My Great Language Learning Challenge: Magyar (w/s/g Yiddish)

Here we are then. A busy month of cooking professionally, scholastically, and in a home capacity as well, planning two banquet dinners, and having a billion other excuses as to why I didn't have the time or energy requisite for this challenge.

I hope your GLLC went better than mine.

Gut morgn, gut morgn aykh.

Ikh heys Aaron, un ikh hob gepruvt tzu lernen Magyar, vos iz di shprach vos zey redn in Ungaria... ober magyar iz zayer a shver shrpach, un ikh hob nit gehat genug tzayt, un ikh hob nit gehat a bukh, un ikh hob nit gehat a lerer. Un on a bukh, on a lerer, un on tzayt, s'iz zayer shver zikh tzu lernen a shprach, mer zayer a shver shprach vos is nit vi keyn shprach vos ikh red itzt. Azoy, vel ikh red yidish, vayl ikh veys yidish un ikh hob lib yidish.

Ikh kum fun detroit, ikh bin geboyrn gevorn in detroit, michigan, vos is in di fareynikte shtatn, in amerike. Ikh hob lib detroit, s'iz zayer a sheyn shtetl... zayer a sheyn shtot... un ikh bin a kuch.

Ikh bin a student oikh, ober ikh bin a kuch, un ikh lern zich tzu arbetn in a kich, vos iz voo a kuch arbet, vi di "chef."

Ikh hob lib kuchn, un shpiln zikh futbal—nisht amerikanishe futbal, eyropeanishe futbal, vi me zogt—ikh lob lib nayen, ikh hob lib a sakh andere zachn, un ikh hob lib lernen yidish—ikh lern zikh yidish, un ikh oikh lern yidish, vi a lerer.

Vos hob ikh lib esn? Ikh hob lib esn a sakh zachn... Ikh tut a hinerzup—ir veyst vos is a hinerzup, yo?—ikh tut a hinerzup mit lokshn un mern, un s'iz vunderlech, s'iz oistergeveyntlekh, me zogt.

Un mayn bukh? Es gefelt mir a sakh bikher, ober itzt hob ikh lib "Blondgete Shtern", s'iz a gute yidishe bukh, ober ikh oikh hob lib a sakh bikher, zaltz, cod, un "the big oyster," ikh veyst nisht af yidish, vos zaynen a sakh bikher vegn esn, vegn zaltz, vegn "cod", di fish, vegn "oysters", vos zaynen oikh vi fish ober nisht fish, zey zaynen nisht gut esn... s'iz vayl ikh hob an allergie.

Di beste vort af yidish, ikh meyn, iz tcherepache, vos iz "turtle". Es kumt fun rusish, a sakh fun yidish is daytsh, un a sakh fun yidish is slavish—rusish, un azoy vayter—un a por verter kumt fun Frantzeyzish, un Shpanish... ober tcherepache, zayer a gut vort.

Un vel ikh lernen mer yidish? Un vel ikh zikh lernen mer yidish? Ikh meyn az yo. Ikh meyn az yidish iz a teyl fun mir. Es iz... mayn bobe hot geredt yidish ven zi iz geven a kind, un ikh red yidish itzt, un mayn mame redt a bisl yidish (ikh pruv zi tzu lernen yidish mer) ober ikh vil, un ikh vel, zikh lernen mer yidish.

Azoi, gut yontef gut yor, un mayn lib tzu frau kagashi.

A translation of my little rambling speech:

Hello, hello to everyone.

My name is Aaron, and I tried to learn Magyar, which is the language they speak in Hungary... but Magyar is a very hard language, and I didn't have enough time, I didn't have a book, and I didn't have a teacher; without a book, without a teacher, and without time it's very hard to learn a language, more a very hard language which is not like any language I speak now.

So, I will speak Yiddish, because I know Yiddish, and I love Yiddish.

I come from Detroit, I was born in Detroit, Michigan, which is in the United States in America. I love detroit, it's a very nice town... a very nice city.

I am a cook, I am a student too, but I am a cook and I'm learning to work in a kitchen (which is where a cook works) as the chef.

I like cooking, playing football (not american football, european football,) I like sewing, I like a lot of other things, and I like learning Yiddish. I study Yiddish, but I also teach Yiddish.

I like eating a lot of things, my... I make a chicken soup (you know what chicken soup is, right?) I make a chicken soup with noodles and carrots... it's wonderful. It's extraordinary, you could say.

And my book? I like a lot of books, but now I like Wandering Stars, it's a good Yiddish book, but I also like a lot of books, Salt, Cod, and the Big Oyster (I don't know the name in Yiddish), which are several books about food, about Salt, and Cod (the fish), and Oysters (which are also like fish, but not fish... they're not good eats. It's because I'm allergic.)

The best word in Yiddish, I think, is Turtle. It comes from Russian. A lot of Yiddish is german, a lot of Yiddish is Slavic—Russian, etc.—and a few words come from French, and Spanish—but Turtle, a very good word.

And will I teach more Yiddish? Will I learn more Yiddish? I think so. I think that Yiddish is a part of me... it is... my grandmother spoke Yiddish when she was a child, and I speak Yiddish now, and my mother speaks a little Yiddish—I'm trying to teach her more—but I will, and I want to, learn more Yiddish.

Goodbye, and my love to Miss Kagashi.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• multiculturalism
• steampunk
• gllc
• yiddish

[WeLoveRussiaToo]

Is not true, Hungarian is like the "Motherlanguage" of Finnish and Estonian

[DoctorCuriosity]

I really appreciated having the transcript along with the video - but even without, I surprised myself with just how much Yiddish I understood from three years of studying German in high school and a couple of months living over there. Great stuff!

[ShmuelYosefE]

Hey Ahron... I'm also from Detroit,from Oak Park anyway... My friend and I made a Yiddish learning site. You don't need it, but maybe you could tell me what you think on the Contact Us page. It's at yiddishacademy dot/ com .. Thanks!