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Patricia Muench
Prof. Saddler 12/10/08 Final NCLC 130 Discovery Project
Ever since the early seventeenth century, German immigrants have been
coming to the United States of America. Many times throughout history
when Germans have been coming to the United States, they have been one
of the leading migration groups. Whether the German immigrants were
from Hamburg, Prussia, or the many other places in Germany, they all
had one goal to pursue. They all wanted to experience life in the land
of opportunities. Germans came over to the United States because of
war, religious persecution, poverty, and many other reasons. However,
throughout American history, Germans have made their mark on
society.
During the colonial era, one way that Germans commuicated while living in America was by newspapers. German newspapers were one of the first sets of newspapers to spread the news about the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. The first translation of the Declaration of Independence was in the newspaper Henrich Millers Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote, which came out every other week. However, translators had a difficult time translating the Declaration of Independence into German because they had to put the words into phrases that the German people could understand. For example, the translators had to explain unalienable rights as unveräuberliche rechte, which in an English translation would mean rights that cannot be sold or given away. The only way to have Germans understand the translation was by using French translations (CHNM). This shows that even though Germans made up a large part of the American population, there was still so much more that they needed to learn about the language. |
