Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.119 December 4, 1996 1) A second language in the home (Joachim Neugroschel) 2) Yidishizm (Mechl Asheri) 3) Sholem Aleykhem's Language(s) (Bernard Katz) 4) Sholem Aleykhem's Language(s) (Mechl Asheri) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 10:15:23 -0500 (EST) From: achim1@cris.com Subject: A second language in the home regarding a second language in the home: it's very difficult to bring up children in a language that differs from that of the local tongue and the dominant culture. nevertheless it can be done, and while my own experience was obviously not typical, it does point out possibilities.... being viennese, my parents always spoke german to one another and to me, while we were living in rio de janeiro and then in the u.s.a. it never occurred to us to speak any other language to one another, and my parents also had a small number of german-speaking friends, so that I heard the language from others as well. in addition, there were thousands of german books around the house (as well as in other languages including yiddish) so that I learned how to read german around the same time that I learned how to read english. equally important were two attitude factors: we took german for granted as our language and never made a political issue of it--just as certain chasidic groups take yiddish for granted, speak it as a matter of course and don't bother with endless conferences on the survival of yiddish. furthermore despite the horrors of the fascist era (including the period of austro-fascism leading up to the nazi era) my parents had a profound respect for german and for (at least liberal) german/austrian culture--if for no other reason than the vast extent of jewish culture that has been expressed in german. in addition, they were highly educated in german--my father was a district attorney in vienna's juvenile court and my mother a poet and a french teacher (she also knew polish and yiddish, but not fluently). this love of language(s) and their culture had a profound effect on me as I grew up in nyc, and it would have been very hard for me _not_ to be bilingual. i suspect that one of the myriad reasons that may prevent children from learning their parents' "foreign language" is the lack of respect that parents have for their own language--while they may love it, they view it as an economic albatros..... and then too, there is the flip side of bringing children up as bilingual: my parents always spoke a wretched english. it was so horrifyingly caricatural that i refused to speak anything but german to them..... this way i've never had to get a job, i just stay home, translate great books, and watch movies.... Joachim Neugroschel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 20:18:33 +0200 From: donnom@netvision.net.il Subject: Yidishizm Rayshis khokhme volt ikh gevolt danken Reb Sholom Berger zayne shayne un balaykhtige verter vegn Yidishism [6.115], un befrat di yugntruf organizatsies in zayn svivo in New York. Bin ikh in der emes nishtoymem geven un halt zikh beshitves mit zayn hofnung. Vegn "fray" un frum iz do kayn opozitsie: vi ayner a berimte rebbe hot gezogt (ikh hob im alayn gehert!) "S'art nit, frum, fray. Haynt tsu tog zaynen mir ale khsidim!" Un azoi vi Reb Sholom hot mikh gehaysn a yidishist afile ven ikh aleyn hob dos geleyknt, halt ikh im far a sheyne yid, fray tsi frum tsi "veltlekh". Un b'sheynis, volt ikh gevolt danken fun tifstn harts di tayere Mendelenikes vos hobn gegebn aza klore enfers tsu mayn shayle vegn "liubistik". A groysn yasher koyakh ale ineynem! Mechl Asheri 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 22:26:39 -0500 (EST) From: bkatz@uoguelph.ca Subject: Sholem Aleykhem's Language(s) I am indebted to Ellen Prince and Louis Fridhandler [6.117], and especially to the latter, for sharing their insight and understanding of Sholem Aley- khem's situation and milieu. I found my previous astonishment fading rapidly away as I read their explanations. The logic is inescapable... Ober, ikh hob nokh a kleynitchke shtokh of'n linkn oyer vos vundert zikh az efsher hot Sholem nisht gehat zeyer a feynem eyndenkung fun di masen vos hobn gelezen (un gekoyft) zayn shraybn. Bernard Katz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 04 Dec 1996 08:13:04 +0200 From: donnom@netvision.net.il Subject: Sholem Aleykhem's Language(s) Ellen Prince's observations are (as usual) to the point. I can add to her Yiddish(ist) "trivia" the fact that as prominent a Yiddish writer as Zalman Shneour was in his time, neither of his children, whom I know very well, speak a word of Yiddish. With regard to Louis Fridhandler's valuable observations, I find it hard to believe that Sholem Alaykhem could have said that Israel Zangwill could not understand Yiddish, but if he did he must have been mistaken. In discussing the "enormous literary and journalistic activity of Yiddish" he cites names known to all of us and says, "But we scarcely need their pictures of a highly differentiated existence to convince us of the peculiar flavour of Jewish life. Yiddish is its own proof ... Theirs was a life or rich differences from the environment, and if no other evidence of this difference remained, the Yiddish vocabulary, phrases, locutions, proverbs, bywords are sufficient proof of it". I see no reason to quote him at at further length: what he had to say can be found in The Voice of Jerusalem (New York, Macmillan, 1921) pg. 259. Also, I seem to recall reading that Zangwill found the Yiddish translations of the Shabbos zmiros used in siddurim designed for women so abominable that he wrote new translations of his own which are (or were) widely printed. Perhaps someone can comment on this. Mechl Asheri ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.119