Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.116 September 20, 1995 1) N'sokhim (Sholem Yafe) 2) Yeshivish (David Sherman) 3) Yiddish software (Zalman Berman) 4) Shlok zol dir trefen (Zavi Beer) 5) Teaching Yiddish to Children, etc. (Allan Fineberg) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 03:17:33 -0400 From: lakejaffe@aol.com Subject: N'sokhim Just a word of appreciation to Eliyahu Juni for his explanation [5.110] of N'sokhim -- but, beyond that, for his delightful pronuncia- tion of the Yiddish words, the sound of which comes through beautifully, as though by a recording! I enjoy hearing the various dialects of English, and I take even greater delight in listening to the varieties of Yiddish pronunciation. And isn't it interesting that all this comes about as a result of the limitations imposed on us by our computers' inability to use the Yiddish/Hebrew alphabet! Sholem Yafe 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 95 13:45:28 EDT From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Yeshivish Eliyahu Juni asks [5.11] what we call the "Yeshivishese spoken outside yeshives". Would this be what we call Judaeo-English? How different is it from what Yiddish originally was, as Judaeo-Middle-German? It's the local language (English in this case) peppered with large influences from the Jewish environment (which includes Yiddish in this case). David Sherman Toronto 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 17:03:19 +0200 (IST) From: berman@mars.senecac.on.ca Subject: Yiddish software In describing the Yiddish interactive dictionary I inadvertently gave the wrong page address. Here are all the addresses I have been able to get. Web sites: 1. http://www.execpc.com/~rtls 2. http://shamash.nysernet.org/computers/rtls-software Ftp sites: 1. "ftp.magic.ca" directory: /rtls/hebrew 2. "shamash.nysernet.org" directory: /israel/computers/rtls-software You can also get in touch directly with: // // Uri Postavsky. Email: urip@interlog.com // Right to Left Software. Sorry for any inconvenience. Saul (Zalman) Berman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 5:45:45 +0000 From: szbeer@mailbox.syr.edu Subject: Shlok zol dir trefen Apropos the coming Sukos holiday-a question was once posed what the curse "a shlok zol dir trefen" means. A shlok is the temporary rain cover for a suke. They used to be made of wood and hinged to permit easy openning and closing (when closed, the suke is not "kosher"). Often they were not well made and could fall into the suke. Getting hit by one could fatal or even worse! Thus, the curse. Sylvan (Zavi) Beer 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 23:00:25 EDT From: kwms96a@prodigy.com Subject: Teaching Yiddish to Children, etc. 1. There has been discussion here about teaching materials for children. For my three young children, we bought Muzzy in German. What is Muzzy? The BBC has produced a series of language-learning videos and other instructional materials. When you order a set, you get two videos of Muzzy in English, and two in the language you specify. They have English, Esperanto, French, Italian and Spanish versions. Muzzy is a cartoon character from outer space who crash-lands on Earth, and has a series of adventures with a king, a queen, their daughter the princess, her boyfriend, the royal gardener, and the royal advisor. It's all good, gentle fun, and it's a wonderful way to start people off in learning a foreign language. I'd love to see Muzzy in Yiddish! 2. My family and I had the pleasure of spending two days with the four children of David and Simone Sherman, of Toronto. The kids speak Yiddish among themselves, entirely naturally and unselfconsciously, having been raised from birth to speak Yiddish at home with their parents and maternal grandparents. To hear these kids speaking in Yiddish at the Fair Lawn pool, where for years the youngest Yiddish- speakers have been in the 70's and 80's was a treat to my ears and heart. A gezunt af zayere kepelekh. :-) 3. As the holidays draw near, I want to express my best wishes to all Mendelniks. To those who have contributed so much to my enjoyment of Mendele, a hearty "thank you." Allan Fineberg ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.116 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. 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