Do you speak yiddish?

mum22

Sun, Nov 24 2019, 4:51 pm

My Dad’s first language is English, second is Latin, third is Ivrit. He decided if he managed that he can teach himself Yiddish.
My mum only speaks English and Ivrit, she picked up Yiddish from my dad.
They brought us up with both- mum spoke English only and dad only Yiddish.
We were then taught Ivrit and finally french.
My french is terrible, I speak 3 languages fluently.

Our children are English speakers only. We decided to teach them Yiddish (as they learn biblical and classic Hebrew in school.) We bring two new words each week into our vocabulary.

Ruchel

Sun, Nov 24 2019, 5:00 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

My grandmother knew Ladino, but she never taught it to us. DH's friend is a Rabbi in Turkey, and he speaks it, but it is a dying language unfortunately.

Yes... same problem lo alenu, shoah, assimilation, and no pocket of charedi to upkeep it while bh yiddish has the charedi

Chayalle

Sun, Nov 24 2019, 8:26 pm

My father, who speaks English as a second language (he grew up in Vienna), spoke to me in yiddish when I was pretty young. He also made sure I could read and write in yiddish, though I'd say my writing is at a pretty elementary level. I used to write to my grandparents in yiddish - they never learned the English language (though I tried to teach them... Smile

).

A local paper in Lakewood ran a serial last year in yiddish (for the Chassidish population) that caught my eye, and I followed it. I was able to understand and enjoy it.

naturalmom5

Sun, Nov 24 2019, 9:11 pm

Chayalle wrote:

).

A local paper in Lakewood ran a serial last year in yiddish (for the Chassidish population) that caught my eye, and I followed it. I was able to understand and enjoy it.

Im upset that all thats left is halacha vinkl
My husbands reads that to me all the time

Mommyg8

Sun, Nov 24 2019, 9:55 pm

My husband and I both grew up speaking Yiddish (not Chassidish). There are still some litvish families that do that, till today. Sadly, we are not one of them. I spoke to Yiddish to my oldest until he was around four, then my vocabulary ran out and I switched to English. It doesn't help that almost nobody in my community speaks yiddish to their children either... my kids learn a little in school, but they certainly cannot hold a conversation in Yiddish. This bothers me somewhat, but it seems that the litvish do not stress this language too much...

ssss1

Sun, Nov 24 2019, 9:57 pm

My parents used to speak yiddish when they needed to discuss something that they didn't want me to understand - but as I grew up and learned Yiddish this stopped. Smile

Yup I now can speak and understand Yiddish- although not perfectly,

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 1:06 am

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

We are Chabad. My parents used to speak to us a little bit in Yiddish, so I understood some but could really only speak it on a 1-year-old level.

I really wanted to speak with my children in Yiddish, so I read them a lot of Yiddish children's books and now converse with them in Yiddish primarily (oldest is over Bar Mitzvah). I do say things in English if I don't know the Yiddish words, or if I'm frustrated (English is my first language basically), but I think I do well.

My kids correct me, they know more from reading than I do!

I am Hungarian chasidish and always loved the rebbes sichos in yiddish brought home by my uncle as a small child. I still download them from hebrewbooks.org.
I wish they would print them in an updated font in Yiddish. For now, I see only English and Hebrew. The original is the original!
Can you help?

amother

Wheat

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 1:28 am

amother [ Floralwhite ] wrote:

You're probably talking about the Sefer Hasichos, the unedited transcriptions put out shortly after each sicha was said. As far as I know, they were never reprinted in a better font or layout. (And they're out of print altogether, which is frustrating because DH would love a set!)

There is Likutei Sichos (also available on Hebrewbooks) which has many sichos, edited and with footnotes. Especially in the earlier volumes, most are in Yiddish. (In the later volumes it's about half-half I think between Yiddish and Hebrew.)

There is also Sicha Yomis (sichos.com) that has shorter excerpts with a word-for-word transcription and audio.

#BestBubby

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 2:31 am

naturalmom5 wrote:

A vada, ich farshtei nish vi di kenst freggin aza shaila

Alst a kleina maidl in the east side afilu de g0yim gredt yiddish

Translation: Of course! I don't even understand how you can ask such a question. As a little girl in the East Side even the N0n-Jews spoke Yiddish.

HEviatar

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 3:03 am

amother [ cornflower ] wrote:

And because my first language is Yiddish I really want my kids to know how to speak in English well, so far they are not very good @ it . Would love tips how to teach a 2nd language. My kids are not comfortable speaking in english , I started to stop demanding them to speak in English because the more I pressure the more they pushing it away . I keep speaking in english and like this one day they will get used to it. Dont get me wrong, Yiddish is beautiful! I just want my kids another language that gets spoken a lot in town.

My biggest recommendation is to speak one language at a time. My niece and nephew speak three languages (Hebrew, French, and English) because they are Israeli but mama’s parents were from the US and their father is Algerian. They accomplish this by only speaking one language at a time, and if they are speaking one and the child uses words from another they get (constructively) corrected.

Ruchel

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 6:09 am

People are very into one parent one language but that's not something I would hold to. Neither my husband nor I would want to be barred from our first language. We'd rather actually pay a teacher later on if the child shows interest in GOOD yiddish/italian/etc
Also I find it harsh my husband has a spanish speaking nanny meaning in the beginning he didn't understand her

#BestBubby

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 12:57 pm

I understood a little yiddish from home but we spoke mostly english. As a SEIT I needed to learn yiddish. My husband is fluent (litvish but his european parents spoke yiddish at home) so DH spoke to me in yiddish.

What helped the most is getting children's books in yiddish. Also listening to the teachers teach in yiddish. BH today I am quite fluent - but I am embarrassed to speak yiddish to adults - only to speak yiddish to kids.

ShishKabob

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 1:10 pm

I speak and understand a fluent Yiddish. My children speak and understand a fluent Yiddish as well. Chassidish here.
By now though, my first language is English and I really dislike reading in Yiddish, I find it difficult.
If you don't use it you lose it.

amother

Wine

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 3:38 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

I don’t think it’s too late at all, but it isn’t as easy. Start by just talking to the babies in Yiddish and read them books in Yiddish until your Yiddish improves.

Explain to the older kids why you’re doing it, and don’t pressure them to participate. They will probably pick it up automatically, and if you start reading and buying interesting books in Yiddish (Shpiglitsky is the Yiddish version of Shikufitsky for example, we love it) they might be motivated to try.

I also want to point out that ANY amount of Yiddish helps! If you want to learn a sicha you can use the dictionary for any unfamiliar words, but knowing the basics is invaluable.

I am now trying to start using Hebrew more at home, in addition to the Yiddish, so hopefully my advice works for me too!

Thanks for the encouragement!

This thread is so fascinating. To those posters who are saying that you and your husband speak different languages so that your kids will pick up both - how do you handle family time? Do you always each speak in your own language, so you have a conversation going in multiple languages? Do you have set times for speaking your respective languages? Always wondered how this works practically.