Yiddish Mailing List, Issue #38 April 26, 1991 134 lines =============================== Literary list, and vitzen (Nicholas Eshelman) Yiddish/30 tapes (Sherri Chasin Calvo) Suggestions for books to learn from (Refoyl Finkel, Nicholas Eshelman) ------------------------ Digest-Message: 38/1 Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1991 08:58:11 -0400 From: Nicholas Eshelman David, Du bist avade zeyer farnumen gevezen! A nay eyfele! Mazel tov! Vi heyst dos baby? [Marnina. Oif yidish, marninaleh :-) - DS] Regarding the suggestion to make the list more literary: fine with me, but I can't be of any help in that area. I know that my Yiddish must be painful for a real Yiddishist to read, but I'm grateful to have ANY Yiddish list because it offers me an excellent opportunity to learn through practice. As I wrote earlier, there aren't many people with whom I can talk to out here in Kansas. I hope my bad grammar dosen't offend too many people, but I'm having a lot of fun. Besides, I like the ditties. If my letters are too garbled please don't put them on the list. I'll continue to write, but I wouldn't want to drive anybody away from subscribing. By the way, how many subscribers are there? [I don't think anything you write is too garbled to put into the list. Right now, there are 101 recipients. - DS] Der vitz fun K. Kaminsky iz take nisht geven azoy shlekht. Ikh ken vil erger. Di vayterdike hob ikh inem Forverts geleyent. Ot voser "di beste, vos mir hobn bakumen tsugeshigt." -Getsl, vu loyfstu? -Ikh gey tsum doktor. -Vos iz geshen? Er iz krank? **** Mame: Vos iz geshen, Miryam? Farvos hostu zikh oyfgehert tsu trefen mit dayn boy-friend, Michel? Host dokh mir gezogt az er gefelt dir. Tokhter: Es gefelt mir di bikher, vos er leyent; di muzik, velkhe er hot lib; di teaters, vu er geyt. Alts gefelt mir. Ahuts eyns. Mame: Ahuts eyns? Tokhter: Er aleyn gefelt mir nisht. **** Der tate, a frumer yid, fregt zayn yingl, velkher geyt in high-school -Vos lernstu dort, bay dir in der shule? -Darvin's teorie, az der mentsh shtamt fun malpes. Vern der tate oyfgeregt: Efsher du...aber nisht ikh. Emes gezogt, es gefelt mir azelkhe vitsn vayn mayn zayde hot lib dertseyln enle khe khokhomes (ober oyf daytsh) Zayt gezunt. ------------------------ Digest-Message: 38/2 Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1991 07:19:49 -0400 From: CALVO@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV (Sherri Chasin Calvo) Subject: Yiddish/30 tapes I purchased the Yiddish/30 tapes a while back, and finally had a chance to use them. Because the "language/30" series is often recommended to travelers needing a quick review of how to get around the airport, etc., I was concerned that there would be a lot of stuff in there completely irrelevant to the ways we can use Yiddish today and to the reasons most of us want to learn it. This turned out not to be the case. The cassettes consisted of categories such as greetings, time expressions, parts of the body, etc., followed by some sample conversations, and then (my favorite section) a bunch of classic expressions, including some favorites of my grandmother's ("man proposes, G-d disposes", but unfortunately "may he grow like an onion with his head in the ground" was missing.) One pleasant surprise was how much Yiddish has actually found its way into the dusty corners of this non-Yiddish speaker's head over the years. The format of the tape was for the speaker to give an English expression, and then its Yiddish translation; I found it entertaining to try to come up with the Yiddish before it was given. Probably most Jews brought up in Jewish communities with older relatives around would be in the same boat. Unfortunately, the cassettes were weak in the same thing those of us who grew up hearing "a little Yiddish" are weak in: grammar. I got some more expressions to add to the ones I already knew, but now I'd like to have some logical framework which would allow me to modify them for person, gender or tense. It's hard to get that from a tape; a real textbook is necessary (but not easy to find!). Also, depending on where one's grandparents came from, the accents on the tapes may be unfamiliar. All in all, I would recommend this tape as part of a program to learn Yiddish. Yiddish/30 is a two-tape set with a booklet; it is available by mail for about $20 from any of several Chasidic tape distributors in Brooklyn (that's where I've seen it; it may be found elsewhere too). Sherri calvo@nssdca.span.nasa.gov alternate (nssdca down soon for a move): scalvo@gsfcmail.nasa.gov [For the grammar, I'd recommend Weinreich's "College Yiddish". - DS] ------------------------ Digest-Message: 38/3 From: Raphael Finkel Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1991 09:25:22 -0400 Subject: lern materialn Bnegeye di frage af lern materialn far bney mitsvo: Ikh volt gezogt az a mayse-bikhl iz lekhol hapokhes a plan. Lemoshl, Yingele Ringele, fun Leon Elben (Baseynen). Dos bukh hob ikh shoyn tsvey mol ibergeleynt mayn finf-yerikn meydl; zi heybt on shoyn kenen leyenen far zikh aleyn. Far a bar mitsvo iz di mayse nisht tsufil kleyn-kindevdik, un men ken zen i derklerungen, i rede tsvishn laynt. [Vegn Yingele Ringele, zen Refoylz briv in Digest-Message 22/2 - DS] ------------------------ Digest-Message: 38/4 Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1991 09:25:43 -0400 From: Nicholas Eshelman Invitation to Yiddish by Yudel Mark. New York; Commission on Jewish Affairs, American Jewish Congress, 1962 (Bukh un tsvey diskn) iz a gut lernbukh, ober mistome shver tsu gefinen. ------------------------ SOF FUN NUMER 38 ------------------------ David (Daniel Moishe) Sherman, Toronto Moderator, mail.yiddish dave@lsuc.on.ca attcan!lsuc!dave@uunet.uu.net uunet!attcan!lsuc!dave {AT&T sites}!att!lsuc!dave