A Yiddish speaking Jew is at the Berlin main train station, and he points to a train and asks the porter, "Vo geyt er?" The porter answers "Erfurt." (a town in central Germany. But in Yiddish er fuhrt means he travels. The Jew answers "Ich veys er fuhrt, aber vo geyt er."
THANK YOU for posting this video. Hearing her speak was like coming home. I moved from Brooklyn almost 41 years ago, my parents are gone and my brother's accent is kind of diluted but her accent took me back. I would like to add, in reply to the comments about antisemitism, I, too, thought that was it, until the teacher spoke with her after class, and I saw that the teacher was Jewish. Perhaps she had been trying to hide her identity. OR, she could have been "annoyed" at her for using Yiddish in a German language class. I'm on the fence about that one. Yes, things are NOT always what they seem.
That's perfectly normal. Many Germans and Austrians have the same problem with their dialect and Standard German, and Yiddish isn't much further away from Standard German than most German dialects.
I remember the day that an older Polish-born rabbi asked my mother, a German-born holocaust survivor, if she would be "more comfortable speaking in Yiddish" with him than English, and she reared up and said, in English, "Why should i speak Yiddish with you when i already speak perfectly good German!"
@@HerrKonig There are many dialects of German. Yiddish is it's own thing, standard High German is another. Standard German didn't even have standard pronunciation until the late 19th to early 20th century.
@@thephidias Yes, but there are phrases that are specific to Yiddish. Many Yiddish words come from Hebrew and the Yiddish accent is very different from the Viennese accent.
Very true! A good example: in Vienna, pubs are called "Beisl", which comes from yiddish meaning house. Actually, a lot of "city" dialects all over German speaking countries have taken over many yiddish words (since yiddish speakers mostly lived in cities). For example, the Berlin dialect has words like "dufte", coming from toff meaning good, or "Maloche", coming from the yiddish word for work.
You mean Austrian antisemite, don't you? Actually, I wonder when she took that German class. If she took it as an adult just 20 or 30 years ago, I think her teacher must have been stuck in the past. If she took it when she was a child, then perhaps her teacher was a Jew herself who had to hide her Jewish roots in order not to get deported.
I don't think it's about antisemitism, not even feign antisemitism but a bit of tongue in cheek discipline. She was supposed to study and learn the vocabulary for the class. She admitted she did not and she used Yiddish to try to get away with it. Her teacher seemed strict, stern and even prejudiced. But at the end of the lesson the teacher acknowledged she used the same cheekiness, (chutzpah may even be a better term) when she herself was a young student.
Hi, can anyone out there help me translate a hand-written Yiddish letter from my grandfather into English? I can help you in exchange with English, French or Dutch!
itst etlekhe gloybn az ale deytshisher zenen nokh vi dos. tseyt hobn gebitn. Now some believe that all Germans are still like this. The times have changed.
In my mind in many ways Germany has gone from worst to first. I now always root for their football team against England considering that the Germans have always been encouraging toward the US team and the English snide and insulting..
The German teacher wasn’t really mad that she was speaking Yiddish in her class. She was mad because she saw through the ploy of not studying and trying to pass Yiddish off as German. Basically, the teacher was mad because the student cheated.
The only non-English phrase she said was (quoting her teacher) "Man spricht nicht Jüdisch in meine Klasse. Heraus!", which is German - "One doesn't speak Jewish in my class. Get out!". She never said anything in Yiddish.
it's true, I'd say... one would expect 'raus!' as a fixed expression, but 'heraus' in this usage is not completely unheard-of, see at synonyms: www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/heraus (I suppose, you meant 'hinaus', which is in theory more correct...)
Right, technically, it should be "hinaus", but German speakers don't actually say that in that situation. They say "Raus", which is short for "Heraus".
Possibly a grammar mistake. The teacher said that she speaks perfect Yiddish and used to accidentally speak it in school too, so I'm going to guess that German isn't her first language. Maybe she was punished for speaking Yiddish in school when she was young due to anti-Semitism (possibly during the Nazi era) so that's why she reacted so harshly to this woman speaking Yiddish in a German class, because she remembered how serious of an act it was when she was in school.
It's not often that you hear such a glorious New York accent
Very similar to Bernie Sanders!
Amen!
"Mama Loshn" comes in all varieties. Having grown up in NYC, her accent is Mama Loshn to me.
I hear it every day haha
A Yiddish speaking Jew is at the Berlin main train station, and he points to a train and asks the porter, "Vo geyt er?" The porter answers "Erfurt." (a town in central Germany. But in Yiddish er fuhrt means he travels. The Jew answers "Ich veys er fuhrt, aber vo geyt er."
LOL LMAO 🤣🤣🤣🤣
THANK YOU for posting this video. Hearing her speak was like coming home. I moved from Brooklyn almost 41 years ago, my parents are gone and my brother's accent is kind of diluted but her accent took me back.
I would like to add, in reply to the comments about antisemitism, I, too, thought that was it, until the teacher spoke with her after class, and I saw that the teacher was Jewish. Perhaps she had been trying to hide her identity. OR, she could have been "annoyed" at her for using Yiddish in a German language class. I'm on the fence about that one.
Yes, things are NOT always what they seem.
Cool story..moral of the story..not everything is as it seems..
actually it's not a cool story at all, it's sad
I tend to fall into Yiddish whilst attempting to speak German.
Yay! : )
That's perfectly normal. Many Germans and Austrians have the same problem with their dialect and Standard German, and Yiddish isn't much further away from Standard German than most German dialects.
