German Dialect in Texas

[TheOfficialBren]

One of my best mates is a German-Texan. His great-grandparents immigrated from Strittmatt, Germany. Today they speak nothing but English. The very few words and phrases they know are little more that the standard conversational phrases. Those are spoken with an entirely rhotic-American accent.

Based upon my personal direct observation I would say that the latest waves of immigration (Spanish-speakers, South East Asian tongues) seem to be the most noticeable among the foreign language speakers while more established foreign languages (German, French, Swedish, Italian, Tagolog) seem to be in very rapid decline. Indigeonous tongues (Lakota, Nakota, Hawai'ian, Inuit, et al) seem to be struggling to stay alive, most regretably.

As an example, Gaelic was once modestly spoken** during the American colonial period where Irish and Scottish communities were dominant. Now it is spoken by a handful of Americans...and solely as a novelty--almost like a souvenir from a trip to "Scotireland."
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Scotireland

In the US we seem to have a history of assimilation and are attempting backpedal in order to preserve our multi-cultural history. New waves of immigrants seem to benefit the most from this. Those of us Americans who have been here a bit and fully assimilated seem to get accused of "playing at" being this or that when we rediscover our heritages.

It has been mentioned that our neighbour to the north, Canada, has a very successful track record with regard to balancing multi-culturalism along with a distinct national identity. Perhaps we Americans can learn a few things from our Canadian cousins.

IDIC

I hope that I didn't derail the discussion. No offense or detraction intended.
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** I am reminded of a story from the pre-revolutionary period in where a slave of Irish and African heritage had escaped from his master. He was easily located and returned to the plantation from where he escaped because he spoke only Gaelic. This is an oddity, for sure, but Gaelic was at one time a (modestly spoken) living language here.