section_path: Geographical distribution/South America
section_name: South America
paragraph_text: South America
  
  In Brazil, the largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina, and Espírito Santo.
  
  German dialects (namely Hunsrik and East Pomeranian) are recognized languages in the following municipalities in Brazil:
  
  In Chile, during the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a massive immigration of Germans, Swiss and Austrians. Because of that, two dialects of German emerged, Lagunen-Deutsch and Chiloten-Deutsch. Immigrants even founded prosperous cities and towns. The impact of nineteenth century German immigration to southern Chile was such that Valdivia was for a while a Spanish-German bilingual city with "German signboards and placards alongside the Spanish". Currently, German and its dialects are spoken in many cities, towns and rural areas of southern Chile, such as Valdivia, Osorno, Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Frutillar, Nueva Braunau, Castro, Ancud, among many others.
  
  Small concentrations of German-speakers and their descendants are also found in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Bolivia.