Let me know!

[@micahistory]

I didn't. quite fascinating

[@yo.aj6391]

Amish and Mennonite communities in Wisconsin still speak Freisish language

[@historywithhilbert146]

@@yo.aj6391 Are you from the area as well?

[@historywithhilbert146]

@@Meine.Postma Bêst genôch!

[@yo.aj6391]

I live in North Central Wisconsin and worked as a delivery driver and that part of the state was my territory. Most of my deliveries were to the Amish community. I live in Wausau and we have more Mennonites than Amish in our county, I still hear Mennonites talk to themselves in their native language.

[@haeuptlingaberja4927]

It wasn't really all that unusual for pockets of language to survive for more than a century in the farmland and small towns of the Upper Midwest and Canada in the 19th century. My dad's parents were both born in Minnesota 50 years after their families had immigrated and neither one spoke a word of English until they were 7 or 8. What"s even more interesting is the case of Milwaukee, a much, much larger city where school was taught in both German and English until just before the first world war. The Milwaukee Central Library still has a massive German language collection preserved in the basement that goes all the way back to the 1850s.

[@ethank5059]

German was incredibly common throughout the Midwest up until WWI and the German roots is one of the reasons Milwaukee has such a strong beer culture/industry today. There were also a lot of German communities in Ohio that retained their language for over a century although the world wars certainly did a lot of damage to the use of German in the midwest.

[@benjeyemanp1742]

​@@ethank5059yep, I think if the Germans had been less demonized after WW1 or even won the first world war to some extent, they would still be a major influence of culture worldwide, especially America

[@allangibson8494]

@@benjeyemanp1742Or if the Kaiser had just stayed home in 1914…

[@maxim3830]

As a Frisian I really love this! Never knew about Fryslân in Wisconsin, but it sounds really legit! This is really cool. Grutsk! Tige tank!

[@sneaky_krait7271]

Bjusterbaarlik

[@republicfryslan]

Fryslân boppeeeeeeeee

[@Dutcharmyguy]

Fryslan 🎉🎉🎉

[@It.s.me.]

Hij heeft het alleen constant over west Friesen... maar dat is wat anders 😂 wij zijn geen Friesen!! 😅😂

[@maxim3830]

​@@It.s.me. Hij heeft het over het Fries "ten westen van de Lauwers". In de taalkunde wordt dit West(erlauwers) Fries genoemd, ter onderscheid van Oost(erlauwers) Fries (dat wordt/werd gesproken "ten oosten van de Lauwers", in een deel van het Duitse Nedersaksen) en Noord(erlauwers) Fries (in Sleeswijk-Holstein). In het Engels heet dat dan resp. West Frisian, East Frisian and North Frisian. In Nederland noemen we de Friezen "ten westen van de Lauwers" gewoon Friezen. En het Westerlauwers Fries gewoon Fries. En wordt het dialect rondom Hoorn West-Fries genoemd. Taalkundig inderdaad geen dialect van het Fries.

[@norik434]

Fascinating! I've been living in Wisconsin for seven years now and I'm always surprised by how idiosyncratic the early immigrant population to this state was and how those idiosyncrasies continue to shape the culture of the state to this day. My girlfriend's family is originally from Steven's Point in Portage County, which has the largest concentration of Kashubians anywhere in the western hemisphere. They are counted as Polish in the census, making Portage County the county with the highest proportion of ethnic Poles in the United States. Unlike Poles writ large and other West-Slavic immigrant groups who largely went to large cities like Chicago or stayed in the Mid-Atlantic region where they arrived, Kashubian speakers followed the settlement patterns of other immigrants from the Baltic coastline and the former Prussian lands, settling primarily in the countryside of the upper midwest between Wisconsin and Minnesota. Their language remained in use until the 30s, especially in Stevens Point WI and Winona MN. However, it has sadly not been very well preserved and is all but lost now. Interestingly, instead of Anglicizing their surnames many Kashubians actually _germanized_ their surnames, likely because they lived in German-majority areas. This could mean their ancestry is likely under-reported in these areas. Aside from Polka and Pączki, their biggest impact on the area is probably how thoroughly Catholic central Wisconsin is relative to other rural areas in the upper midwest, which tends to be more Lutheran and Presbyterian.

