Most Amish communities speak a German-based dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania German) at home and in everyday life, use English for school, business, and contact with outsiders, and use High German (Standard German) mainly in church for Bible reading and hymns.

Mini overview

  • Everyday language: Pennsylvania Dutch – a German dialect that developed in North America and includes some English loanwords.
  • Religion and worship: High German (Standard German) for scriptures, hymnbooks, and some prayers.
  • School and business: English, especially for dealing with non-Amish people, government, and modern commerce.
  • What they don’t speak: They do not normally speak Yiddish; that’s a Jewish language unrelated to Amish practice.

So if you visit an Amish area, you’ll usually hear Pennsylvania Dutch among themselves, English with you, and High German in church. Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.