Pennsylvania Dutch Event To Help Need for Interpreters

A one-day training on Pennsylvania Dutch speech and ways of life starts July 19 at Lancaster's Southern Market. The push for better training in the language comes as more interpreters are needed to work with fast-growing Amish groups.

Studies show the number of Amish people in North America doubles every two decades, based on 2023 data from Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Medical offices and courts now seek more skilled people who can switch between English and Pennsylvania Dutch to act as interpreters.

"I think that we, as an association, realized we need to be the guardians of language," said organizer Karen Leube. "We, as an association, are also trying very hard to stick up for the rights of people whose native language is not English."

The Willow, a ground-floor space at the market, will host guests from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Those who belong to GLD and DVTA pay $100, while others pay $140.

Mark Louden will give the main talk. He teaches German at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and picked up Pennsylvania Dutch four decades ago when he joined the Mennonite Church.

Steve M. Nolt from Elizabethtown College will speak about local traditions. Two sessions will teach the unique dialect. Local experts will discuss how they help in hospitals and courtrooms.

The language is derived from the German spoken by settlers from Germany in the 1700s. Now it stays alive mainly through Amish and Mennonite communities. You won't find this special language anywhere else but North America.

“Even if they know English from their schooling, it's really helpful to have an interpreter who speaks one's language from home for things that are as intimate as a court case or hospitalization,” Leube pointed out.

Eve Bodeux is a French-to-English translator in Colorado and plans to join. She feels drawn to the event since her grandparents spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. Her family tree includes John Michael Lindenmuth, who left Germany as one of the first settlers.

Two groups, the German Language Division of the American Translators Association and the Delaware Valley Translators Association, run the program. The last day to sign up is July 14.