Before World War I, more than 6 percent of American schoolchildren received their primary education only in German. Furthermore, more than 45 million Americans claim they have German ancestors. Only 1.5 million, however, speak that language at the present time.
The Amish speak a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania Dutch, a remnant of what was once a much larger German-speaking area in eastern Pennsylvania. Indeed, there are many places in this area named Germantown.
A myth holds that German was to be the official language of the US, replacing English to sever ties with Great Britain. Also the myth tells of how German almost beat out English as the United States' official language, but this is inaccurate: It is based on a failed early attempt to have government documents translated into German. Also, unlike most countries that have legal documents declaring that one, or perhaps multiple languages are official, acceptable languages to use in that country - the U.S. has no official language just English which is used because the majority understands it. Therefore, it is quite possible for the language to change if ever there is a larger majority that speaks another (different) language besides English, although it is highly unlikely because the history of the country with its historical documents (i.e. Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc.)
Germans (German: die Deutschen) are defined as an ethnic group, or Volk, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, speaking the German language as a mother tongue and being of German descent.
Germans are also defined by their national citizenship, which had, in the course of German history, varying relations to the above (German culture), according to the influence of subcultures and society in general (also refer to Imperial Germans, Federal Germans etc. and Demographics of Germany).
In addition, a significant number of German citizens (close to 5%), although traditionally considered ethnic Germans, are in fact foreign-born and thus often retain the cultural identities and languages or their native countries in addition to being Germans, a fact that sets them apart from those born and raised in Germany.
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