AHC: Make German as Widely Spoken in the US as Spanish

The challenge is simple; have over 10% of the population of the United States speaking German as a household language by 2014 with a POD no earlier than the ratification of the Constitution.

Obvious starting places closer to modern day seem to be decreasing or averting American involvement in World War I or World War II. What other ideas are there? Maybe it could stay a liturgical language for more German-descended communities, perhaps? Maybe there ought to be more German immigration to the United States in the 1900's?
 
Depending to what degree you mean speaking it, like as a First language, a Second language or basic conversationally.

As a first language it's pretty much impossible; the only reason we have so many Spanish Frist Language speakers is because of the amount of people from Spanish speaking countries that have migrated here in a relatively short time period, the sheer number of Germans needed to immigrate to the U.S. would be undoable, plus unless the Allies go full on Nazi themselves (deciding Germans don't deserve to be treated equally/the same rights) the population would not fi the socioeconomic conditions that allow Spanish to continue on as it does.

As a second language it's doable, but would require states actively supporting it; prior to WWI there was a large German speaking population in the U.S., so you could just have them continue on and have communities decide that while English was the language, that they wanted to preserve their cultural history as well, but again, you'd need governmental support to do it at large scale levels.

The third is the easiest, basically have it as a variant on the above, but with German simply being made a mandatory class in High Schools, thus leading to a large portion of the population who can speak basic conversational stuff, like with Spanish as a Second Language speakers IOTL.
 
Twofold changes

much less conquest of Spanish colonies (or spanishspeaking post-colonial nations), not owning Florida and not conquering northern Mexico

less repression against german starting in WW1, going full tilt in WW2

sure, neither of them together might be much higher than OTL Spanish, but ITTL they could (with a minor nudge here and there) probably end up being roughly equally sized
 
America doesn't take all that land from Mexico.

WW1 ends quickly. America accepts German/Austrian immigrants. They go to similar areas as pre-existing German communities. Language flourishes.
 
My understanding of Pre-Great War USA, was that Germany was quite a popular language. Spoken as much in the north as it was in the south. A large a mount of people in the USA are descendants from Germans that traveled the war torn HRE/Austro-Prussian Wars, to the USA. It was only the vilification of Germany as part of the propaganda for the war that led to it's decline. If the USA and Germany were to be allies, then that would do it.

Don't ask me how this would occur, but an allied Germany, would certainly lead to better relations and probably an exchange of culture. For example, before the Napoleonic Wars, French was a second language to most of the Russian Nobility.
 
1 Avoid OTL WW1 and the second, during the two wars a lot of anti-german laws were passed.
2 Make Germany a Superpower and make it friendly with USA.
3 Increase the % of German in the USA, without the south(CSA) the german population could be higher.
4 Let some law like the one of the Congress of 1794(i don´t remember the name however) that let survive the german language in the USA.
 
My understanding of Pre-Great War USA, was that Germany was quite a popular language. Spoken as much in the north as it was in the south. A large a mount of people in the USA are descendants from Germans that traveled the war torn HRE/Austro-Prussian Wars, to the USA. It was only the vilification of Germany as part of the propaganda for the war that led to it's decline. If the USA and Germany were to be allies, then that would do it.

Don't ask me how this would occur, but an allied Germany, would certainly lead to better relations and probably an exchange of culture. For example, before the Napoleonic Wars, French was a second language to most of the Russian Nobility.
Still, Imthink there are some noticeable differences. Many of the people who speak Spanish are first or second generation, and each generation seems to have a larger grasps of English. There are still many who speak Spanishw Ho speak almost no or no English. With the Germans, provided no drastic changes to the TL, there would not be as much immigration from Germany in 2014.
 
Have the Congress vote in favour of the translation of federal laws and documents into German in 1795*. With less incentive to learn English, the German immigrants will retain their language and grow in numbers. With a bit of luck, you could have Pennsylvania, the Midwest, and much of the area between the Mississippi and California majority German-speaking.

*IOTL, the proposal was narrowly rejected by 42-41.
 
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