Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.297 May 7, 1997 1) Transliteration and pronunciation (Louis Fridhandler) 2) The English Forward and Yiddish (Ellen Prince) 3) The English Forward and Yiddish (Miriam Isaacs) 4) The English Forward and Yiddish (Sam Weiss) 5) The English Forward and Yiddish (Zellig Bach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 13:48:12 -0400 (EDT) From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Transliteration and pronunciation A brief note about the CONtroversy (in England it is pronounced conTROVersy) about Yiddish transliteration and pronunciation. I resonate with Zellig Bach's insistence (6.296,2) on mentsh (Yiddish) rather than mensch (German). I am appalled when I note that error, especially around Yom Hashoah. A recent disappointment: I attended a service marking Yom Hashoah. Despite the fact that the Yiddish words to the Partisan Song (Zog nit keynmol... ) were included in the liturgy, they were unceremoniously skipped without comment. It was especially hurtful in light of the fact that about two thirds of the Jewish victims of the Nazis were steeped in Yiddish language and culture. Yom Hashoah is a time when the memory of those missing Yiddish speakers (and teachers and transmitters of Yiddish culture) should be marked. Pronunciation matters little then. Many Yiddish words allow for more than one correct pronunciation . Probably, all languages accept more than one pronunciation style. E.g., both English pronunciations of controversy are considered correct. By the same token, so are alternative pronunciations in Yiddish. Still, use of the YIVO system of transliteration, widely published, makes sense as a tool facilitating communication among us with the Roman alphabet. This has again become relevant through recent inquiries on Mendele. On a lighter note: Leonard Prager's story (6.296,4) about "The khreyn in Spain is mainly on the plane" reminded me of Professor 'enry 'iggins, and the two actors who have portrayed him in movies. The Jewish Leslie Howard (the first movie Professor Higgins) might have been able to pronounce khreyn correctly, and may have had some experience with this bitter herb. Now, what about Rex Harrison and his unfamiliarity with this tangy condiment. Would he have sung to a Latin beat in his Queen's English, "This pain from khreyn is rather inhumane"? Louis Fridhandler 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 May 1997 12:53:20 EDT From: ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu Subject: The English Forward and Yiddish Zellig Bach [6.296] criticizes the English Forward for the transliterations in it Personals ads. I'd like to ask him which newspaper, in any language, corrects the spelling in Personals ads? (I'd like to know so I can make sure never to read them...) As for the transliterations in the English Forward's own articles, I am much more struck by one *English* word the writers seem to love, a word I've never seen anywhere else: _big_ as a singular noun, as in _Pentagon Big Investigated_. I suspect this is a loan translation of _groyser_ -- alas, English doesn't work that way... But it's not without a certain charm... ;) Ellen Prince 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 15:46:32 -0400 (EDT) From: misaacs@wam.umd.edu Subject: The English Forward and Yiddish The recent posting on the "maiming" of Yiddish by the English Forward [6.296] brings me to voice a concern about another kind of maiming of Yiddish that goes far beyond adherence to Romanization rules but goes far deeper. There are occasions, most notably at a Holocaust related, perhaps Yom Hashoah services where there may be a token or more than token Yiddish song or poem inserted. Sometimes the pronunciation is a bit off, but that is understandable and forgivable; perhaps there are children performing, it is cute or moving. Meyle. But---I attended one event fairly recently where the Yiddish sung might as well have been Chinese, and it didn't seem to matter to the audience. It was as if Yiddish was a made up language and so one could do with it what one pleased without any sense that this attitude might give offense. And this was not some small event in an out of the way place! A solution? What I recommend is that those involved in organizing events that use Yiddish be sure to call on someone who really knows the language to help the singers or speakers not only with pronunciation but also to understand the meanings of the words. Call people to task when they mangle the language. I am not speaking about dialects or the occasional grammatical blip but serious mangling. Un far undzere Yidish reders, es vet zayn a flikht az mir vos kenen Yidish zoln tsuhelfn un zikh araynmishn vu men ken. Shtoltsirn mit di shprakh. Miriam Isaacs 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 14:19:42 -0400 (EDT) From: sweiss@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us Subject: The English Forward and Yiddish I also used to be puzzled by the uncouth or sloppy Yiddish transliterations in the Forward until I realized that they are continuing in the tradition of the original Forverts which always scorned calls for refining their orthography and avoiding Yinglishisms, in favor of championing the Man In The Street and his street Yiddish. This "in your face" attitude towards Yiddish is of a piece with the English Forward's nauseating mix of high-flying values and vile yellow journalism. I have noticed letters to the editor in the past on the subject of their treatment of Yiddish. As with the constant barrage of letters repudiating their reporting, don't hold your breath for any change real soon. Sam Weiss Baltimore 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 23:19:29 -0400 (EDT) From: zellig@aol.com Subject: The English Forward and Yiddish Due to a technical error, the _last_ word of the subject line of my recent post (6.296.2) was lost, and should have read in its entirety "The English _Forward_ maims Yiddish _Words_ (and not "maims Yiddish"). My intent was specific and, in this instance, delimited to a word ("kinderle" without the lange-khof at the end), and not generalized to Yiddish as language. Such a generalization would have been totally unjustified in this case. Zellig Bach Lakehurst, NJ ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.297