[@bas-tn3um]

wisconsin has many germans too.

[@rachelk1253]

My grandfather, now deceased, grew up on a farm and lived all his life in or near Frisland/Randolph Wisconsin. He was a Frisian speaker. Though he was born in the USA, he spoke only Frisian (no English) when he started school. As an elderly man, he would visit with other Frisian speakers at a coffee shop in Randolph. We believe he was interviewed by the researchers cited in this video.

[@hologrampizza5432]

My grandfather's first language was West Frisian. He was born in Osceola County, Iowa in 1930. If you look at the Sibley, IA white pages you'll find plenty of Frisian surnames.

[@Mavon2]

Same, but they didn't even learn English until the 1950s because of how many there were

[@AllanLimosin]

There's also Door county in Wisconsin that was Waloon-speaking.

[@historywithhilbert146]

Ooo that's something for a future video!

[@jannetteberends8730]

That’s interesting.

[@SteveL_kb9mwr]

I came here because my oldest Uncle and every one before him spoke Walloon, and was curious about other ethnic pockets holding on to their tounge. You did an excellent job with Frisian (45yr old 4th American gen here)@@historywithhilbert146

[@robertkamp8712]

I live a few miles from Friesland in west Michigan. I remember taking my grandmother to Frieslan church services when i was young, three of my Grandparents were born in Friesland. A lot of people here have names ending in stra, ma, and nga. Although the first settlers in the 1840s were Dutch speaking, when they founded Holland Michigan.

[@historywithhilbert146]

Really interesting, thanks for sharing! Were the church services still in Dutch? Which languages did you learn as a child and which did your grandparents speak if I may ask?

[@robertkamp8712]

@@historywithhilbert146 As far as I know The Netherlands Reformed Churches in the area may still hold Dutch services. When I was young, 70s now, Dutch services were very common. Even the English services I attended in my youth were filled verses and phrases in dutch..

[@historywithhilbert146]

@@robertkamp8712 Interesting! En kunt u nogsteeds een beetje Nederlands spreken?

[@robertkamp8712]

@@historywithhilbert146 My mother was first generation American and spoke Dutch and Friesian, I'm a typical american and have trouble with proper English. My fathers patents both Spoke Dutch,his mother spoke Friesian with family but English in the home.

[@historywithhilbert146]

@@robertkamp8712 Thank you for sharing - I find that very interesting to hear. Did you ever learn any Dutch or Frisian?

[@Azivegu]

I next door Minnesota their are two hamlets named Friesland and Groningen. Went to visit them, but they are so small I passed them before realizing I had reached them.

[@michaeltnk1135]

I feel like there’s been at least one town or neighborhood for most European ethnicities in the US at some point

[@historywithhilbert146]

Most likely!

[@maritsmileee]

As a Dutch/Frisian woman with a dad named Randolf this is very confusing and funny hahaha

[@CoyoteIslander]

A viedo about my home state? As a native Wisconsinite this is probably the most interesting thing about our state

[@FxUxCxMx]

Could you do more on Wisconsin languages? The story of Amish Dutch, Swiss and other religiously isolated immigrants of the Midwest is fascinating

[@jimb0e186]

Vietnamese Hmong people too

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Another interesting enclave in the US are the Czech Texans! There's actually a town in Texas called Praha which is of course Czech for Prague! Large scale Czech immigration to Texas began after the Revolutions of 1848 changed the political climate in Central Europe. Tejanos don't just have Spanish ancestry, but also Czech! Tejano music very much has Czech and German influence! Germans and Czechs brought with them the accordion, polkas music and dance, thus their music influenced the Tejanos. Besides Czech Texans and German Texans, there are even Texan Polish SILESIANS! Panna Maria, Texas is considered the oldest Polish settlement in the whole country! These groups have since developed their own Texan dialects. For pastries, Czechs brought traditional kolach to the US which are of course a circular pastry with some sort of fruit jam in the middle, but those who settled in Texas made Klobásník that are also commonly called kolach even though they are two different things. Klobásník are pretty much Czech-Texan sausage rolls, except it's wrapped in kolach dough. Some even choose to do ham and eggs instead or a Cajun pork and rice sausage!

