מענדעלע

To Percy Mett, who is stunned that Miriam Isaacs called Central Yiddish 'regional': Knowing Miriam, I can assure you she did not mean to demean CY! We call a variety 'regional' if only people from a certain region use it. Many CY speakers switch to some degree to 'Standard Yiddish' but nobody (except perhaps in the Chassidic community, where different standards apply entirely) switches to CY. (Btw, I grew up in a CY home but have been more or less Yivo-ized despite my best intentions to retain CY -- that's how social pressure works, with language varieties. It's very powerful.)

Don't know which variety of London English you speak but, if it's the one I suspect it is, many people who are not from London speak it and it's therefore not a 'regional' marker. In contrast, my native NYC English is not a variety that people from other places switch to and it therefore marks me as a native New Yorker and is therefore 'regional'. It's no shande for a linguistic variety to be regional, btw. ;) Also, what's regional at one point in time or in one speech community may be not-regional ('standard', to some degree) at another point in time or in another speech community.

If this interests you, I actually did a study of the gradual and partial switch from another regional variety of Yiddish, 'tote-mome loshn', to 'Standard Yiddish' over a period of 40 years in the singing of a Bessarabian-born singer who clearly did not want to switch and I can send you the reference.

Ellen Prince

I have written the following poem: "Far di khevre vus viln nor bagrubn Yidish...."

Dos Tshaynikl

Dos tsaynikl kukt sikh arum ... Un zeyt... Az di velt iz kaylekhdik.

An alter radio shteyt dortn Mitn rundn, geyln punim Un balaket, bebet...

Der televizie plaplt tzu... Un zogt... un vayst : "Di velt iz kaylekhdik, on a zof..."

Un di nayes vert nisht nay... Di mentshhayt blaybt take-Kaylekhdik... nisht banayet.

Nu, Tshaynikl, Vest zikh amul makhn Kvadratish?!!

Ven veln di tekhnishe oytzers Endern dem mentshishn kaos? (Amul in a Yoyvl?!!)

Ven der farshterter kaylekhkayt Un heylikayt... Veln zikh adrabe oyfhern viklen?

Un Mashiakh vet mer nisht shlofn... Un dos tshaynikl... Vet vayter kukn.....

Mendy Fliegler (copyright 1997)

When I made Yiddish learning recommendations, I mentioned dialects. In response to Mr. Mett's remarks on what I had to say about Dzhigan's Yiddish, it seems I did not clearly explain what I meant, and certainly not any denigration of Galitzyanish. In fact, I speak like Dzigan myself. But in advising a new learner of Yiddish, who does not come from any particular region, the fact is most of the formal learning materials come in Standard Yiddish, which is nobody's regional dialect but comes much closer to Litvish than to how I speak. In fact my introduction of myself to Mendele several years ago was never sent out because I wrote it Galitsianish, after which there ensued a long discussion with the editor. The editor rules. Why I recommend use of informal materials like the Dzigan recordings for learners. First, because I like it. But also, if a learner ventures out of the classroom and speaks to Yiddish speakers out in the world, they will still use a variety of dialects and much of what was written historically shows dialect variation. Someone learning Yiddish will be well served to be able to not only understand a variety of dialects, but also to respect them properly. I encounter all too much snobbery of Litvish over other dialects, a kind of snobbery that needs to be put to rest. Just as we here in the US don't feel any great need to speak London English - there is more than one right way.

Miriam Isaacs

Larry Rosenwald asked about Yiddish translation of Thoreau's 'Civil Disobedience' [7.035]. It was published at least twice:

Di flikht fun umgehorkhzamkayt tsum shtot, Nyu York : M. Mayzl, 1907, 64 p.

Vegn der flikht fun umgehorkhzamkayt tsum shtot, Los Angeles: Workmen's Circle and Rocker Publications Committee, 1950, 66p. (Bibliotek frayer gedank, v. 3)

Iosif Vaisman

With regard to Larry Rosenwald's questions in [7.035]: 'Where doews it say in the tora' is routinely rendered 'vu shteit es geshribn in der toire', and 'a person amiong people' is 'a mentsh mit andere tsuglaikh'.

