Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.018 June 12, 1997 1) Kritikirn Yidish (Miriam Isaacs) 2) Let's read something modern! (Claus Buryn) 3) Yiddish textbook advice (Stanley (Zalman) Matoren) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 13:46:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Miriam Isaacs Subject: Kritikirn Yidish Tayere leyner, ikh bet aykh, az men vil kritikirn vi a shrayber oder shrayberin drukn zikh oys oyf Yidish zol men khotch bi dos tun af Yidish in nisht af English. Mir hobn venig mentshn vos shraybn af Mendele af Yidish, un di vos kenen yo Yidish hobn moyre az ozoy fil bavuste mentshn zoln nisht onfaln (vi velf mit veykhe tseyn?) - s'iz nisht gut azoy, nisht azoy. Mir, vos zenen lerer un lererins fin shprakhn veysn az men ken anandern beser oyslernen gibnidik a bayshpil, un nisht bamerkn vi men hot farfelt. S'iz take a problem, nisht nor mit shraybn, nor mer afile mit redn Yidish. Vos mer ikh red mit mentshn vus hobn gekent oder kenen a sakh Yidish, az men hot take moyre az me vet zey khoyzik makhn az zay kho'lile redn Galitsianish, in mentshn shemen zikh nisht khoyzik tsi makhn fin Yidish -ven zey voltn nisht azoy geton ven, lmoshl, az emetzer redt an English fun Irland. Azoy, az s'kumt shoyn yontov, zol men zekh bamiyen. Miriam Isaacs 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 18:45:24 +0200 From: troia Subject: Let's read something modern! Having read Sholem Berger's letter "Vos vert ibergezetst from Yiddish into English?" ( Mendele Vol. 7.015) I decided it was about time to put "Sholem Aleikhem" aside (for a while) and start reading something modern. During my last visit to Israel I went to the 'I.L. Perets' book shop and asked the 'moykher sforim' for advice: What to read? So he sold me a work by Sholem Aleikhem. I asked him again, whether he had something more modern. I ended up buying several books by modern authors I had never heard of and whose names don't figure in the 'Mendele' archives. One of them: Zwi Kanar. His latest book: 'Bread for Bread' appeared only last year and contains three longish short stories or short novels. The title story "opgegebn broyt", is about 90 pages. Are there any 'Mendelist out there that would like to read it with me? If there are enough people one could think about making a collective translation into English or of making an Romanised edition with a wordlist and notes. I have read the first ten pages and it is not light reading. It appears to be autobiographic and the author spend 3 years in camps. I did transliterate the first few pages and will be happy to E-mail the text to people who would like to consider my proposal.( I trust the author will overlook this breach of the copyright laws - if anything comes of it his permission will have to be obtained). If the work of typing out the text and/or translating can be shared, 'Mendele' might be willing to publish it in 'feuilleton' form. Claus Buryn. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 20:21:08 +0000 From: matoren@lava.noord.bart.nl Subject: Yiddish textbook advice My Yiddish, as imperfect as it is, (I come from a Yiddish-speaking home, studied Yiddish on college level intermittently, corresponded in Yiddish with my parents for almost thirty- five years) is sufficient for teaching my wife. The Arbeter Ring's catalog lists a number of teaching materials. Could someone please advise me which would be best. I am particularly interested if anyone on the list has had experience with these. (1) Language 30: Yiddish (2) Sheva Zucker's material (3) Zuckerman and Herbst, _Learning Yiddish in Easy Stages_ (4) Jean Joffen's _Yiddish for Beginners_ I have no commercial interest in the above and anyone may write to me at my home email to avoid any unnecessary "shemmen". My wife, by the way, is a linguist as well an historian. She knows several languages well. I, on the other hand, know Hebrew, both Ivrit and loshn kodesh, German and Dutch on varying levels. Stanley (Zalman) Matoren ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.018