Ich Auch !
Did he ask you to spell it?!
And I tend to fall into German while trying to fake Yiddish.
I loooove all these videos from the Wexler Oral History project, thank you to the Jewish Book Centre for making them public!
I remember the day that an older Polish-born rabbi asked my mother, a German-born holocaust survivor, if she would be "more comfortable speaking in Yiddish" with him than English, and she reared up and said, in English, "Why should i speak Yiddish with you when i already speak perfectly good German!"
Because german is The original jiddish IS from German
@@HerrKonig There are many dialects of German. Yiddish is it's own thing, standard High German is another. Standard German didn't even have standard pronunciation until the late 19th to early 20th century.
As somebody who struggled to be understood in german cause i mixed my dialect to much into the standard german, its actually pretty good advise
Exactly, the story is her teacher wanted her to learn to speak German
To the best of my knowledge, the Viennese variant of German is enriched with a lot of Yiddish expressions.
Probably visa versa.
@@MFPhoto1 uhm, no, yiddish is based on german, not enriched by iy
@@thephidias Yes, but there are phrases that are specific to Yiddish. Many Yiddish words come from Hebrew and the Yiddish accent is very different from the Viennese accent.
@@thephidias you don't understand linguistics at all u schmuck
Very true! A good example: in Vienna, pubs are called "Beisl", which comes from yiddish meaning house.
Actually, a lot of "city" dialects all over German speaking countries have taken over many yiddish words (since yiddish speakers mostly lived in cities). For example, the Berlin dialect has words like "dufte", coming from toff meaning good, or "Maloche", coming from the yiddish word for work.
I learned all my Yiddish in my German class in high school in the USA.
I don't know her. But I love her!
That is beautiful thank you so much!
This story really has a surprising ending. I was sure the teacher was a German antisemite.
You mean Austrian antisemite, don't you?
Actually, I wonder when she took that German class. If she took it as an adult just 20 or 30 years ago, I think her teacher must have been stuck in the past.
If she took it when she was a child, then perhaps her teacher was a Jew herself who had to hide her Jewish roots in order not to get deported.
*austrian
@@vornamenachname1069 The teacher expressed antisemitic views of the past that's right therefore I could not guess she was Jewish!
@@federicoi.weinhold1749 The point is that she is Jewish .I was sure she was an antisemite wether German or Austrian!
I don't think it's about antisemitism, not even feign antisemitism but a bit of tongue in cheek discipline. She was supposed to study and learn the vocabulary for the class. She admitted she did not and she used Yiddish to try to get away with it. Her teacher seemed strict, stern and even prejudiced. But at the end of the lesson the teacher acknowledged she used the same cheekiness, (chutzpah may even be a better term) when she herself was a young student.
My german teacher had similar sentiments, but I understood it to mean something about his work ethic,
Austrian, which the teacher from Vienna may speak is a dialect too though :D
I thought it was going to be a funny story about her using a word that's totally innocent in Yiddish but obscene in standard German.
Usually it’s the other way around.
Hi, can anyone out there help me translate a hand-written Yiddish letter from my grandfather into English? I can help you in exchange with English, French or Dutch!
The Yiddish Book Center posted this video. Try contacting them.
Beste Arlette, heb je nog hulp nodig, of is het inmiddels gelukt? Groeten, David
Was her music teacher from Vienna a Jew too then? haha
obviously
itst etlekhe gloybn az ale deytshisher zenen nokh vi dos. tseyt hobn gebitn. Now some believe that all Germans are still like this.
The times have changed.
In my mind in many ways Germany has gone from worst to first. I now always root for their football team against England considering that the Germans have always been encouraging toward the US team and the English snide and insulting..
The German teacher wasn’t really mad that she was speaking Yiddish in her class. She was mad because she saw through the ploy of not studying and trying to pass Yiddish off as German. Basically, the teacher was mad because the student cheated.
what was that word she said? it sounded like she said "Shukhtus" when she was speaking Yiddish. I thought Talk or speak was "redn'"
The only non-English phrase she said was (quoting her teacher) "Man spricht nicht Jüdisch in meine Klasse. Heraus!", which is German - "One doesn't speak Jewish in my class. Get out!". She never said anything in Yiddish.
🙏
Sounds a very old-fashioned approach to language teaching! I suspect that approach held for a lot of German dialects, not just Yiddish.
And Viennese German is certainly not Hoch Deutsch! Though all three are very similar.
Ezeh ge-zunt sei❤🎉
She really sounds like Bernie Sanders
The teacher said "heraus" ? Grammatically wrong. Is this story true or made up ?
it's true, I'd say... one would expect 'raus!' as a fixed expression, but 'heraus' in this usage is not completely unheard-of, see at synonyms:
www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/heraus
(I suppose, you meant 'hinaus', which is in theory more correct...)
Right, technically, it should be "hinaus", but German speakers don't actually say that in that situation. They say "Raus", which is short for "Heraus".
Possibly a grammar mistake. The teacher said that she speaks perfect Yiddish and used to accidentally speak it in school too, so I'm going to guess that German isn't her first language. Maybe she was punished for speaking Yiddish in school when she was young due to anti-Semitism (possibly during the Nazi era) so that's why she reacted so harshly to this woman speaking Yiddish in a German class, because she remembered how serious of an act it was when she was in school.
Maybe they say it differently in Austria. Or she just misremembered
Austrians speak German differently. It could’ve been a Viennese usage.