[@weenug489]

As a Wisconsinite, I have never heard of this place, but awesome to hear about a place in my home state

[@motstraumen67]

When I did a study of Norwegian and dialects in America (mainly Iowa and Wisconsin) I found the dominant dialect of a given area could be spoken and understood by all, but at home they still spoke their "home" dialect. My Danish family from Schleswig also spoke of speaking German, Low German and Friesian (North) in Iowa when they first came...many from Schleswig settled in Clinton Iowa. Grandma's low german (probably her third language) was solid enough to keep secrets with my grandpa who spoke Westphalian German

[@motstraumen67]

The comments about the newcomers freshening up the language is important as well. I remember newcomers in my home area and they often would correct the older immigrants but especially the second and third generation folk with the way a word or phrase should be used and try to purge too much English in people's Americanized immigrant language.

[@MeestahBinks]

Yep my ancestors immigrated from germany to iowa

[@SgtRocko]

It's odd that the churches didn't use Frisian - here in Cleveland, to this day you can attend church services in German, Latvian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Slovak, Croatian, etc. with no trouble finding a church offering them. My Slovenian roommate attends Mass in Slovenian at least 2x a month and the church is always full. As for the longer continued use of Frisian... remember, in the US, World Wars 1 and 2 made speaking German either severely unpopular or downright taboo - so there would have been no push from the government or non-Frisian communities to suppress the use of the language. Great video! Ek woon nou in die VSA, maar my eerste taal is Jiddisj - en dit is die eerste taal van my kinders. Hier skryf ek in (arm) Afrikaans, soos ek dit geleer het toe ons 'n rukkie daar gewoon het. Goed vir julle, Frieslanders!

[@sebe2255]

To be fair all of those languages have at least 6 times more speakers than Frisian does

[@rookievideos8865]

Back in Fryslân in The Netherlands during that time, it was considered taboo to speak Frisian in any official capacity, including in churches. I can imagine that the habit of using Dutch over Frisian grew from that. I'm not sure about this, though.

[@maxim3830]

The first Frisian translation of the Bible was published in 1943. In general, written Frisian has been mostly limited to literature (poetry & prose) until in the 1950s. Only after Kneppelfreed, Frisian got a status of official language for governmental, political and legal affairs, in The Netherlands. Ever since, Frisian has become "standardized", with its own dictionary, grammar, education, etc. Explanation for why Frisian is not used in churches in the US is that probably the language brought into the US by (early) migrants was simply not equipped for such formal events as church services. Also, scripture would have needed translation, which requires higher language skill than Frisian migrants likely had. Even nowadays here, in European Fryslân, there are only a few (protestant) clergy members who feel confident enough to deliver their service and sermon in Frisian. Most Frisian native speakers here, are near to illiterate in Frisian.

[@billbirkett7166]

Which Frisian though? There would have been the possibility of pockets of North Frisian as well as East Frisian settlements as well, which had just as high of a concentration of Frisian speakers in certain parts of Germany before 1800 as Fryslân in the Netherlands. They probably would not have even bothered to mark down that they spoke North Frisian, it would have been regarded as a German or even Danish dialect, since North Frisia used to belong to Denmark.

[@historywithhilbert146]

This was quite closely documented as being West-Frisian so from Fryslân in the Netherlands. At this point in time there were far more East Frisians speaking Platt Deutsch as opposed to East Frisian proper (today only Saterland does), and the small-scale nature and dialect diversity of the North-Frisian languages and dialects meant these communities were only ever very small and soon assimilated into wider Platt-Deutsch-, German-, or Danish-speaking communities that could provide better support through their larger numbers. The interest thing about Friesland Wisconsin is that it was noted that they spoke Frisian and that it became the lingua franca of this community.

