High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Before World War I, more than 6% of American schoolchildren received their primary education only in German. Although more than 49 million Americans claim they have German ancestors, according to the 2005 American Community Survey, more than 96% of them speak English at home and in total only 1.38 million Americans speak German. Today, German is the second most spoken language in two states: North Dakota and South Dakota.