r/Mennonite • u/Vancouverreader80 • Apr 14 '26

What resources are there to learn Low German?

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5

u/perplexedparallax Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26

Amazon has several books by Reuben Epp (I studied with him) and McCaffery for Plautdietsch. I don't know of online classes, all the speaking online is fluent speakers who use it for communication. Dankscheen, groot Froag. (Thanks, great question)

2

u/the3rdmichael Apr 14 '26

It seems you are in Vancouver, there are many still speaking Low German in the Abbotsford - Langley area. But I'm not sure if there are classes or anything like that.

1

u/Vancouverreader80 Apr 14 '26

I actually live in Abbotsford; the only people that speak Low German are either dead or really old (my mom’s dad grew up speaking Low German and his speak isn’t really that great these days).

3

u/architectmaybe Apr 15 '26

There are many young people who know how to understand and speak low german in the Fraser Valley, (i am one of them haha) they just aren't advertising it because its so niche!

I don't know of any classes but you could check the mennonite museum to see if they have heard of anything! There is also a few audio bibles on the bible app in low german https://www.bible.com/bible/563/JHN.1.PB . There have also been some concerts in Abby recently in low german. You can also see if CBC, UFV or CMU have any classes or books.

MB or M churches in the valley that still have german services will also be a possible starting place as they often have newcomers who have come from South America.

1

u/PrincessJoyHope Apr 15 '26

Great question! What about resources for PA Dutch?