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Is Yiddish intelligible with German?
Because they use different alphabets, German and Yiddish are only mutually intelligible when spoken.
Is German similar to Yiddish?
To most people, Yiddish and German are closely related. The languages share many root words and grammatical structures, and most speakers of one language can at least understand an individual speaking the other.
Is Yiddish endangered?
Yiddish is definitely endangered in Europe, and increasingly endangered worldwide.” More than 1,000,000 people in North America and approximately 200,000 in Israel have knowledge of Yiddish.
What are the best languages to learn Yiddish?
Languages like German, Dutch, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, or any other Slavic language might help you learn Yiddish as well. Because Yiddish was influenced by these languages, primarily German, you might find a lot of similarities in vocabulary and grammar.
Can German speakers understand Yiddish?
Yes, certainly, German speakers can understand Yiddish. In fact, Yiddish is closer to standard German than many dialects (Platt, Swiss German, Luxembourgois,etc) Tsu kushen dain shein ponim un tsu halten dain hant. Now, I know the spelling is very different.
Is it possible to learn Yiddish without romanization?
While romanization is an option, I highly recommend against it simply because if you’re serious about learning a language, learning the native writing system forces you to immerse yourself in that culture making language learning more meaningful and enjoyable. Also, unlike Hebrew, Standard Yiddish is primarily phonetic!
How long does it take to learn Yiddish?
You want to train your ear to pick up what the language sounds like. Personally, I recommend 10-15 minutes a day just listening to Yiddish for the first 3-5 days. If you want to listen to some music, here’s a Yiddish playlist on YouTube.