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Germanic and Slavic? | ||
Tags: Germanic Languages | Slavic Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Giordano Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7174 days ago 213 posts - 218 votes  3 sounds Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Cantonese, Greek | Message 1 of 11 17 June 2005 at 2:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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In a little while I plan to begin learning Serbocroatian. Just today, I met someone who teaches Yiddish introductory courses and more advanced courses. I have always wanted to learn Yiddish. The introductory course begins in the Fall. By then, I can only hope to be at a slightly above basic level in Serbocroatian (right?). I don't know about this... I mean, are the Germanic and Slavic groups are far enough removed? Plus, Yiddish may be Germanic, but it is heavily influenced by Polish. I would really like to start this Fall rather than waiting at least several months until the next course begins, and probably longer until I get to a high-intermediate level in Serbocroatian. Do you think this is a bit too much? Is it do-able?
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| Seth Diglot Changed to RedKing’sDream Senior Member United States Joined 7224 days ago 240 posts - 252 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Persian | Message 2 of 11 17 June 2005 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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The point is not really how "far apart" the Germanic and Slavic languages are--yes, incidentally they are on separate braches of the Indo-European tree--but rather the difficulty in teaching oneself two languages at the same time.
This has been discussed at great lengths on this web page. In the end, it is up to you, but most agree that tackling two languages at the same time (if you are a beginner) will only slow you down. In other words, if it took you two years to become proficient in Serbo-Croatian and then a year to master Yiddish, it will probably take MORE than three years to become proficient at both of them IF you attack them both from scratch and at the same time. To put it simply, your effort is not cumulative 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 11 17 June 2005 at 4:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yiddish is a fun language for songs but apart from books it is not so easy to use nowadays, unless you live in very specific parts of the world (I think Israel and Antwerpen in the diamond district). From what I heard the Yiddish spoken in New-York is often not very authentic.
I think Serbo-Croatian would make a better investment unless you have a special reason to learn Yiddish. Also, if you don't speak German, I'd start with German, then move to Yiddish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Giordano Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7174 days ago 213 posts - 218 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Cantonese, Greek | Message 4 of 11 17 June 2005 at 7:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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(Just to clarify my original question)
Actually, I live in Montreal, which has a very large (orthodix/Hasidic- and mostly native-Yiddish speaking) population. It's not hard to find native speakers... The Saide Bronfman Centre (one of the main theatres) regularly has plays in Yiddish. I work for Orthodox jews, and so do other members of my family. By the way, you neglected to mention the wonders of a jewish bakery... For anyone who would care to know, there is an incorporated town (similar to a city) in New York state (in Orange County) called Kiryas Joel, with a population of about 13.000, about 99.7% of whom are Satmar (from Romania/Hungary) Orthodox Jews (almost all of whom are native Yiddish speakers- even the schools teach mainly in Yiddish) I just find it so fascinating... Edited by Giordano on 17 June 2005 at 8:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7146 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 5 of 11 18 June 2005 at 1:56am | IP Logged | ||
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I would do the Yiddish classes and simply see how you go. It sounds like you have nothing to lose. I would personaaly grab the opportunity so my advice is definitely biased.
Let us know how you go. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Giordano Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7174 days ago 213 posts - 218 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Cantonese, Greek | Message 6 of 11 19 June 2005 at 8:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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I will.
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| Nadav3 Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6315 days ago 13 posts - 12 votes Studies: Ukrainian*, English | Message 7 of 11 12 August 2007 at 2:22am | IP Logged | ||
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ver ken idish redn?
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| joan.carles Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6333 days ago 332 posts - 342 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, French, EnglishC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Hungarian, Russian, Georgian | Message 8 of 11 14 August 2007 at 12:57am | IP Logged | ||
Is that the one in rue St-Laurent? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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