Are you fluent in Yiddish or hebrew?

amother

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 1:39 pm

I hardly know Yiddish and I know jenough hebrew to be able to understand a simple sentence but can't have a conversation in hebrew. What about you?

amother

Tanzanite

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 1:44 pm

Grew up in Williamsburg. So I have a fluent Yiddish. With the accent and all. But only when I talk Yiddish. When I talk in English peoples faces drop when they hear my Yiddish.
My mother is Israeli. So she used to take me to Israel to visit family when I was younger. So I can talk a perfect Hebrew but I have a very hard time reading it.

amother

Offwhite

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:09 pm

My parents made Aliyah to israel when I was a kid but returned shortly after
I can speak Hebrew and understand Hebrew if the person is talking slowly
I understand a few words in Yiddish
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amother

Chartreuse

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:10 pm

Yekke grandparents (who spoke English and used German when they didn’t want us to understand) and I am MO living in a MO community. I don’t speak a word of Yiddish (unless you count words like kugel). Yiddish is not a language I need or one that pertains to my life.
I have 12 years of day school Hebrew. My Hebrew is passable and I can effectively communicate as a tourist in Israel. I can also watch shows like Srugim without subtitles. I will definitely will need Ulpan when I make Aliya asmy Hebrew is not sufficient for employment, and I know classroom Hebrew, not slang. I find the Hebrew newspaper without nikudot extremely overwhelming.

yiddishmom ↓

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:14 pm

I know a satmer Yiddish. I totally don't look it and whenever I speak it people are mesmerized.

I also knew Hebrew. It was my first language, but unfortunately haven't spoken it much in a decade, so I have a difficult time conversing in Hebrew. But whenever I go back to EY, I relearn it again very quickly.

I can definitely understand, even rapid conversations.

But I do not understand the radio/ political discussions. That's a whole 'nother language.

I used to be able to read Hebrew very very well, and Yiddish reading I was okay at. These days, I cannot read either language🥺

amother

↑ PlumPink ↓

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:16 pm

yiddishmom wrote:

Yes same with me. When speaking to Satmar or chassidishe people I automatically have their accent. When talking to my husband or kids or fam I sometimes slip into the accent.
I grew up speaking Yiddish.
Also changing the Do and Di.

amother

Wine ↓

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:30 pm

Fluent Yiddish, I can understand Hebrew if it’s spoken slowly
Selected only Yiddish on poll since I don’t think this is considered fluent hebrew

amother

Peony

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:51 pm

fluent yiddish. some hebrew, can have a broken hebrew conversation but it's not pleasant for me. I wish I knew it fluently. and I'd love to know spanish too.

amother

Mimosa

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:53 pm

Fluent Hebrew. DH is Israeli and we speak to each other in Hebrew.
(Is it an English thing to say the expression "I speak a perfect _____"

amother

DarkMagenta

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 2:55 pm

I went to an awesome BY elementary school and was pretty fluent in Hebrew by the time I first visited Israel after 9th grade. I’m very proud. Very little Yiddish to speak of, although my grandparents spoke it exclusively and I took one semester of Yiddish in college.

dankbar ↓

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 3:00 pm

I think in English you say I speak English perfectly and in Yiddish you would say, ich redt ah gitten Yiddish. So I think it comes from translating from Yiddish to English when people say I speak a good English

amother

Peach

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 3:04 pm

amother OP wrote:

I hardly know Yiddish and I know jenough hebrew to be able to understand a simple sentence but can't have a conversation in hebrew. What about you?

Same. My parents (whose first language is yiddish) intentionally did not teach us so that they could have private conversations right in front of us. I learned conversational Hebrew in school for a few years, but never got fluent and it's very, very, very rusty.

↑ yiddishmom

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 3:15 pm

amother PlumPink wrote:

Haha, to make things more exciting, I went to a school that taught L"K with the litvish havara.

So I can read/ speak L"K with the litvish, chassidish and Israeli accent.

amother

Begonia

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 4:02 pm

amother Wine wrote:

Fluent Yiddish, I can understand Hebrew if it’s spoken slowly
Selected only Yiddish on poll since I don’t think this is considered fluent hebrew

Ditto here
I can also read Hebrew pretty ok

amother

↑ PlumPink

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 4:10 pm

yiddishmom wrote:

Haha, to make things more exciting, I went to a school that taught L"K with the litvish havara.

So I can read/ speak L"K with the litvish, chassidish and Israeli accent.

So I have the lubavitch pronunciations. We say oi like Moishe and stuff like that for example.
While other people say like Moe-sheh

amother

DarkPurple ↓

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 4:32 pm

I passed the state bilingual Hebrew certification exam but I'm not fluent like a native. I can get around Israel very confidently and hold a comfortable conversation, but I doubt I'd be able to sit in an Israeli college or even high school and learn anything meaningful.

amother

DarkRed ↓

Wed, Aug 07 2024, 6:18 pm

My Yiddish is fluent enough for most conversations with my kids, but not very sophisticated. I understand spoken Yiddish pretty well although there are plenty of words I need to use context clues for.

My Hebrew is very rusty. I can speak or understand enough to get by but would not consider myself fluent.