[@tidospecht1890]

​@@historywithhilbert146 There used to be a quite large community of East Frisians - mainly in Iowa, but also in Nebraska and Illinois - whose language, although closely related to other Low Saxon varieties, is still quite distinct due to a Frisian substrate and Dutch influences. Therefore, they didn't mix with the neighbouring Low Saxon communities and retained their language, even though nowadays there are only a few older speakers left. Their situation is pretty much the same as that of the West Frisians in Wisconsin. They too were accustomed to diglossia from their East Frisian homeland, and in their communities English gradually began to play the role that German had taken in East Frisia, while East Frisian Plat continued to be the language of the household and everyday communication. Their dialect of East Frisian Plat changed in interesting ways as a result of the English influence. For further information: Rocker, Maike (2022) - variation in finite verb placement in heritage low german: www.researchgate.net/publication/359867540_Variation_in_finite_verb_placement_in_heritage_Iowa_Low_German_The_role_of_prosodic_integration_and_information_structure Saathof, John (1930) - The east friesians in the united states_ a study in the process of assimilation: bibliothek.ostfriesischelandschaft.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/dateiarchiv/622/Saathoof-Ostfriesians-America.pdf

[@tidospecht1890]

Here is an example of how their East Frisian sounds: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZKqZZKJmLeYitk

[@svenvanwier7196]

Mono Dutch here, but with a Frisian dad, and a German mom. This seems like heaven.

[@arjen1315]

"Dankewol en oant sjen" is a great little outro phrase

[@xbinbyer1055]

Wisconsin mentioned let's go 💪💪💪

[@thejeeder3333]

Dankewol foar dizze informaasje!

[@nicksmith8159]

This is so interesting to me! I grew up and live now just 40min away from this town and had no idea. Thank you for this great video

[@lbergen001]

Very interesting video, on all topics, especially the dynamics of the Frisian language in the various domains.

[@HRM.H]

Should do a video on the Dutch-Australian settlements. Very unknown to most people

[@robertofranciscomonsalvesp8080]

I really appreciate the very detailed information you provide în this video. Tige tank. Greetings from Chile.

[@AlexTannertv]

My grandmother was born a polish speaker. She was born in Wisconsin, 3rd generation here. That was about 90 years ago tho

[@DT-wp4hk]

Didn't notice the uploader. First thought: funny, reminds me of History with Hilbert. After coffee: oh it is History with Hilbert. Hilbert, you're doing something right if uploads about Fryslân automatically are linked with your yt channel👍

[@jacobwijnsma]

The Boer Frans reference is out of this world. One of my fav KZbinrs!

[@Alistplay]

Awesome video!

[@maxpayne2574]

In South And North Dakota we have Hutterites colonies that speak a form of German. The kids are raised speaking German then taught English later.

[@Draktand01]

Please make more videos on this topic.

[@Charlie-lw1hp]

Amazing as always I really enjoy the attention to detail in your videos and your more academic approach. It makes me wish we would have as a lecturer like you in our history department!

[@koikarp3490]

Hilbert can you please make a clip of the beginning skit with the scenario you painted it was hilarious

[@alastor8091]

"But before you can say a word, the Farmer-" *Casts an Eldritch spell that turns you into goo*

[@robertfaucher3750]

I was just looking up Frisian yesterday!

[@RussiaWasMyIdea]

A video about a town I used to live near? Crazy.

[@historywithhilbert146]

Did you know about its Frisian-speaking heritage before?

[@RussiaWasMyIdea]

@historywithhilbert146 While I was growing up, no. I used to live in Beaver Dam (about thirty minutes away from Friesland), but in high school (in a different town), I did a project on immigration to Wisconsin, and while researching for that I found out about places like Friesland, New Glarus, Norway, Germantown, and others. Also, people are very original when it comes to naming things, it seems.

[@badguy5554]

Very intereting. I live on the North Side of Milwaukee and had no idea there was a community in Wisconsin that spoke Frisian. I'm certainly aware of the Dutch communities just to the north of where I live...but not Frisian. I will be looking forward to your next video.

[@pjhags57]

My grand father and grand mother were first generation Frisians who came to Friesland, Wisconsin. My father, one of their children never spoke Frisian, only a few phrases. I grew up in this community of Frisian people, most of whom, I learned later were all related.

[@pjhags57]

BTW He emigrated in 1890 at the age of 21. He was one of the Dijkstra's mentioned in the video.

