VERTER FUN DER VOKH FROM LEAGUE FOR YIDDISH

League for Yiddish has a nice resource called Verter fun der Vokh (Words of the Week).  

https://leagueforyiddish.org/vfdv.html

This is a series of short posts -- mostly just a sentence or two -- using Yiddish words and expressions.    

It is presented with Yiddish letters, transliteration into Latin letters, and in English translation, and each installment includes a vocabulary list of new words.  

Some of the items have short narratives using these words followed by the word lists.   I prefer these.

Others just have the word lists. 

You can check this out by going to the list of stories at https://leagueforyiddish.org/vfdv.html and clicking on each of the over 125 topics (listed in English in alphabetical order) to see if there is story along with the word list. 

This is one more way to increase vocabulary!

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WORDS OF THE WEEK WITH STORIES

 League for Yiddish Words of the Week with Stories.

Some are very short.

A navigation tip:  Copy and Paste the link you want to read into another browser.

Then you can get back to this page more easily when you are done!   (Not all here have stories; I'm still working on this page!  jl)

All from League for Yiddish November 6, 2021

https://leagueforyiddish.org/vfdv.html

Arm and Hand  https://conta.cc/3yGUHup

Booster Shots  https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Booster-Shots.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=m5COvYe5GJA

Daylight Savings Time  

 https://conta.cc/3rVczP0

Gardening 

https://conta.cc/2SWE79W

Pesakh 4

https://conta.cc/3sKvbRY

Purim

https://conta.cc/2NYHB9w

Ransomware

https://conta.cc/3cyL5J4

Rosh hashonah IV

https://conta.cc/3DRwCUF

Spring has arrived

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Spring-has-arrived-.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=yAxnzfHuC4A

Surgery

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Surgery.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=z3pPpqc8XCw

Trans/non binary 

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/-Words-of-the-Week----trans-and-non-binary.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=_aadGXcs73E

Yom Kippur

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Yom-Kippur.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=op2oAOGaw6c

Bastille Day 2

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Bastille-Day.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=7tY7RUMvxvg

Black History Month

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Black-History-Month.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=jjgGg6lV0Qc

Conspiracy Theories

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Conspiracy-Theories.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=Z6qAn44l47g

Earth Day  II

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Earth-Day.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=EQqfC3bI7Xo

National Bicycle Day

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---National-Bicycle-Day.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=VB4aeC7KGJU

Picnic

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Going-on-a-picnic.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=8R90BNpRlQc

Poetry

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Poetry.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=SePub7NbQhY

Recycling

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/-Words-of-the-Week----Recycling.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=SNdQBT1ekHA

Tennis

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Tennis.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=jMFqykw4_Ls

Tisha B’Av

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Tisha-B-Av.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=2UNSPPh3oxg

Tu b’Shevat

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Tu-BiShvat.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=CCcJVfyZEKY

April Fools

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---April-Fools-.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=rxyOxgfHdoA

Autumn

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Autumn.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=myVMElrNAJA

World Blood Donor Day

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---World-Blood-Donor-Day.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=iy-Jar6_KL4

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Breast-Cancer-Awareness-Month.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=mDo3efCYG4s

Earth Science Week

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Earth-Science-Week.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=bgCCTqcc2NI

Financial Planning

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Financial-Planning.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=kcdIKqFvQM4

Harry Potter’s Birthday July 31

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Harry-Potter-s-birthday.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=KfF4LwLeHfU

International Womens’ Day

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---International-Women-s-Day.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=ivJ03OO3VOg

National Wine Day

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---National-Wine-Day.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=ESQ49cpiH0Q

The Olympics

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Correction--The-Olympics.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=a_2hs-6wnqc

Racism

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Racism.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=g_liaz1ej4E

Renewable Energy

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Renewable-Energy.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=mDrIo-r9rTw

Pearl Harbor a day that will live in infamy

a day that will live in infamy:

 אַ טאָג וואָס וועט קיי֜ן מאָל נישט פֿאַרגע֜סן ווערן 

[A TOG VOS VET KÉYN MOL NIShT FARGÉSN VERN

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/VFDV---Pearl-Harbor.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=70GOciKb2R4

  

Summer is Here

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Summer-is-here-.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=Ukdl18VfXBA

Womens' Equality Day

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Verter-fun-der-Vokh---Women-s-Equality-Day.html?soid=1102402771503&aid=GfeuUpc-480

LEAGUE FOR YIDDISH

The League for Yiddish website at https://leagueforyiddish.org/ has many resources, including  "Words of the Week" and short articles in "Afn Shvel" (At the Threshold - a nice resource for beginners!), transliterated and translated, and with glossaries.

 https://leagueforyiddish.org/afnshvel.html

The back issues are online and the home page is a great place to start!  

Some of the Yiddish stories are set up so that if you highlight a word an English translation shows up.  I still need to figure out for which stories this feature works!

Editor Sheva Zucker is a wonderful teacher; I studied with her many years ago.  And this is a nice learning resource!  

If it opens for you, and if you enjoy it, why not encourage it from time to time with a contribution via their PayPal link!  

