LA JOLLA, California (SDJW) — Yiddishland, a La Jolla nonprofit dedicated to spreading knowledge of Yiddish and Yiddishkeit, has issued a guide to help people determine what level of Yiddish speaker they are.
Absolute Beginners: Absolute beginners may know a few phrases, lines from songs, and assorted vocabulary. You may be able to say greetings and wishes (i.e., gut shabes, zay gezunt).
Beginners II: Beginner students at this level know and can use the alef beys. They can introduce themselves, conjugate the verbs zayn and hobn, know basic vocabulary such as the days of the week. Beginner II students can use the present tense of verbs, count to 100, can say where they came from and where they live now, and can study textbooks and other learning materials.
Intermediate: An emphasis on grammar, speaking, and writing characterizes this level. Grammar* skills include use of present, past, and future tense, gender of nouns, cases, declination of articles and adjectives, and the use of the imperative. Writing skills may include writing a short text (up to 100 words) about themselves. Speakers at this level can talk about themselves, their family and hobbies, can have a conversation about the weather, can talk about the place they live and their occupation. Reading skills include the use of more advanced textbooks and resource materials. With an expanded vocabulary, the students can read articles in Yiddish.
Advanced: Advanced level courses emphasize grammar in reading and writing. Grammar* skills focus on a variety of tenses, periphrastic verbs, the passive tense, the use of present and past participles, and complex syntax. Advanced Yiddish students can read original Yiddish texts with a dictionary and can write an essay.
Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh, founder of the Yiddish Arts and Academic Association of North America (YAAANA), says students at any of these levels might enjoy classes being taught Yiddish through songs taught by Batsheva Capek and Tanya Yakovleva. On Thursday, Dec. 16, via Zoom, they will lead songs for simkhe (celebration) at 12:30 p.m. PST/ Among others, they will sing Di yontevdike teg. On Thursday, Dec. 30, they will offer songs about family (mishpokhe) including Hobn mir a nigndl.
Capek is a Canadian folksinger who won first place in a Canadian National Competition for Holocaust Literature with her “Song of Remembrance.” She performs in Yiddish, Ladino, Hebrew, and English. Yakovleva has a doctorate in Slavic and Jewish Studies from the University of Regensberg.
Other programming from Yiddishland may be accessed via the YAAANA website.
Great, thanks.
=BG2