[@SXMSXMSXM]

Thanks Hilbert .very interesting episode. Have you heard of or read the Oera Linda book ? Written in Frisian in an old script. Letters based an 8 spoked wheel. You might like it

[@TroyDowVanZandt]

The first wave of Frisian immigration to North America took place in the 1600s. North, East and West Frisians comprised a significant minority in the colony of New Netherland. Of course, the Frisian they spoke was still mutually intelligible and most likely sounded like the Hindeloopen dialect spoken in the Netherlands and the now extinct Wangerooge Frisian spoken in Germany. They used patronymns that ended in either-s or or -(e)n, depending on whether the father’s name ended in a consonant or a vowel. In records, the Dutch imposed their patronymic rules on these names. For example, my Frisian ancestor Christoffel Harmens often shows up as Christoffel Harmensz or Harmensen. When the English took over, they eventually banned the use of patronymns, and those of Frisian descent adopted generically Dutch last names (usually a toponym), though occasionally one sees a hint of Frisian ancestry as with my cousin whose name is Van Hoose and whose ancestor came from Husum in North Frisia.

[@skyl4rk]

There is a village called Vriesland, Michigan, but the township is now named Zeeland Charter Township.

[@wolteraartsma1290]

i used to wonder why townships had "charter" in their official name. That's because, unlike in the East, townships in Michigan may not offer municipal services, and cities like Detroit dangled that as an inducement to be annexed. After Detroit gobbled up the heart of Redford Township, the state legislature came up with the "charter" concept. Even with that, Canton Township does not snowplow the streets in the suburban areas unless they're designated highways.

[@matthunt5602]

Fascinating video. My grandfather was a second generation Frisian from Alden,IL. My great grandparents immigrated there in the 1920's. One thing I remember him telling me is Frisian and Dutch were spoken in his house and I wish I had learned either language from him.

[@i0like0trains0kid]

My great grandpa immigrated from Friesland to Detroit in 1890.

[@Gjuggbjjhbuuvtgd]

Bro as a Frisian national living in America this makes me so happy

[@carltonleboss]

Fascinating.

[@markvonwisco7369]

Another interesting language enclave worthy of a video might be New Glarus, which is about 80 miles to the south of Friesland. The was an organized settlement society from the Canton of Glarus that founded the community. Glarnerisch was spoken for quite a number of years in New Glarus and Green County.

[@coperiridium1653]

Amazing

[@yo.aj6391]

Dude... cheese head here. That is a hardcore Amish community.

[@historywithhilbert146]

The community in Friesland Wisconsin?

[@yo.aj6391]

The county and outer . For the state of Wisconsin, that area has the highest Amish community's. They still speak in friesian languages.

[@historywithhilbert146]

@@yo.aj6391 Interesting! Are you from around there?

[@foreverdreamwithinadream6871]

Interesting as I have a great grandmother and her family that came over from Friesland (this was my grandpa's mother on my mom's side); but they ended up living in Michigan.

[@jeanetteboer56]

Hi, now I understand a little bit about the greatgrandparents from my husband. They are divorced in 1935. She went with her family to Wisconsin. It all make sence now. Why they went to Wisconsin. Her name was Jantje Tjapkes. Greatgrandfather stays in Holland and married for the second time.

[@Butter_Warrior99]

As an American, my country is so big I wouldn’t be surprised.

[@historywithhilbert146]

Definitely! Still fascinating there was a corner that spoke Frisian for a while!

[@Butter_Warrior99]

@@historywithhilbert146 It’s a shame it didn’t last like Texan German. I’m really interested to visit Fredericksburg Texas to learn the language.

[@historywithhilbert146]

@@Butter_Warrior99 Agreed... still hoping for a sudden resurgence of interest in the new generations but not holding my breath haha

[@Butter_Warrior99]

@@historywithhilbert146 Well, might as well learn.

[@historywithhilbert146]

@@Butter_Warrior99 Planning to post some resources for English-speakers to learn on the channel before long. We'll see how the response is :)

[@jacquelinevanderkooij4301]

As a dutch frisian, my grandmother (somethin like 1975) did not know a lot of dutch.