I may add more here later!  But check it out!       

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YIDDISH LEXICON

http://yleksikon.blogspot.com 

Biographies and other information about literary personages who wrote in Yiddish.

It includes a complete Latin-letter search tool and claims over 7000 entires.  

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(Note this is also posted in the list of Yiddish resources to enjoy during COVID-19)

PLUTZENDIKER REGN/SUDDEN RAIN

I'm very much enjoying Sudden Rain/Plutsendiker Regn:Lider/ Sudden Rain:Yiddish Poems by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath with English translations by Jeffrey Shandler and Zackary Berger.  

Tel Aviv: Israel Book Publishing House, 2003.

At one level it is easy to read because the lines are short and the language is not too complicated.  But at another level, each line has a depth that has me stopping to reflect on my own life before moving on.  

Read more about this very thoughtful and beautiful bi-lingual book at:  

 https://leagueforyiddish.org/sladira.html 

 

                                          

Available at the League for Yiddish store,  https://leagueforyiddish.org, and maybe elsewhere as well.  

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AVROM SUTZKEVER -- TWO BILINGUAL COLLECTIONS

 I am enjoying two recent collections of poems by Avrom Sutzkever (1913-2010).  Both are bilingual: Yiddish and English.  I found both at Amazon (although Amazon indicates that there is only one copy left of Still my Word Sings as of October, 2021).

1. The Full Pomegranate.  From SUNY and available at Amazon as a paperback and as a Kindle book.  

2. Still my Word Sings -- Poems.   from Dusseldorf University Press. Available in Hard Copy at Amazon although there was only one copy left as of October 20, 2021.

There is quite a bit more by Avrom Sutzkever at www.amazon.com. I'm not sure how many are bilingual.

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IN EYNEM: THE NEW YIDDISH TEXTBOOK

Bearing the Yiddish Book Center's imprint and published in two large paperback volumes, In Eynem is a multi-media introductory Yiddish course, suitable for self-study,  which some might enjoy during the current COVID-19 Lockdown.  

I only have the two print books, the student text and the teacher guide (the latter I would recommend for anyone studying on their own), but there appear to be other related resources associated with these books such as sound files which so far I have not figured out how to access.  

These 8.5 x 11 inch, heavy, lavishly illustrated paperback volumes may appeal to many kinds of language learners.  While the characters in the books are mostly young adults, with their families and their teachers, I believe people of any age could enjoy them.

This course appears to be rich in a variety of resources for students and teachers --  I'm still exploring! 

Amazon claims to carry In Eynem, but I could not find it there.   

But I was able to purchase it at the Yiddish Book Center where the price was $100.00.

It is described here as follows: 

"In eynem is the first fully illustrated, multimedia Yiddish textbook that uses the communicative approach to language learning."

Learn more, see their FAQ's, and download sample pages at: 

https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/yiddish-language-learning/eynem-new-yiddish-textbook

or contact: 

Yiddish Book Center

1021 West Street

Amherst, MA 01002

413.256.4900

info@yiddishbookcenter.org

                                                                            

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Haynt iz Do Transliteration

Haynt iz Do

(dialect transliteration

I'd still tend to say [do] and [sho] rather than [du] or [shu])

Haynt iz du, Khayeshu, 

Morgn ver veys vus vet zayn,

Haynt is git, oder nit,

Nor the haynt zi iz nur dayn.

Bist tsi ying, lakh un zing,

S’is eyn sho nur do fun glik.

Nekhtn ven? Morgn den!

Nit ahin un nit tsurik (2)

Fin ale mayne yorn, di lender oysgeforn,

Ikh hob nit lib tsi spurn, ikh leb a gitn tog!

Ikh hob gezen fil zakhn, tsim veynen tsim lakhn,

‘kh ken a sakh-akol makhn, fin’m lebn ven ikh zog:

Haynt iz du…

Ikh vil ir zolt mir hern,In zorgn zikh oyfheren

Dos lebn iz far shtern, nit dayges in nit blit.

Ir zolt zikh nit farklogn, vi lang di fislekh trogn,

Kolzmun es kokht der mogn, iz, lebt a gitn tog!

Haynt iz du …

Vayl der haynt, es iz nokh du,

Iz, leb un lakh a khayeh’shu!

 

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SHACKLETON: AN UNUSUAL YIDDISH BIOGRAPHY

 I have long been fascinated with the accounts of Sir Robert Falcon Scott's polar expeditions, especially his last, 1910-1913, during which he died leaving only his diaries (available in many formats at Amazon and elsewhere).

Another account was written by a survivor of this final expedition -- Ernest Henry Shackleton, 1874-1922.  Read more about Shackleton at:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton

I was astonished to discover that there was a English-Yiddish bilingual edition of Shacketon's memoirs translated from English into Yiddish by Barry Goldstein with texts on facing pages.  

