i was raised in vienna... we were living at lasalle str... either, you were speak jiddish or nobody understand you... german (vienna platte :-)) was at school but on the street only jiddish with occasional ukrainian or polish... :-)) and i still listen to klezmer music in preference to anything else :-)

By: moo_the_conqueror
7/04/2007
9:29 am

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If Hebrew

I'll have a cup of Irish Breakfast tea please?

ROTFLMAO

By: dissent988
7/04/2007
12:28 pm

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bzet - is Yiddish close to German? Or is it a completely different language?

Just curious, because some words sound quite Germanic..

By: bzet1
7/04/2007
5:53 pm

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jiddish is actually about 85% althoechdeutsch (old high german) and remainder are slavic, aramaic and other mix in, difference are in writing as jiddish is using aramaic alphabet with diatrichs, but seem like these are dissapearing as much of modern jiddish is writen in latin alphabet.

hebrew is an artificial lingo based on aramaic and using its modern lettering, aramaic speakers dohave difficulties tounderstand ivrit, and hebrew speakers usually do not understand aramaic either...

By: bzet1
10/04/2007
3:05 pm

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szolom alihim, szolom... did this mean that nobody want to learn ivrit (hebrew) or jiddish? :-) i love short stories in jiddish, also plenty jokes and heaps of humour, especially these issued b4 the war :-) try issues from kroke, lviv - especially, am jenem tog mein friend.... those were really the days.... :-)

By: ani.tzioni
10/04/2007
6:14 pm

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Hebrew can be quite hard to learn unless you have been learning it from a very hard age as the alphabet is different.

A lot of people just decide it is easier to learn French, Spanish etc as the alphabet is very similar.

By: dissent988
10/04/2007
6:35 pm

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"jiddish is actually about 85% althoechdeutsch (old high german)"

Thanks for the info bzet. Interesting how languages evolve and form their own dynamics.

By: bzet1
10/04/2007
8:58 pm

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you can actually find that learning new lingo is not that difficult! most romanic languages are based on latin, if you want actually to learn languages, just listen to music, poetry and speeches in them, even if you do not understand - you will get melody of the lingo!

then try to read comics, and simple papers, you will discover then that many languages have common roots and if you learn roots in one you will understand (at least in writing) many more...

i received so called classical education with german, latin, classical greek, russian, polish and french in it... i learn from my childhood friends jiddish and ivrit (bit different to that one spoken in israel, as that what i learn was is actually called biblical ivrit), then living in egypt i learn misri arabic and pick up bit of ki-suahili in sudan and chad...

when i migrated 27 years ago to oz i discovered that i do not speak english but i can read newspaper and even some books...

languages are easy, you need about 150 words and basic grammar to communicate basic needs and travels, you need about 400 to 600 words to read newspaper... about 1500 words to read average book and hold advanced conversation, it is easy if you have motivation... :-)

By: dissent988
11/04/2007
10:14 am

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bzet - some people are really adept at learning languages, and others aren't. Unfortunately, I fall pretty sqaurely into the latter category.

When I was at uni, I studied Indonesian language. I did one year "in-country" at an Indonesian university, and of course lived there during the time. Must admit, when I came out of the place I could communicate pretty well, though I was never particularly genius with linguistics.

Didn't take long for me to forget most of it though. I mean, Indonesian isn't the most difficult language in the world, but I could never train myself to think in the language and I usually had to mentally translate everything at an English level.

Despite this, I still have a bit of a fascination with languages, and especially how they change and evolve. I once tried to teach myself basic German (forgot that by now, too) but the different variations of the language often stumped me.

I don't envy people who try to learm English, though many do, and do so very well. Good for them.

By: bzet1
11/04/2007
5:07 pm

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dissent988 - do not get discouraged! need is greatest motivator... then interest and hobbies :-)

even if you forget what you learn previously - this is not true, you will discover that it will come back in moment of need... or when you start learning lingo again,

you mentioned gravest sin of peoples learnig foreign languages, you translated... you cannot do that! text translated from english to ivrit or arabic is at least 25% longer!!! in another words, translation is not hte best way... you need to think in lingo in which you speak, i am smart aleck as in my home we were speaking horrible mix of three languages with two others added at will... my wife when she first time visit my home she did not know what we are speaking of... :-) especially that there were as well few friends and basic as pigin was vienna platte, but russian, polish, french and ivrit were freely thrown in... she was thinking that we were crazzy... :-) now she is seaking "home" lingo which is current mix of english, german and polish... with few added words from ivrit and arabic... so are our children and even grandson... :-)

By: dissent988
11/04/2007
8:47 pm

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bzet - yes, I know that to really immerse yourself into a language (and, by extention, a culture), you need to THINK in that language. My instructors told me the same thing. My Ibu Kost (the owner of my homestay) said that too. My peers all told me that.

My degree is political science, with a specialisation in SE Asian politics. With that side of things I did quite well, and enjoyed it hugely, especially since later (during the post-grad stage) most of the political guys I got to meet spoke superb English (some of them were better educated in English than me, and I was born in an English-speaking country).

I don't know what it it. With language, I suppose I'm a dummy. I leard things parrot-fashion, then promptly forget it when I no longer need it.

Sigh. These days, I've dropped out of the whole paradigm, and I'm happy to go back to my old "trade" of driving freight trains.

By: dissent988
11/04/2007
8:57 pm

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sorry about the typos - fingers must be getting too big for the keypad..

By: bzet1
11/04/2007
9:18 pm

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when i was at uni i was working nights as filter operator in copper smelter... shoveling mostly dust to lorries... any student support was not invented then... :-) and this is only 40years ago...

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