[@nissevelli]

My ancestors came from the North-Sea coastal areas stretching from Friesland to Groningen to Ost Frisia in Germany. They settled in rural central Minnesota. There was a few German speaking villages, a Dutch speaking village, and a Frisian speaking village. I’ve been told that they had church services in their respective languages up until about the 1930’s. My great grandma (b. 1918) told me that she could speak some Frisian- her parents spoke the language at home. My grandma on another side of the family spoke Platt-Deutch (surely butchered the spelling, whatever) as a young child. However, being born in 1939, you could imagine how speaking German would’ve been viewed in the states. I often wonder- if WW1 and subsequently WW2 had never happened, how much more influence would German, Dutch, Frisian, and the North Germanic languages currently hold?

[@Robert-xx8jx]

Awesome

[@Jetske]

Frisian is an official language here in The Netherlands. The language is related to English, maybe even more than to Dutch. An example the word "Cheese". In Frisian it's Tsiiss which sounds similar to cheese when pronounced. Dutch word is kaas which is obviously more different than tsiiss. I'm proud to be partially Frisian, my father's family is from Fryslan.

[@victormorell3016]

My maternal grandfather grew up in Passaic County, New Jersey, before World War I, and his first language, spoken in his parent's home, was Frisian.

[@jeremiahkivi4256]

Grew up about an hour from there.

[@rekadd]

my moms side of the family is friesian coming from Groningen. my great great grandma started telling her neighbors they were dutch because it was more prestigious/common in and around Danforth Illinois where they originally settled. my parents are in West Michigan and we have relatives in Wisconsin Indiana and Illinois.

[@rekadd]

as an aside my dads family is welsh with a last name of norman origin so this channel is pretty much a one stop shop for history on groups im related to

[@JMM33RanMA]

This is another very, very interesting History with Hilbert video. One of the oddities encountered in the US are such linguistically complex communities. There are areas of Maine, especially around Lewiston, where the dominant language was French. For economic and political reasons, English became dominant in general, while the French Langue québécoise, remains the language spoken at home by an increasingly bilingual community. There is also the case of Pennsylvania-Deutsch, where immigrants from German states with different dialects first amalgamated those dialects with English borrowings. I had visited Lancaster, PA, and found that shops were generally bilingual. I mentioned this to a skeptical German student who decided to see for himself. When he returned to Boston he was bemused. Apparently he and the German speakers there could understand each other [standard German is an elective in the schools there] but he said that they sound like people in an isolated village who seldom, if ever, use Hochdeutsch. The Dutch language use in the Hudson Valley, NY, persisted for centuries but may have gone extinct in the 20th Century. I very much appreciate learning more about this phenomenon than I had previously known.

[@ethank5059]

There are so many fascinating linguistic subcultures in the US. My parents grew up in Colorado and one of the communities around them was the Volga Germans. It’s a group that immigrated from Germany to Russia in the 1700s and then in the early 1900s immigrated to the US. Despite Moscow’s attempts at Russification and anti German sentiment in the US from the world wars they still have their own culture and there are still German speakers after all this time.

[@croatianwarmaster7872]

Hilbert can you make a video about the Croatian flag? Also maybe go into heraldry aswell. Mate Božić writes excellent articles about Croatian heraldry on Dalmatinski Portal.

[@tenthclassgaming]

I just started learning Frisian, if there are Frisian speakers there, I must visit!

[@Ice_Karma]

The links you promised to the articles seem to be missing. 😿

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Hilbert. In short, one majority language was Frisian out the others. Also, us Smiths get everywhere, though you said the spelling was an issue.

[@compatriot852]

Stuff like this is what makes America interesting. There's so many of these small little enclaves in the most random places. Lithuanians for example also ended up in neighboring Illinois. One of the presidents actually came from there

[@robmurphy806]

I've heard in Canada there is the only Gaeltacht thats not located in Ireland. In a handful of areas of Ireland, Irish is still spoken as a primary language, although everyone knows English. But the fact that theres an Irish speaking location outside of Ireland is insane.

