Lost in translation: Low German / Plautdietsch addition

 Lost in translation 

Our everyday language is Low German / Plautdietsch. For most of us, it is primarily a conversational language. School and church are conducted in High German, both spoken and written. Written teaching materials are in High German gothic script. The only written materials we had access to were religious texts in High German: the Bible, Old Testament, Catechism, and songbooks.

Though Low German / Plautdietsch is a written language, for the majority of the Low German / Plautdietsch-speaking community, it is not used in daily life. It is unlikely for us to become fluent in written Low German / Plautdietsch when we live in countries that do not communicate with us in that language.

We did not have formal classes to learn High German. Most of us only heard High German at weddings or funerals, where it was delivered in a chanting style. The minister conducting the service had memorized it from another minister who had used the same speech for many years. It was always scripted and passed down to the next minister. They were taught to deliver it in the same chanting style, which made it difficult for children to understand.

Children older than three were encouraged to go play during ceremonies. Growing up, I understood this to be because mothers could not manage all their children during a ceremony, most mothers usually had an infant on their lap and a toddler on each side. For the most part, children did not attend church regularly either until their early teens. My understanding is that this was to preserve their innocence. This was easy for me and my peers because we did not understand what was being said anyway.

For many of us, the first real exposure to High German was at age six when we started school. I remember opening the Fibel (beginner level scripture booklet), looking at the words, and realizing I was in deep trouble. I did not know what to do. School days felt unbearably long. We memorized material in a similar chanting style to what we heard in church. We stood tall with our fingers linked in front of us and recited the same words every day at the same time.

We did not actually learn how to read for comprehension. Instead, we memorized the material together, almost like robots. When we first started school, we mimicked the behavior of other students until we had heard the words enough times to chant along. I remember repeating them to myself at night while trying to fall asleep so I could keep up the next day. Many of us could not read the words individually or understand their meaning. We could recite verses we had memorized, but we did not truly understand them. This was my colony school education from ages six to nine.

Church followed a similar pattern. We did not take a Bible to follow along with the sermon. We had a songbook and learned songs the same way we learned school material, by listening repeatedly and memorizing the melody and chanting style. I rarely actually sang; I mostly moved my lips and didn't dare look up to see if anyone was watching me. It was a stressful ordeal every time.

During my childhood in the colony, which began in the fifth year of life in Mexico after leaving Canada in 1922, we had no written materials in Low German / Plautdietsch. Therefore, we never learned to read it. Although there are communities in other parts of the world where some people were and are still fluent in written and spoken Low German / Plautdietsch, this is no longer how most of us speak it today.

Over years of migrating from country to country, our vocabulary has shrunk significantly. We use a limited official vocabulary, and much of our communication relies on implied meaning rather than precise language. Many concepts are understood through context rather than explicit wording. For example, if a woman was raped, this was never stated directly. Instead, people would say, “She has been used,” and everyone understood what that meant. 

I am not aware of any Low German / Plautdietsch-speaking community where business is conducted in written Low German / Plautdietsch. In my 15-plus years working as a Low German / Plautdietsch interpreter, I have never encountered medical instructions or other formal documents written in Low German / Plautdietsch that required translation into English or Spanish.

Over the years, I have met some Low German / Plautdietsch speakers who say they can read it, but only short Bible verses, and even that takes time because much of the written vocabulary differs from how we speak. There are a few Low German / Plautdietsch dictionaries and translation apps, but they are difficult to use because most of us do not speak just one standardized version of the language. Word choice also presents challenges, as many written words are unfamiliar to us. I have used these tools in my interpretation work to piece together sentences that reflect how my community speaks, but it is very time-consuming.

For many people, including myself, it is easier to learn the written language of the country where we live, mainly Spanish and English.