Les Train

Ikh vil nisht oyver zayn keyn klolim kholile: az der shames zogt "genug", farfaln. Di rede geyt ober vegn an ander bikhl, vos iz oykh a yidisher shprekh-bukh. Loyt Hugh Denman iz dem Vaynraykhs bukh "NISHT keyn ershter"; es tut mir hanoe, vos "Say It in Yiddish" iz nisht keyn LETSTER oykh. In yor 1988 hot men aroysgegebn in Erets-Yisroel a hebreish-yidish shprekh-bikhl untern titl "Sikhon ivri yidi" (Vera Solomon un Mikhoel Bordin, farlag fun Sh. Zak un shut', Yerusholayim, tashma"t): arum 3000 verter un oysdrukn af tsu shmuesn vegn altsding vos me vil. Ot saynen etlekhe bayshpiln: yidishe yontoyvim un minhogim; sifrey-koydesh; dertsiungs-anshtaltn; bibliotek; politik; hotel; ekskursies; veter; koyfn an avto; potsht; bahk; shpitol; restoran; muzey; kino; zoo-gortn; muzik; krom; esnvarg ua"v. A sakh fun di bashribene stsenes konen dakht zikh forkumen oykh haynt tsu tog, ikh veys, ergets in Meyesheorim - in a shereray (shert mir unter di peyes), tsi in a shul lehavdl (zayt azoy gut, git mir a tiliml).

Vet men efsher opfregn, tsi darfn mir reydn yidish in muzey, bam koyfn avto oder gor in a hotel (ikh vil esn frishtik in mayn tsimer)? Farshteyt zikh, az es kon geshen nor in a veltlekher shtot. Ot kumt an emese mayse, vos hot zikh getrofn mit mir aleyn in yor 1995 in Ashdod. Un vos kon zayn veltlekher (in Erets-Yisroel) vi Ashdod, ashteyger lemoshl? Dort kon a fremder farforn in tsvey hoteln, beyde kostn 150 shkolim far mesles. Azoy lang ober voynt men in yene hoteln nit. Tsvey sho, nit mer, khotsh batsoln darf men sayvisay far a gantsn tog. Iz ver zshe voynt dort af azelkhe tnoim? Di yunge froyen fun der breg-gas bakenen zikh mit di yunge (amol alte) mantsblen un bald loyfn zey in hotel arayn. S'ara arbet, ober nisht dos bin ikh oysn.

Es vert shoyn fintster. Ba mir in keshene iz 34 shkolim... shlofn bam breg yam iz tsu kalt. Gey ikh derfar arayn in eynem a hotel, un ze a zokn vos shraybt arayn di bavoyner. Makh ikh mikh tamevate: ma yokor? (Ikh muz zogn, az hebreish ken ikh, tsum badoyern, zeyer shlekht, bloyz a por verter, un ale take fun yidish). A hipsh bisl tsayt hob ikh im gebetn er zol mikh araynlozn umzist, un az nisht, to far 5 shkolim, vayl 5 shkolim iz oykh gelt; plutsem makht er af yidish: bist nisht keyn amerikaner, ha? Vayzt zikh oys, er hot di gantse tsayt shir nit gekatshet fun gelekhter, aza iz mayn hebreish. Un aleyn shtamt er fun Lite. Nokh dem khurbn hot er geshvartst di grenets un gekumen in Parizsh; un mit a 6 yor tsurik, ven zayn froy iz avek, hot er lesof oyle geven: ale alte yidn forn keyn Erets-Yisroel...

Itster, keyn rusish hor er nit gekont; keyn litvish tsi frantsoyzish ken ikh shoyn aleyn nisht. Hebreish iz mir tsu shverlekh. Vos zshe blaybt akhuts yidish? Mir hobn geplaplt biz het shpet in der nakht arayn. Ikh bin ayngeshlofn in a bazunder numer. Gants bekhinem. Un inderfri hot mikh der zokn bagleyt biz avtobus keyn Tel-Aviv. Akegn vos shrayb ikh dos alts? Akegn dem, vos yidish iz oykh a shprakh fun di hayntike veltlekhe hoteln...

Mit derekh-erets, Andrey Bredstein.

The phrase "I want to be a person among people" that Larry Rosenwald asks about [7.035] does originate from the Yiddish saying 'a mentsh tsvishn mentshn'. It means that the person being refered to is a 'somebody' or in Yiddish an ongezeyener mentsh.

The Yiddish phrase comes from the Talmud 'Gavre Be'Givrin' which Rashi explains as a person to be reckoned amongst people.

David Herskovic