[@serbansaredwood]

You might be thinking of Canadian Gaelic which is a dialect of Scottish Gaelic, not Irish. Newfoundland Irish was spoken but is now extinct, however Canadian Gaelic is still spoken in Atlantic Canada and parts of eastern Ontario/Québec, concentrated in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

[@Adiscretefirm]

More Frisian diaspora videos plz

[@zohlandt]

Jammer dat je geen beelden toont van het plaatsje zelf. Moet ik weer gaan Googelen. 😉

[@slugbug120]

This video is so great! These are my mother's people in the Randolph/Friesland area. I know it makes Europeans a little crazy when Americans go to Europe and say "hey, I'm Italian or German or French" and the response is "no, you're American" Yes, we know that we're American but this video is a good example of why we do that. Strong enclaves like this were not that long ago. For example. when my German descended dad married my Friesian mother it was "a thing", meaning he didn't find a German girl but one of those "Hollanders" as they called them. (Obviously not familiar with Netherlands geography 🙂) Another fun enclave fact is my German side of the family had the family farm in an Irish enclave so my "German as a first language" dad would say things like "Bollocks!" when the wrench slipped or I'd be disciplined for my "shenanigans"

[@jannetteberends8730]

Funny you say Fryslân, instead of Friesland. (just saw the video about the difference between Dutch, Afrikaans and Frisian, so replaced the ie with y and figured that the last bit must be an â :-)

[@historywithhilbert146]

Yes, that's the Frisian name for the province (and the official name name). Well done on putting the tips to use! You got it exactly right :) That /â/ is the same /a/ in "land" but because the final /-d/ has been dropped the preceding vowel has undergone lengthening as compensation. So we see in Frisian a regular sound change sân < sand, lân < land, strân < strand (beach) etc.

[@jannetteberends8730]

@@historywithhilbert146 I heard you dropped the d, and the an was a bit frenchlike, so I thought that’s the â he mentioned in the video.. You explained it very good. In that video, not difficult to apply it. Oh, and I found this video very interesting.

[@GUNUFofficial]

"HELP IM DYING OF HUNGER GIVE ME FOOOD" *confused frisian* "what the- HUH?" *half life death sound*

[@SantaFe19484]

Nice video! It is interesting that the English word "love" came from Frisian, and strangely enough, Friesland has hearts on its flag.

[@grotemuis4889]

Those are not hearts but the leaves of water lilies. Pompe blêden.

[@SantaFe19484]

@@grotemuis4889 Make sure you tell CGPGrey about this.

[@hrenes]

Het Fries klinkt net zo als mijn moeder's familie uit Sneek (stadsfries), en bedenk dat er na de oorlog nog minstens 1 x een spellingswijziging is geweest.

[@ImNotCreativeEnoughToMakeUser]

Quite a lot of people, esprcially Texans used to speak German. Even today, you can still find small German speaking towns across the US. (Mostly in Texas)

[@johnkeefer8760]

My grandfather was born in New Hampshire and didn’t speak any English until grade school. His small town basically only spoke French

[@HauntedXXXPancake]

Funny - I'm from North Frisia (the part just south of the Danish/German border) and I understood muuuuch more of the Dutch bits than the Frisian 😄

[@nealolson8814]

A few other long-lived WI immigrant linguistic pockets are Belgian (Brussels), Norwegian (Stoughton) Swiss German (New Glarus) and Polish (Pulaski)? Native nations and language programs on reservations and in schools/universities, particularly the Oneida bordering on and very present in Green Bay? More recently, Hmong in N. WI and the Twin Cities in MN?

[@gj1234567899999]

I guess the reason Friesian held on was the presence of mono lingual Frisian speakers. I am Filipino in the U.S., and a lot of people who immigrate to the U.S. often have very good English proficiency so often they just communicate to the kids in English. In that situation the first generation already loses their native tongue.

[@smusic-vm1zd]

Boer Frans is my spirit animal

[@onnofeldmann4282]

In Illinois, Iowa un Nebraska gaf dat fanof 1850 ōk ōstfräisk tsētels. Däi lüü hebbent bit nóó d' ōrlauğ tau Ōstfräisk Plat prōt't un wattent prōtent dat fandóóeğ no. In Champaign County gift dat fandóóeğ no rūğweğ 100 prōters, man âl ōver 70 joer. Dat interessânt is dat dat Ōstfräisk dor läip kunserwóótīf is, ğīn Düütsk inflaud het, man dan Engelsk inflaud het.

