Reply To: Where one can learn Yiddish

I am not sure why some try to distinguish the various types of Yiddish, making distinctions between secular Yiddish and so called Frum Yiddish. The language is all the same. The words are the same. There might be some pronunciation differences between the Chassidish Yiddish and Lithuanian. Then there is Yurishalmi Yiddish, Belgian Yiddish. It all boils down to a basic Yiddish with accents and words that come from the origin where the people come from. For example Russian Yiddish has many Russian words built into the Yiddish. Galician Yiddish have many Polish words and so on.

Nowadays, when you hear Yiddish spoken in Williamsburg, almost every other word is an English word. For example

Lomir crossen di street meaning Let’s cross the street. It’s kind of Yiddishized. You add an en to cross making it ‘crossen’ and it’s Yiddish.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that there is only one Yiddish language with slightly different variations and it’s alive and kicking.

As I previously posted the book Yiddish In 10 Lessons teaches you the pre war Yiddish not mixing Yinglish words and is a phenomenal way to learn Yiddish. It is a workbook with exercises and 2 CD’s explaining the language beautifully and sells for $99.00. You can easily get in on Amazon