Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.028 June 17, 1994 1) Introduction (Marcy J. Miller) 2) Introduction (Herbert Fishman) 3) Yiddish handwriting (Gaston L. Schmir) 4) Translation (Fishl Kutner) 5) Shabeysenakht (Yude Rozof) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jun 16 22:39:13 1994 From: mjmiller@freenet.columbus.oh.us Subject: Introduction I am the Eams Chair in Yiddish Culture for the Bendin Program abroad. Formerly a passive reader, I can finally come out of the cyber-closet. I have ties (chains) to the Yiddish program at Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. I have authored many works on Natural Gas Pipeline testing and Telephone Network Automation, and hope to follow with some writings exploring my Bendin roots (Vortslen). Marcy J. Miller 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jun 16 23:47:26 1994 From: 70724.2130@CompuServe.COM Subject: Introduction I have been a Mendelnick for about a month and I thought that it was about time to introduce myself. I'm a retired engineer from General Electric Co. and I speak, write, and understand Yiddish to some degree. In the last two years I've been using the language quite a bit with some Russian immigrants who are in my age group. The Yiddish is not perfect but we manage to make ourselves understood. The greatest difficulty I have is when I take one of them to the doctor and act as an interperter. A large number of the medical terms are beyond me and we have to revert to pointing to words in an English-Russian dictionary. I want to thank Shleyme Axelord for quoting the source for the translation of [cargo] hold on ship or plane. I have a sort of tattered Yiddish-English dictionary with a missing title page. When I looked up the reference, I realized that I have a copy of Harkavy's English-Yiddish Verterbukh. Ich dank dir nach amohl. Herbert Fishman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jun 16 17:59:06 1994 From: glschm@minerva.cis.yale.edu Subject: Yiddish handwriting I have also been faced with the problem of deciphering handwritten Yiddish. One easily accessible source is Uriel Weinreich's superb textbook "College Yiddish". Owing to the idiosyncratic nature of handwriting, it is probably useful for the novice to compare samples from different sources. In my case, I consulted the alphabet table in Weinreich as well as a similar table drawn up by my late father, a native speaker of Yiddish. The differences in the two tables were not insignificant and samples of Yiddish handwriting would on occasion correspond more to one or to the other. Gaston L. Schmir 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jun 16 22:56:11 1994 From: fishl@well.sf.ca.us Subject: Translation Larry Rosenwald in MENDELE 4.026-2 asked for suggestions on reading Yiddish script. Zuckerman and Herbst in their beginners text, Learning Yiddish in Easy Stages, have a half dozen examples of Yiddish penmanship styles, in addition to showing how to write the letters. It might be apropos here to give a few suggestions and caveats for those doing translations for others and for those hiring translators. Translation is an art. Therefore not everyone is a good translator even though one is knowledgeable. You should: Have several dictionaries and a magnifying glass. Never work with originals. Enlarge and alter shade if needed. Determine means of payment--beforehand. Ask/give beginners, or first time users, a quote on a sample page or two. Know that the range for those working by the hour is $10-$40/hr. Know that _Der Bay_ has a list of/for subscribers who are translators (NO CHARGE to be listed or for recommendations). Expect that the tasks are often long letters or manuscripts from a great grandfather. Determine the form of the finished copy. It may be typed, on disk, on cassette or even handwritten. The last mentioned item is the cause of more problems than any other. Fishl Kutner 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jun 16 19:28:10 1994 From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Shabeysenakht [Re: Mendele Vol 4.027] Zayt moykhl, Ikh hob dos letste mol gehat a toes ha-dofes, vil ikh dos itster farrikhtn: Shpeysenakhts nitsn di poylishe yidn, galitsianer, rumener un andere dorem-yidn. Shabeysenakht gefint men ba litvakn. Shabeysenakhts, azoy aroysgeredt, gefint men ba keynem nit alpi mayn zikorn. Ikh shrayb vider amol tsu mendele vayl dos ershte mol iz nisht geven klor loyt mayn shraybn vu in yidishland m'hot genitst shabeysenakht un vu shpeysenakhts. Yetst zol zayn klor! Yude Rozof ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.028 A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu