The Amish of Pennsylvania
Vocabulary
| county | giant (2) | landmass |
| endless | follow (2) | traditional |
| derive | diversity | right now |
| guy | up close | tell/told/told |
| respect | show (2) | unfortunately |
| excited | interview | know/knew/known |
| avoid | spring (2) | fascinating |
| plain | settle (2) | primarily |
| solar | wind (2) | discourage |
| diesel | unravel | drive/drove/driven (2) |
| lawn | identical | ride/rode/ridden |
| lease | migrate | lawnmower |
| dialect | prohibit | get around |
| owner | make up | bring/brought/brought |
| mix | mix into | make/made/made |
| lead to | generate | higher education |
| require | stranger | lead/led/led (2) |
| typical | average | right here |
| comply | what’s up | give/gave/given (2) |
| shun | crazy (2) | keep them up |
| roof | plus (2) | build/built/built |
| barn | assume | manual labor |
| rural | percent | private (2) |
| urban | stay (2) | segregation |
| fail | cool (2) | as much as possible |
| trades | kind (2) | modernize |
| hope | opposite | get/got/got-gotten |
| enjoy | thing (2) | debatable |
| see/saw/seen |
Video
Transcript
The United States of America is filled with endless diversity: people of all colors, religions, ethnicities and cultures come together in one giant landmass.
And the center of this diversity is the Amish, a group of people who follow a traditional, Christian Church derived from Swiss Germany.
What’s up guys we are here in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, which is the center of the Amish; the Amish people live here.
And I’m here to tell you guys a story about them.
But unfortunately I cannot show their faces up close because they don’t want to be filmed, so I’m gonna respect them. I’m going to respect their religion. I’m gonna interview other people who know about Amish.
And I’m really excited to show you guys how they live and teach you about this really fascinating culture that lives inside of America.
In the US, about fifteen percent (15%) of the 300,000 Amish settlers lived right here in Lancaster County Pennsylvania.
And they are known primarily for three things: simple living, plain dressing and avoidance of modern technologies.
Non-Amish Resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: “They don’t connect to our electricity. It doesn’t mean they can’t generate their own with solar or wind power or even a diesel generator for business.
They don’t drive automobiles. If they have a business that requires a truck or riding lawnmowers, they can certainly lease a truck — but they would have to have a non-Amish to drive the truck.”
The Amish migrated to Pennsylvania in the early 18th century and are still living an identical life two centuries ago. They get around by horses. They are prohibited to use smartphones, TVs and cars.
Their language today is a dialect of German called Pennsylvania Deutsch.
Non-Amish Resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: “It’s a dialect from the Swiss German that they brought with them, plus about 300 years of words that got made up and some English words mixed into it.”
Higher education is generally discouraged as it could lead to social segregation and the unraveling of the community.
Presenter: “And how many kids does a typical family have?”
Non-Amish Resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: “Right now, the average is right around eight-and-a-half in Lancaster County. That’s the information we were given this spring.”
Presenter: “Eight-and-a-half kids. So that’s a lot of money to keep them up. I’m assuming they’re mostly farmers?”
Non-Amish Resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: “No. They’re mostly not farmers — only about thirty percent (30%) are in farming; the rest are in trades like home building, roofing contracting, barn building, shop owners.”
They have their own schools. They value a rural life, manual labor and
living under God’s Word.
And if they fail to comply, they are shunned.
Non-Amish Resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: “Now they’ve got a very high percentage of the kids staying Amish, and that ninety-five to one-hundred percent (95% to 100%) it’s probably above ninety-five percent (95%) staying Amish.”
The Amish are very private people who avoid as much contact with strangers in the outside world as possible for important religious and cultural reasons.
It’s really cool to see this kind of people living inside the USA because America is modernizing so quickly and we’re so crazy about getting new technologies and living the most urbanized life as possible.
And then you have people like the Amish who are just doing the complete opposite and enjoying life debatably more than we do. It’s really special to see and experience and I hope you guys learn a thing or two from this video.
Questions
Car, Automobile. Only White Christians of European origin live in the Unites States. True or false?
Solar Panel. How do outsiders view the Amish? What images or “stereotypes” do outsiders have of the Amish? Do the Amish follow a “normal”, modern lifestyle; or a very traditional lifestyle? Are they very religious, religious, in the middle, secular or atheist?
Windmill, Wind Turbine. The Amish love to take photos, videos and recordings of themselves and others. Is this right or wrong?
Diesel Generator. Are the Amish a major part of the US population, like the Irish and English? Do they live everywhere in the US, including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Boston, St. Louis?
Television, TV. Do the Amish watch TV, listen to the radio, records, stereo, read magazines and newspapers, surf the internet, use Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube?
Radio, Stereo. SUVs, luxury cars and sports cars are status symbols among the Amish. Is this correct or incorrect? Do they travel and commute? How do they travel or commute?
Stove, Oven. Are they monolingual, bilingual or multilingual? Do they speak Spanish? Are they ethnocentric and clannish, or do they mix with outsiders?
Plow. Their most common occupations are programmers, web designers, engineers and office managers. Most young Amish migrate to big cities. Yes or no?
Trailer. Are the Amish a conformist, or non-conformist ethnic group? Do they tolerate dissent?
Refrigerator, Freezer. Are there Amish or Amish-like groups living in your country or neighboring countries?
Well. What are the positive and negative aspects of Amish life?
Barn. Could outsiders learn something from the Amish? Should outsiders adapt certain aspects of the Amish way of life?
Bathtub, Shower. My friends and I would like to live like the Amish. I wish I were an Amish. Yes or no? Would you like to visit an Amish community?
Harvester, Combine. What will happen in the future? Will the Amish preserve their way of life? Will outsiders adopt Amish traditions?
