Alternate language for the US

What POD would it take for another language to take the place of English in the US ?Any language will do whether it be German ,French ,Spanish .Hell even one of the African languages spoken by Slaves if you can swing it .
Extra points if the Alt language is something like Chinese (Either one )
 
Likely it wouldn't be the US in that case, as the US is the current version of a state founded out of English/British colonies, by a largely English speaking elite/majority. Even the decolonised new states of the 20th century have largely kept English as an official language of government and commerce, to some capacity, as it is rather hard to expunge a language with such a wide presence.
 
I heard once that around the time of the US becoming a country, this actually got voted on and German was very close to becoming the US official language but at the time it was little used outside Pennsylvanian communities.
 
I heard once that around the time of the US becoming a country, this actually got voted on and German was very close to becoming the US official language but at the time it was little used outside Pennsylvanian communities.

Technically just those communities requesting official Congressional documents to be printed in German for them and Congress telling them to shove it. :p German was the most common second language until the world wars killed its popularity and Spanish exploded via Mexican immigration at the same time, however!
 
I heard once that around the time of the US becoming a country, this actually got voted on and German was very close to becoming the US official language but at the time it was little used outside Pennsylvanian communities.

I believe that story is just a myth.
 

jahenders

Banned
Agreed. To get to anything other than English, you need some significant changes along the way. A few options:

1) You could potentially have much broader (and deeper) Spanish colonization early on. In the most extreme case, this could have the main colonies be Spanish and a revolution against Spain. However, if that were the case, it's unlikely that the Constitution would resemble OTL.
a) In a lesser case, you could just have more Spanish colonization such that (as the English take over) a much larger percentage of the people have Spanish as a main language. Then, around the time of the founding Spanish is pretty common and becomes more so as more former Spanish colonies are included. This might get Spanish recognized as a second official language.

2) Likewise you could have more successful French colonization so that French was far more common at founding. Then, perhaps with some loving zeal at French support, you could have French be a second official language.

Likely it wouldn't be the US in that case, as the US is the current version of a state founded out of English/British colonies, by a largely English speaking elite/majority. Even the decolonised new states of the 20th century have largely kept English as an official language of government and commerce, to some capacity, as it is rather hard to expunge a language with such a wide presence.
 
French could easily dominate if Louisiana remained under French control for longer than OTL. With the French-controlled Mississippi River dominating inland trade, French would remain the "language of commerce" for agricultural commodities: cattle, horses, cereal grains, etc.
WI snobbish plantation owners (in the Carolina's) decided that conversing in French was more "chic?" .... a good way to keep slavrs guessing about white-folks' gossip?
The New England coast still contains limited Acadian and Québécois populations so you can often find a translator in a port. If France retained a major maritime trade (with the 13 Colonies) after the American Revolutionary War. Combine that with French-Canadian fur traders venturing well into the Rocky Mountains, French could easily remain the dominant language of commerce outside of NE. The wealthiest NE families would still send their sons on the Grand Tour of Europe, maybe even study for a year or two at one of the better French-speaking universities in Belgium or Switzerland.
 
French and Spanish are yer best bets for alternative or secondary languages. Maybe Dutch after that or perhaps Portuguese if there's a much larger Portuguese or Cape Verdean population. After that, who knows?







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