As of the US 2000 Census, German (43M) is still the most listed individual ancestry for Americans, followed by Irish (31M) and then English (25M). Note that Scottish (9M) & Welsh (2M) are also listed individually. In that Census, the total US population is listed at 281M.
Wikipedia gives a map showing where each major ancestry is in the majority:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...County.svg.png
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Originally Posted by Jenny_HRO87
it always fascinates me how many different origins Americans can have, even if their ancestors came to America ages ago...
about dialects - I obviously don't know all, especially because I'm from Northern Germany where you also have dialects but in my opinion they aren't so heavy like others e. g. in South Germany... I don't really think that there's a "nicest" accent... I guess "Standard" German is ok, so that kind of German you talk when you don't have any heavy dialect (of course everyone has a slight dialect... for example I never really thought I would have any but then I moved to an other federal state to do my training and my classmate asked if there is any dialect where I come from and I was like "well some people say that we for example tend to stretch the vowels" and my classmate was like "that's true" and I was pretty flabbergasted because I never really noticed that myself... and now sometimes I do... and this was a long story with no meaning at all)... Low German (the version I know from here) sounds quite nice but not a lot of people don't talk it anymore, it's more or less dying out... it's just nice, I don't know... an other dialect I like is the one people in and around Berlin talk... it's not "beautiful" but it's that kind of dialect that makes you like a person without really knowing him or her. It's a kind of blunt, direct, I-say-what-I-want but likeable dialect...
The worst? Besides the Bavarian dialect it's basically the dialect people in Saxony talk... nothing against these people but this dialect is just hilarious. It sounds horrible and funny the same time. You can't take anyone serious who talks with his dialect. And you aren't even mean. It simply is like that.
I have to admit it always makes me smile a bit when I read or watch something in English and suddenly a word of German origin appears.. I know it's stupid but it always feels like a little "wave" from home... also when I learnt English in school I was glad that there were some words of French origin which I knew from French class and so it was easier to figure out their meaning in English and to remember them...
I don't really know... also I wouldn't allow myself to judge because my knowledge of UK accents is basically from British shows and actors I admire... sometimes I think Scottish accents have something friendly even if it's really hard to understand them... I don't really know. It's just... and this is nothing against you guys really... I don't know it's hard to explain why I like UK accents more than US accents... perhaps because the UK is closer or in school we learn British English... or because even if it's sometimes a lot harder to follow BBC News than CNN it just sounds a bit more classy... oh I don't know... you are better off to ignore this xD
and this was a long meaningless post. I guess I still won't delete it. I'm sorry.
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Jenny, you have run out of your quota of appologies for the year. You are not permitted appologize again until January.
More seriously, I would not have asked the questions if I did not hope for detailed answers. I always like to hear the perspective of those from other countries (I already know the perspective of those around me). Thanks for answering.
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The worst? Besides the Bavarian dialect it's basically the dialect people in Saxony talk... nothing against these people but this dialect is just hilarious. It sounds horrible and funny the same time. You can't take anyone serious who talks with his dialect. And you aren't even mean. It simply is like that.
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Do you think there is a Czech influence on the way the Saxons talk? It's interesting that they are so close to Berlin.