#Duolingo Yiddish

[easily-distracted-writeblr]

important announcement: in the midst of tonight's Yiddish Duolingo lesson, I briefly forgot how to read and typed in "drashig" which, fun fact, is an anagram of "dishrag" but it is not in any way transliterated from "טראָגסט" I'm fine

#duolingo #yiddish #duolingo yiddish #doctor who #drashig

[ghostcashew]

!!! duolingo has been going well!! 😄

#duolingo #learning yiddish #yiddish #duolingo yiddish

[wtfduolingo]

(ID: Duolingo phrase in Yiddish that translates to "Lithuanians are often in Lithuania.)

I sure hope they are!

#duolingo #duolingo ads #english #yiddish

[chaotic-archaeologist]

hi internet bro, You posted Duolingo Yiddish the other day. Are you taking it as a heritage language ? Did you hear it growing up? How do you feel about studying it (in the Duo version of study)

I ask because I am curious about learning the language of my ancestors, but don't have a clear place to use it- whereas my workplace is multilingual and it would be more practical to learn the trade languages I hear every day.

but I still want to help revitalize indigenous languages and culture.

Hey there, thanks for asking!

I'm learning Yiddish because it's the language of my ancestors who fled Russian and Lithuania in the wake of pogroms at the beginning of the 20th century. When they reached American there was a great deal of pressure to assimilate.

One of my great great grandfathers was very proud of his ability to speak English without an accent, something that he associated with his success in starting a business which would later give him the ability to send my grandfather to college, making him the first person to do so. On the 1920 census, that great great grandfather's native language is listed as Jewish, which was sometimes how Yiddish was referred to.

My grandmother grew up in a house with Yiddish speaking parents. They were orthodox, but her father didn't wear a kippah outside of the house because of the pressure to assimilate. Her parents only spoke Yiddish when they didn't want their children to understand what they were saying. As a result, my grandmother never learned.

So I'm learning Yiddish for the same reason I wear a kippah, because my not-so-distant ancestors didn't feel like they could. Because it makes me feel connected to them, who and what they left behind, and the generations of Jews who have kept Yiddish alive both in Europe and diaspora communities. Certainly, it's less "practical" than learning Spanish or Chinese or Arabic or any number of other languages that are more commonly spoken.

But if we only learned languages because they're practical, what happens to the languages that don't make the cut? What happens to the languages that have been deliberately suppressed by colonialism and genocide and assimilation? There are many different reasons to learn a language; practicality is only one of them.

I'll be honest: I'm conflicted about the Duo version of Yiddish. Here's a really good article that explains the debate over the dialect of Yiddish that Duolingo chose to use for their course. The TL;DR is that Duolingo teaches Hasidic Yiddish, a popular dialect but not a universal one. Different dialects result from different communities, and there are political implications for choosing one over the others.

But Duolingo is free, and it's easy for me to spend ten minutes in the evening practicing a few words. It's not the best language learning platform by any means, but it has the language I wanted to learn and it meets my (admittedly simple) needs. After a year or so (and I'm maybe 50% of the way through the course) I find myself able to read simple texts and understand snatches of spoken Yiddish.

I'm also a member of the Yiddish Book Center, which I would totally recommend. They have lots of great resources for learning Yiddish and for interacting with Yiddish culture via literature, oral history, music, art, etc. Most of their programming is in English, and is easily accessible. There are other organizations out there doing great work to support and revitalize Yiddish, this is just the one I'm most familiar with.

(mazel) מאַזל

-Reid

#he speaks #yiddish #duolingo

[allinllachuteruteru]

#langblr #language learning #studyblr #poll #languages #linguistics #language acquisition #polyglot #hyperpolyglot #duolingo #i’m really just curious as to what people think #spanish #english #french #german #portuguese #catalan #polish #yiddish #arabic #swedish #chinese #japanese #korean #swahili #xhosa #quechua #yoruba #persian farsi #hebrew

[porcelain-rob0t]

ive heard that a lot of people are starting to boycott duolingo for their use of AI and that seems like a good idea? are there any good free alternatives? im specifically looking for language programs that offer Yiddish, but any recommendations are appreciated

#language #duolingo #Yiddish #jumblr #tags just so i can get more recommendations

[jidysz]

Pro tip for learning Yiddish (applies to Hebrew as well) via Duolingo.

Don't use the app alone.

Take your notebook and write down any letters and words that come up. Repeat it multiple times.

You can't really learn a whole new alphabet by just looking at letters. Write. Them. Down.

#duolingo #learning yiddish #yiddish #hebrew #learning hebrew #learning languages #jidysz #ייִדיש

[soonerbuydefyinggravity]

[Image description: a sentence in Yiddish from Duolingo:

The Yiddish: .איך גלייב אין דער זון אפילו ווען זי שיינט נישט

The English translation: I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.

End description]

A little positivity from Duolingo.

#yiddish #jumblr #judaism #jewish #duolingo #positivity #jewish positivity #yiddish duolingo #yiddish on duolingo

[easily-distracted-writeblr]

#duolingo #yiddish #duolingo yiddish #duolingo streak #this also means that I’ve been staying awake past midnight for 500 days

[ghostcashew]

fun development on language learning: i've realized that if it takes an extra second for my brain to process My First Language then i should also give my brain that same second to process My New Language

#it turns out my audio processing issues exist across languages who could've guessed #text #duolingo #duolingo yiddish #foggy talks #language #language learning

[wtfduolingo]

#duolingo #english #yiddish

[alopecoiddaydream]

Duolingo is so weird wtf type of sentence is “wine for a gorilla”?

#duolingo #yiddish

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Duolingo, at it again with the incredibly useful phrases that I will no doubt be using frequently in everyday conversation...

Also, why does the bear give me the impression that it sees dead people because it just... killed a bunch of people?

#duolingo #he learns #yiddish

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve!

#I really love about Yiddish the way it uses האבן ליב to say 'like' #because in German lieb haben is very...soft and sweet. #languages #duolingo

[shiraglassman]

Look what I unlocked on Duo Yiddish just in time for tomorrow! 🥳🎊

#yiddish #duolingo #jewish #jumblr #languages #ashkenazi #shabbat #shabbos

[sandygarnelle]

Just in case someone decides to learn yiddish via duolingo - like I did.

I lasted for 25 days or so, which is not half bad. Unfortunately, the lessons became painful after a certain point

The "repeat the line slower" turtle button either didn't work or duplicated the voice line

Some of the words are not voiced at all after a certain point

Some of the sentences are not voiced at all after a certain point!

Many rules are not explained, small notes or tips regarding grammar would be nice

But at least I can read yiddish now, that's surely a plus.

Everything went amazing at first, and after a certain point I had to tolerate whatever I was doing. Will look for other sources, that's a fuckin shame they half-assed these lessons.

#yiddish #duolingo