What language do you speak to your kids?

amother

Smokey

Thu, Jan 21 2021, 10:37 pm

amother [ Silver ] wrote:

oiven
inten
droisen
koch
toilet

for those who were going to ask.

we don't use the English words you mentioned in our house, but I think enough kids in school do that my kid may recognize them.

Funny story my neighbor offered my 4 yt old kid cheese and he had no idea what it is because we say kayz.

Kayz isn't a word we ever used, not even in my moms full fledged Yiddish speaking house (lekter, kerrige lolol)
But my dad often used to just say the pure Yiddish, for the kicks, adding at home we called it....so and so. Like painitz.

amother

Smokey

Thu, Jan 21 2021, 10:43 pm

amother [ Ivory ] wrote:

Are you referring to hebrew language or lashon hakodesh? The Torah is lashon hakodesh but anyone who can understand lashon hakodesh can get by in ivrit as well. You don't understand lashon hakodesh?

I meant Hebrew language.

And no, I don't really understand lashon hakodesh. We did learn the teitch of the entire shemona esrei and birchas hamozan so I know shorashim and single lashon hakodesh words, but for sure not all. My girls do learn chumish, I might get to know more, slowly.

amother

Ivory

Thu, Jan 21 2021, 11:14 pm

amother [ Smokey ] wrote:

What did you learn in school? You don't understand the rest of the tefilos?

amother

Seagreen

Thu, Jan 21 2021, 11:17 pm

We speak only English at home, with some Yiddish and Hebrew words thrown in. AKA "yeshivishe reid."

I picked up Hebrew when I went to EY for seminary, and for sure it was easier since I had years of education in chumash, navi, tefillah, dikduk etc.

DrMom

Thu, Jan 21 2021, 11:19 pm

amother [ Ivory ] wrote:

Are you referring to hebrew language or lashon hakodesh? The Torah is lashon hakodesh but anyone who can understand lashon hakodesh can get by in ivrit as well. You don't understand lashon hakodesh?

I find that many people try to make the case that Tanachi and everyday spoken Hebrew are two very different languages for ideological rather than linguistic purposes.

Yes, knowing Tanachi Hebrew will give you a huge jump-start if you want to get by in a modern Hebrew-speaking environment, but obviously there are words and expressions which are needed in modern daily spoken life that are not used in the Tanach, and you'd need to fill those gaps.

amother

Silver

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 12:12 am

amother [ Smokey ] wrote:

lekter, kerrige is standard not special pure Yiddish. I think it's different if you're from KJ or Williamsburg versus BP or Monsey. Kayz is not too common but yes we use that word. My 4 yr old had such a kick out of saying cheese to himself after hearing it (since it has funny sounds the ch and ee and z) so he'd be lying in bed and I'd suddenly here him say to himself chhhhheeeesssee lol.

amother

Silver

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 12:14 am

amother [ Ivory ] wrote:

What did you learn in school? You don't understand the rest of the tefilos?

Special class taught tefillas and translated to Yiddish. Some people understand skme lashon HaKodesh if they were interested and put two and two together. otherwise, we know the commonly said tefillos and pasukim but we learned no chumash so not like we can translate.

yidisheh mama

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 12:21 am

Mostly Yiddish with some English to my kids. Enough English that my preschool age son understands it well, but will respond in a combo of both when spoken to in English.

Teomima

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 12:25 am

English at home, in preschool till age 3, with family members, and most family friends. Hebrew everywhere else.

amother

Jetblack

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 12:39 am

When I only had little kids, I spoke only yiddish to them but once they started going to school/cheder they started talking only english.
Yeshiva I sent/send to is chassidish but english speaking. Rebbas all speak yiddish of course)

So we speak english at home and they all speak/ understand fluent yiddish from cheder.

Shuly

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 7:16 am

DH and I speak to our kids in English.
They speak to each other and to their friends in Hebrew.
They speak to DH and I in a funny mixture of both.

invisiblecircus

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 7:55 am

I speak English to them, my husband speaks Italian. The oldest two speak Italian to each other but English with the youngest.

shabbatiscoming

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 8:08 am

English at home.
Hebrew is school.
With kids who know english a mix and all other friends hebrew.

amother

Smokey

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 8:14 am

DrMom wrote:

Thank you.

essie14

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 8:17 am

English at home, Hebrew at school. With friends from English speaking homes, they speak English. Obviously Hebrew with friends from Hebrew speaking homes.

pause

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 8:43 am

Yiddish and English. We start out in Yiddish but as the kids get older, I find myself speaking a lot more English to them, both boys and girls.

DH speaks Yiddish to the kids. He understands English, so more often than not, I speak to him in English and he responds in Yiddish.

peacenine

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 10:54 am

We speak a combination of Yiddish and English. My kids are young and are fluent in both. I primarily speak in English. My Yiddish is very basic. My husband expresses himself better in Yiddish but speaks a good English as well. What I find funny is that usually I'll talk to him in English and he'll respond in Yiddish. We both understand/speak a decent amount of Hebrew. That's still our secret language for now.

yo'ma

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 11:47 am

I speak to them in english. My husband speaks to them mostly in spanish, but also english. They only speak to me in english, of course. Some only speak to my dh in spanish, but most a mixture.