- Also spoken in
- Sweden, United States, Canada, Israel, United Kingdom
- Script
- Hebrew
Where it's spoken
YIVO estimates that most people who speak Yiddish in their daily lives are Hasidim and other Haredim, mainly in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. It is also spoken in many other Hasidic corners of the world, such as London's Stamford Hill.
Sweden recognises Yiddish (spelled Jiddisch on the county administrative board's page) as one of five national minority languages, alongside Romani chib, Sami, Meänkieli and Finnish.
Sources
Script & pronunciation
Yiddish is written in Hebrew characters. YIVO conceived a transcription of Yiddish into Latin characters, used by libraries, publishing houses and journalists when Hebrew characters are not available or possible.
An alefbeys table lists the final forms of khof, mem, nun, fey and tsadek, used at the end of a word, and lists pey (p) and fey (f) as two separate letters, פּ and פֿ. It also lists letter-plus-mark forms such as pasekh-alef (a) and komets-alef (o).
The transcription tables describe אַ as similar to the a in "father", and אָ as intermediate between the aw of "dawn" and the o of "done". The two-yud letters are ײ (ey, as in "they") and ײַ (ay, as in "aye-aye"); the ligature ײַ is ײ plus a patach mark. This app's card for "Yes" shows the אָ: it is written יאָ and romanized yo.
The app's cards give a romanization beside the Hebrew-script text. A simplified romanization guide describes the sounds sh, kh, zh, tsh and ts. The card for "I don't understand" is written איך פֿאַרשטיי נישט and romanized Ikh farshtey nisht, and the card for "Please show me your passport." is written ווײַזט מיר, ביטע, אײַער פּאַספּאָרט. and romanized Vayzt mir, bite, ayer pasport.
Sources
- YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Basic Facts about Yiddish (2014) — section 11
- Four facts that will change the way you look at Yiddish (Lithuanian Jewish Community web article)
- Yiddish alefbeys table (Verterbukh)
- Simplified Yiddish romanization guide (haGalil onLine, adapted from a forum post)
- Wiktionary:About Yiddish
Grammar essentials
In a negative sentence, nisht follows the verb. The word נישט (nisht) is also listed as an adverb meaning "not" (and, as an interjection, "no"). In this app's card for "I don't understand", it comes after the verb: איך פֿאַרשטיי נישט (Ikh farshtey nisht).
Sources
Politeness & etiquette
Yiddish has a singular pronoun דו (du), "you, thou", and a pronoun איר (ir), which is listed both as the plural "you" and as a formal singular "you". This app's card for "Do you speak English?" uses איר: רעדט איר ענגליש? (Redt ir english?).