Talk:Yiddish

	Yiddish is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. For older candidates, please check the archive.
Article milestones Date Process Result July 15, 2006 Featured article candidate Not promoted

This  level-4 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Judaism High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Judaism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Judaism-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.JudaismWikipedia:WikiProject JudaismTemplate:WikiProject JudaismJudaism High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Jewish history High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Jewish history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Jewish history on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Jewish historyWikipedia:WikiProject Jewish historyTemplate:WikiProject Jewish historyJewish history-related High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Jewish culture (defunct) This article is within the scope of WikiProject Jewish culture, a project which is currently considered to be defunct.Jewish cultureWikipedia:WikiProject Jewish cultureTemplate:WikiProject Jewish cultureJewish culture Israel High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Israel, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Israel on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.IsraelWikipedia:WikiProject IsraelTemplate:WikiProject IsraelIsrael-related High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Project Israel To Do: edit history watch purge Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Lodzia [he], National religious movement [he], Menachem Asher Sapir [he], Peretz Dagan-Kornfeld [he], Isaiah Karniel [he], Yitzhak Avraham Abadi [he], Uri Keisari [he], Aharon Even [he], Issachar-Dov Bar-Drora [he], Shlomo Gepshtein [he], Bnei Binyamin [he], Shmuel Perlman [he], Pesach Ginsburg [he], Jabotinsky Institute Archives [he], Moshe Landau (educator) [he], Levinsky College of Education [he], Sella Capital [he], Moznaim [he], David Gordon (journalist) [he], Derisht Zion [he], Samuel Lupu [he], David Abulafia (lawyer) [he], David Seton (journalist) [he], Eleazar Rokach [he], Eliyahu Yaakov Nissim [he], Aid Association of German Jews [he], Chaim Aryeh Zuta [he], Theodor Sandel [he], Jacob Mann (born 1849) [he], Old Shaare Zedek Building [he], Shlomo Zalman Lavi [he], Badatz Kollel Hasidim in Jerusalem [he], Amram Blum [he], Lipman David Shubkes [he],Yosef Yehuda Strasberg [he], David Yellin [he], Shlomo Yehezkel Yehuda [he], Benjamin Salant [he], Yehezkel Danin [he], Yeshiva Torat Emet [he], HaDvir [he], Alexander Yudasin [he], Eliezer Hazan [he], Rachmim Eliyahu Hazan [he], Eliyahu Bechor Hazan [he], Chaim Abulafia (I) [he], Benjamin Mordecai Navon [he], Shalom Moshe Gagin [he], Shlomo Abulafia [he], Yitzchak Yerucham Diskin [he], Rabbinic Office of the Jewish Community in Jerusalem, Yosef Shaul Elyashar [he], Yitzchak Shemaya Elyashar [he], Raphael Eliezar Ben-Tovo [he], Moshe Malka [he], Issachar Atzaraf [he], Nissim Ohana [he], Haim Ben Yair [he], Tiferet Jerusalem Yeshiva [he] Assess : Rate the Unassessed Israel-related articles and Unknown-importance Israel-related articles. Cleanup : Cleanup listing for this project is available. See also the list by category and the tool's wiki page. Collaborate : Participate in WikiProject Israel Palestine Collaboration. Copyedit : Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2005 Deletion sorting : Participate in discussions at WikiProject Deletion sorting/Israel. Expand : Ayala Procaccia, Diamond industry in Israel, Edna Arbel, Levin Kipnis, Rami Kleinstein, Sephardic Haredim, Zman Tel Aviv, Nachum Heiman, Public Defence (Israel), Prisoner of Zion, Trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran, Pre-Modern Aliyah See also Articles needing translation from Hebrew Wikipedia. Geographical coordinates : Add geographic coordinates to Israel articles missing geocoordinate data. Infobox : Add infoboxes to Israel articles needing infoboxes. Maintain : See Israel articles needing attention. Map : See discussion at Module:Location map/data/Israel. Add maps to articles in Wikipedia requested maps in Israel. NPOV : Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries Photo : Add pictures to articles in Wikipedia requested photographs in Israel. Stubs : See Israel stubs. Update : Basic Law proposal: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People Other : Translate to Hebrew : David Bar-Hayim, Guy Bavli, and Guy Oseary. Kings of Judah Trail – archaeological trail for tourists in Jerusalem and nearby places; unofficial name Languages High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Languages, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of languages on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LanguagesWikipedia:WikiProject LanguagesTemplate:WikiProject Languageslanguage High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Russia: Language & literature / Demographics & ethnography Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Russia, a WikiProject dedicated to coverage of Russia on Wikipedia. To participate: Feel free to edit the article attached to this page, join up at the project page, or contribute to the project discussion.RussiaWikipedia:WikiProject RussiaTemplate:WikiProject RussiaRussia Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the language and literature of Russia task force. This article is supported by the demographics and ethnography of Russia task force.

Archives

Index 1, 2, 3, 4

This page has archives. Topics inactive for 90 days are automatically archived 1 or more at a time by Lowercase sigmabot III if there are more than 2.

It is a creole language. It is a creole of Hebrew and European languages. It is a Semitic language as much as it is a Germanic language. Yiddish speakers were reading and translating the Hebrew Torah the whole time. Speakers of modern Hebrew read from the same Torah as 3,000 years ago and can make sense of it. This is evidence of Yiddish being a semitic language. 2600:1700:2770:E9D0:C5A4:629E:2BE2:9971 (talk) 08:36, 12 October 2025 (UTC)Reply

Please supply references to reliable sources stating in such a declarative manner that this is true. As for your reasoning, the syntax of Yiddish is unmistakably Germanic. The Yiddish speakers who could read and translate the Hebrew Torah were able to do so because they also knew Hebrew; a person who spoke only Yiddish wouldn't be able to read the Torah at all. Speakers of modern Hebrew read from the Torah because it's in Hebrew, Yiddish has nothing to do with it. Largoplazo (talk) 13:41, 12 October 2025 (UTC)Reply

I just noticed that, at some point since the last time I'd visited the article, more than a year ago, the speech sample video File:WIKITONGUES- Suri speaking Yiddish.webm was replaced with File:WIKITONGUES- Matt speaking Yiddish.webm, and I'm not sure why, as I think the Suri clip is significantly better....

First off, no offense to Matt is intended here (particularly if he is a contributor to this article). He seems to me like a nice enough guy, at least from what I can tell from the short clip there. But honestly, I find Suri's pronunciation much better, and indeed, as she details in her video, she grew up speaking Yiddish as her first language, despite living in NYC, and didn't start learning English until she started elementary school. So I think having a sample from a native speaker is inherently preferable. With Matt, although he seems to have learned Yiddish pretty well, I can still pick up an American accent in his speech, and some of the sounds (ones which aren't normally present in American English) he seems to exaggerate. This is not uncommon for people who've learned a language with sounds that are foreign to them. So all around Suri's pronunciation is better.

Additionally, the Suri clip is significantly longer, about six and a half minutes long, which gives people the chance to hear more different words and appreciate a bit of the variety of the Yiddish language. The Matt clip, by contrast, is only 43 seconds in total, and the actual Yiddish part only goes until the 38 second mark, with him saying (in English) "go ahead and learn a bit of Yiddish" in the last few seconds. So even if it weren't for the superior pronunciation in the Suri video, it would still be better based on duration alone.

So I would strongly recommend restoring the clip with Suri.....Either as a complete replacement of the Matt clip, or in addition to it, if some folks here feel strongly about keeping the Matt clip. -2003:CA:873A:1501:4488:C0A1:D143:8705 (talk) 14:10, 23 October 2025 (UTC)Reply