[@samwill7259]

That's the great thing about our America here. We've got an everything community, if you look hard enough

[@tonyflamingo3285]

I thought this was a weird fallout lore video for a few seconds.

[@suevialania]

Friesland!👍🏻🇵🇹

[@jensschroder8214]

There is High German (=Standard German) , Low German, Dutch and Frisian. I would say low German and Dutch have a lot in common. But Frisian is something else. I think that Frisian and old English are closer.

[@kkupsky6321]

Never heard of them. Deutsch yea well but I dunno about Dutch. Or anyone else but Frisian also where the painting and the glorious tricolour? When I hear the weather in Frisian…

[@ramamonato5039]

Dit is de fideo oer de Fryske taal.

[@blakeburrill8536]

What about michigan?

[@jfv65]

OMG i could understand the old guy!😂

[@christeankapp6549]

I can add a perpective or two how german minorities have behaved very similar to your frisian community. BY the way thanks for reporting on your tiny comuunity it is inetresting to see history from that perspective. Any way living in Ohio I hired some Amish to replace my roof. I was born in the Rhineland near Aachen and I spoke to them in High German (not platt) and was somewhat surprised to hear an old version of alemmanic. These people must have immigrated a very long time ago. We barely understood each other as you can well imagine. They commented on saying "I spoke the language of the book". "The book?" "Ja, die Bibel." I grinned and they continued to say they didnt understand the Bible and if I had an english german dictionary. I gave them a copy of my Langenscheidt. So here you have further proof that church language doesnt have to influence spoken language. The other question in my mind I had was if they didn't understand the preacher how did they understand and follow the principles of christianity? The answer is probably just as poorly or as well as medieval peasants trying to understand a Latin service. So this probably has a lot of history too. The other story is I am doing research on Texas Germans ( incl. East Frisians from Oldenburg) as a student of the Fernuni Hagen. There exists a lot already and it is interesting to note that wends, sorbs and czechs immigrated together with a majority German immigrant popultation. In a way they brought their ethnological ecosystem with them. It is well documented that the Wends who founded Giddings, TX actually reverted to German as their first language before they adopted English, it depended a lot which was the majority language in the village. By the way dont forget to visit Nederland and Orange Texas! Tot Ziens & Tschoe.

[@martinnilsen3362]

🎉🎉

[@computergamernl]

are you frisian/have some kind of frisian heritage? If not ur frisian pronounciation is suprisingly good. Kinda mild hint of groningen dialect but idk

[@frenzalrhomb6919]

What I would like to know, is what is the mutual ineligibility rate, between Frisian speakers and ordinary Dutch speakers? Is it 70/30, 60/40, you know what I mean?

[@bobbynakielski7681]

Columbia County Mentioned!!!!🎉

[@backinblack1982]

Interesting stuff. It would be cool if you did a video on Pella, Iowa, and/or Orange City, Iowa, both of which are communities founded by the Dutch. Not Frisian specifically, though there are a number of Frisians who immigrated to both towns. After settling these communities, some Dutch moved on to South Dakota and established communities there as well.

[@richardbinkhuysen8109]

Grappige is dat ik grotendeels West Fries versta, maar sommige dialecten van 20 Km verderop meer moeite geven. Maar schijnbaar werd er vroeger in Bergen op Zoom ook West Fries gesproken. 🤣

[@vanhetgoor]

If you want to find the last Frisians in Friesland Wisconsin then spread the word that you have a bottle of Bokma Berenburg and you are offering a glass of it to all that want it. It is strange but they like it, they say it is good against the cold.

[@caseclosed9342]

Before tv and other forms of media normalized English, many European languages survived generations in the U.S.

[@Game_Hero]

16:59 Some things never change toward minority nations languages.

[@jack_cry9518]

Oh this reminds me of the German speaking Texans. They actually have been in Texas long enough to make their own unique Texas-German dialect.

[@mattchtx]

I taught bilingual school in Spanish in Texas. But it’s interesting because the laws and court cases requiring bilingual education in Texas are largely due to on German immigrants winning the right to have their kids taught in German over a century ago.