This is available as a reprint from Amazon for $8.00 

Shackleton's Three Miracles: Bilingual Yiddish-English Translation of the Endurance Expedition (Yiddish Edition)Paperback – December 3, 2018

Yiddish Edition by Ernest Shackleton (Author), Barry Goldstein (Translator)

It is also listed at the Yiddish Book Center: 

https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/yiddish-books/spb-TsveyShifl-nesiesUnEynBarg-nesieDrayNisim/shackleton-ernest-henry-tsvey-shifl-nesies-un-eyn-barg-nesie-dray-nisim

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RUKHL SCHECHTER'S WORD OF THE DAY -- ANOTHER SOURCE

These broadcasts, sponsored by the Forward, let you practice new words in Yiddish. 

See https://forward.com at 

https://forward.com/yiddish/444999/learn-yiddish-with-the-forverts-word-of-the-day-videos/

Here is the complete playlist of these short broadcasts, each featuring a different word:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VsQCKQgu-o&list=PLnqj6yi0vkJKrxiQYyuuTehWLQcpjl51C

(The above "free" link may open with an ad, but you can quickly choose to "skip ads" and go right to the program!) 

It may be a bit hard to navigate (especially from here) and you may need to adjust volume for some, but the content is lots of fun as she gives lots of information about the usage of the each word and you get plenty of opportunities to hear each word in different contexts and to repeat the words after her!  

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MORE YIDDISH SONGS ONLINE

1. http://yidlid.org  

Posted elsewhere in this blog as well, and likely the most comprehensive resource. 

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2. www.jewishfolksongs.com

Jewish songs in languages including Hebrew and Ladino as well as Yiddish.  The songs in the links below have Yiddish and English side by side with the Yiddish in Latin letters.

See: http://www.jewishfolksongs.com/en/links for a list (in English) of resources on this website including many more links.

And for the songs:  http://www.jewishfolksongs.com/en/songs 

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3. yiddishsongsonline.com  Yiddish Songs Online -- only Latin letters for these old time songs presented in many ways. 

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4. Yiddish songs of the Holocaust at the ORT website: 

https://holocaustmusic.ort.org

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5. Yiddish Penny Songs 

http://www.yiddishpennysongs.com/2016/01/index-of-posts-on-yiddishpennysongscom.html

Pictures of the actual sheet music with Yiddish lyrics in transliteration followed by translations (not meant to be sung). 

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YIDDISH LYRICS ONLINE-- A FEW THAT I'M FIGURING OUT!

In my search for useful Yiddish resources online I came across these websites -- some websites (or maybe they are blogs) with Yiddish songs.   These are mostly lyrics, mostly in transliterated Yiddish,  with English translations.   There are some links to performances.  As I explore them more I'll write more about them but here are the URLs.

1. http://www.yiddishsongproject.com

It is described as follows:

"We are a Wiki (user-run repository) for Yiddish music. Our goal is to translate Yiddish music and collect Yiddish songs so they can be enjoyed and understood by people around the world."

It invites users to browse the collection, upload new songs, or request a translation.

Also the following two appear to be links on the same website. 

I'm trying to see what the difference is between them!

2.  https://lyricstranslate.com/en/language/yiddish-lyrics

3. https://lyricstranslate.com/en/language/yiddish

More about all of this as I learn more!

JL 10/05/21

WHO IS BARRY GOLDSTEIN?

Who is Barry Goldstein, a.k.a. Barish Goldshteyn?  (Or maybe this should be the other way around.  I don't know).

Of late I've enjoyed some of his Yiddish translations of English language books.  These include titles one might not expect to find in Yiddish, such as the Antarctic voyages of Shackleton  (but interestingly -- not that of Expedition Leader Robert Falcon Scott whose own diaries present Shackleton as something of the bad boy.)  

Mr. Goldstein's offerings include not only a Yiddish-English dictionary (actually one I find useful),  as well as The Hobbit and related books by J.R.R.Tolkien, and many more.

Here is his web page:

http://bgoldstein.org

Or search in Amazon.com with the words Barry Goldstein Yiddish and you'll find many his books -- some of which are bilingual. 

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THE EASY SHMEEZY GUIDE TO YIDDISH

A handy little booklet with a wealth of useful everyday phrases:   "Easy Shmeezy Guide to Yiddish," by Moshe Sherizen.  

It was apparently a project of something called the Yiddish Academy offering a free introductory lesson at: 

https://yiddishacademy.com/course/free-yiddish-lessons/

Amazon sometimes has this little book both as a paperback and as a Kindle book.  When they have it, this handy mini-paperback can vary wildly in prices from quite reasonable to astronomic.  Don't ask me why!  

That said, if you can find a copy of the little paperback Easy Shmeezy Guide to Yiddish anywhere at a reasonable price, go for it!  It's a handy little book!

I'll add more as I find more.

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A KLEZMER RESOURCE I'M EXPLORING

 E. W. Klezmer Bandcamp website has several lyrics.

https://ewklezmer.bandcamp.com/album/the-thread

Including:

https://ewklezmer.bandcamp.com/track/fisher-lid-2

 https://ewklezmer.bandcamp.com/track/mayn-rue-plats 

https://ewklezmer.bandcamp.com/track/sheyn-vi-di-levone

https://ewklezmer.bandcamp.com/track/shlof-mayn-kind