Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.077 August 8, 1995 1) Introduction (Efraim Neft) 2) Yiddish and CAJE (Marcia Gruss Levinsohn) 3) More dialect transliteration (Rick Gildemeister) 4) Yiddish in translation (Morrie Feller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Aug 1995 09:48:01 +0200 (METDST) From: nefts@inet.uni-c.dk Subject: Intoduction A scholem aleykhem fir alle ! Ikh bin nay oyfn Mendele konferentz, az ikh vel zikh presentirn: Ikh bin der Efraim (mayn zsidowskie psoydoniim). Mayn rikhtige name iz Flemming Ravn Neft; ikh bin 31 johr un woyne in Malkes-Denemark Ikh bin bay der jiddischer schprakh selber-gelernt ; ikh finde jiddisch zayr scheyn un mit fiil cheyn :-))) A gutn tog nokh fir alle. Alles gutes un fraylaches, vintsche ikh, Efraim Neft 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 6 Aug 1995 22:46:49 -0400 (EDT) From: mashinke@wam.umd.edu Subject: Yiddish and CAJE Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan suggested contacting CAJE (the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education) concerning spreading Yiddish [Vol 5.073]. CAJE has a Yiddish Network and we will be well represented at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for CAJE20 August 13 - 17th. Persons living in the area can volunteer to help and thus receive free admission for one day. 508-754-9017. Sunday, August 13, 1pm to 4pm in Herter we will have our Yiddish pre-conference session. Our presenters will include Roslyn Bresnick-Perry, nationally acclaimed storyteller and award winning author for her book, _Coming to America_. Roz also has two audio tapes out, "Holiday Tales of a Shtetl Childhood" and "An American Girl." Naomi Kadar, national director of schools for the Workmen's Circle will suggest resource help for teachers of Yiddish. Henia (Henny) Lewin, just returning from her Lithuania birth place will share some highlights through a video of old Vilne(Vilnius) and new slides. A teacher of Yiddish and Hebrew at the University of Vermont, she will also instruct us on the makings of a class/group of adult learners of Yiddish. Michael Bass will give us a preview of his workshop sharing program materials for teaching Yiddish holiday songs. Jeffrey Aronofsky, director of Book Collection and Distribution for the National Yiddish Book Center will give us an update on the Center's building project and arrange a tour of the Center's nearby facilities. Marcia Gruss Levinsohn, liaison to the board will chair a brief meeting, show a film from YIVO about YIVO and discuss YIVO's recently released archival finds from the Soviets. _Some of the Sessions at CAJE20 that will contain Yiddish_ 14 Monday 8am-9:30 Adventures of the NYBC - Jeffrey Aronofsky 10am-11:30 From "Bobe" with Love - easy songs for class and grandkids-MGL Theater of the Heart - Yiddish Theater history, C. Stavish 15 Tues 8am New Flowers from an Old Garden - value of Y, integrate Y. Naomi 1:15-2:45 Intergenerational Yiddish demo class 3-8yr olds -Marcia 8:30pm Wholesale Klezmer Band evening entertainment 16 Wed 8am Holiday Songs -curriculum for Hanukah, Purim and Pesach -Michael Dee Vaste Resources for Yiddish Language & Culture - L. Strigler 10am Gems of Jewish Song - W. Safed, S. Briskin "Partisans of Vilna" A. Kempner 2 1/2hr. film will be shown 2pm Song & Music in Jewish Life - Peggy Davis, L. Kurland + 3pm Teaching About the Shtetl - Roslyn Bresnick-Perry *4:30-6pm * At Last a Home for Yiddish in Cyberspace * on _Mendele_ * Mendelyaners, please join us. We'll have a working computer. MGL We"ll show how to get onto the _NET_ and maybe even the WWW. * kum un shmues mit undz vegn Yidish un vi azoy me firt zikh oyf Mendele * 17 Thurs 8am Little Known Stories -Yiddish stories in English - Roslyn 1pm- @3hrs. Tour of the National Yiddish Book Center with Jeffrey If you have questions please e-mail me. If you can please join us. We could work on plans for a mini Mendele Conference :) zayt gezunt un shtark. lomir trefn zikh in Amherst. Marcia Gruss Levinsohn 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 07 Aug 95 15:32:30 EDT From: eeglc%cunyvm.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: More dialect transliteration When I saw David Sherman's reaction (which I agree with 100%) to the question about transliteration, I thought of a few things: 1. Solomon Birnbaum's complex transliteration (where you practically have to know which vowel in Middle High German went what way in Polish Yiddish, and then deconstruct the klal spelling. For example: nun komets-alef lange-khof represents a convergence in the klal shprakh of Polish Yiddish nokh (still) and nu(e)kh (after). He also names several different types of ayin: e, ey, y. 2. I couldn't resist the very first Yiddish joke I learned, ven ikh bin alt geven fertsn yor: A Litvak joins the army, and it's time to do rifle practice. Guns are blazing, and then the sergeant yells, "Cease fire!!" The Litvak proceeds to give a blast. The sergeant says, "Hey, don't you have ears, what did I say? The Litvak says, "You said, "Cease, fire," hob ikh gesosn! Imagine what would happen if you tried to transliterate sabesdikn losn. Hey, why not? Rick Gildemeister 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 17:58:21 -0700 (MST) From: feller@indirect.com Subject: Yiddish in translation I would like to offer an addendum to Marjorie Shonhaut Hirshan's comments in Mendele 5.073. I have just recently returned from a visit to a Yiddishist friend in Los Angeles who told me about hearing on the radio translations of Yiddish classics read by well-known actors. This is a project sponsored by the National Yiddish Book Center. My friend was surprised to hear me say that I was not favorably impressed by this project because I felt it would detract from the effort of getting more of us interested in learning Yiddish so that we can read these same works in the original. (My bias is partly due to the fact that I have been a zamler for the NYBC for over ten years, and I have sent it hundreds of Yiddish books). With respect to Hershl Hartman's comments in Mendele 5.075, I would like to see the supporting evidence for his statement: "...the more knowledge of the riches of Yiddish literature and folklore becomes widespread, the greater becomes interest in learning the Yiddish language itself." Morrie Feller Phoenix ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.077