I have just received an e-mail from one of my former Korean students, a student of medicine in London doing a six-month internship in a general hospital in Canada at the moment.
I used to teach him German and he commented how much Yiddish he could understand that was spoken among the staff and patients at this Canadian hospital. Yiddish and German being akin is no surprise to me as I had to learn this the hard way (i.e., appearing foolish) years ago in Japan.
During my years in Japan, I had my first chance of befriending an American Jew who had also come to Japan as an English teacher. Every Wednesday we would meet for breakfast and on one of these mornings he asked me if I could translate his Polish grandfather’s letters, written in Yiddish to another relative. I thought my new friend had really gone meshugge (Yiddish משוגע meshuge) by assuming I spoke Yiddish, a language I had never ever heard spoken before that. We ended up arguing a bit as I ignorantly asserted that I would not be able to translate any of these letters. In the end I relented just to get the chance to prove my point when he would put them in front of me. Then I could honestly tell him that I didn’t understand this language.
Imagine my surprise the following Wednesday morning. He had all his letters nicely bundled up, pulled out the first one and handed it to me. I was dumbfounded when I realized I could read and understand Yiddish. The only times I had to ask for his help was trying to decipher some words, written in cursive and illegible in some spots. I was able to relate his grandfather’s words and thereby he could share in his grandfather’s experience.
Just imagine – this American had traveled all the way to Japan to run into a German who could translate his Polish grandfather’s letters written in Yiddish.
This memory came back just because of the e-mail I got from Canada yesterday. My student also remarked how much everyone was surprised to find an Asian speaking German so well and my student in turn was surprised how much Yiddish he could actually understand. One thing he found puzzling, though, was meeting a Jewish patient with the given name Adolph. I even had to rub my eyes. I am a child of the 60s and have not met anybody alive with the name of Adolph….
For more information, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Yiddish_origin
Hi Maria — firstly thanks very much for your email which I shall get round to write. No real excuses for the delay.
Anyways, funny you mentioned meshugge. That was the first and only Yiddish word I learnt and remembered. From an American Jew.
This article is very interesting. I have never heard Yiddish being spoken before, nor have I seen any written Yiddish. That’s why I was really surprised at how similar Yiddish is to German (after reading this article and clicking on the link). Now I know why my mom calls my younger sister a “little shicks” sometimes…