Finding Yiddish: Melanie Weiss at TEDxColbyCollege

[@cropcircler]

This young lady's oratorical skill and self-confidence are impressive

[@judithklau5243]

Although this talk is now several years old, I just found it. I was delighted, and both moved and amused at your experience and your wisdom. I spoke the same kind of Yiddish you did when I got to college (in 1952!) and by the end of the semester, my Catholic roommate from a ranch in Southern California was shrugging her shoulders and saying "A bi Gezunt!" in perfect imitation. Now, with the Yiddish Book Center's new publication of "In Eynem," and teachers from the Center, from YIVO and from the Workers Circle, I'm in total immersion. I wish I could practice by shmoozing with you! I'm in Boston - find me!

[@anhpam9205]

Melanie, I live in Israel and have been studying Yiddish as a hobby for 6,7 years.My classmates are 60+ Israelis who were ashamed of their parents' Yiddish when they were growing up.Other classmates like myself hail from N.America and always had a great affection for the language our grandparents spoke though our own parents did not really promote it..I enjoy it very much even though I am unlikely to ever gain real fluency. I always eavesdrop on conversations when ever I can and attend concerts and shows from time to time. Alot of young people are into it here. Two of my daughters studied it at their very .innovative high school

[@haroldgoodman130]

What a heartfelt and loving talk. Melanie, zolstu blaybn gezunt un shtark! Yidish iz unzere mame loshn un vet azoy zayn biz eybik.

[@marywithalamb6159]

It's the most emotional TED talk I've ever heard since I've registrated on KZbin

[@eliasblum753]

I love Yiddish! It's such an expressive language.

[@markrogowin8572]

I think in Yiddish sometimes, because this was a language that I heard in childhood. It is important to me because it added to my knowledge of the Jewish religion. I cherish it and wish I could speak it well. I am over 60 years old now. It has a different perspective to emotional relationships and to other people in general. I hope I can keep it alive. Yiddish looks at life differently than other languages and it imparts a sense of humor to tragedy and failure. I love Yiddish.

[@wolfgangnolte34]

mark rogowin ,

[@wolfgangnolte34]

mark ro

[@nelskatzman4751]

i tend to think and even speak yiddish which is some kind of retrogression as i age

[@nancygrossman1894]

Melanie is so right...the Yiddish language is slowly disappearing, but to many of us it represents a fond memory of our heritage - I can still hear my 92 year old bubbe, after complaining to her that I was bored, telling me to "go bang my head against the wall." In Yiddish of course. I loved this Ted talk - its inspiration more than made up for its sadness about losing part of our Jewish heritage. Great job!

[@beverlychayet4467]

yiddish speaks to the humor and soul. Reason enters in also but humor enhances our "sechel".

[@oranlichtman2021]

Being a bridge that crosses the tides of time, how romantic!

[@leonamay8776]

I agree.

[@kobyberkovits4093]

Very entertaining and true! Loved it! Well presented. Thanks.

[@rutimizrachi]

I feel your melancholy. To have the gift of communication! But to have the layers of history and sociology standing between you and fellow speakers... Thank YOU (and the bubbe, apparently) for being able to transcend the cultural divide to appreciate the commonality of language. Don't let go of that gift, no matter how hard it is for some participants (the younger woman in your tale) it may be to cope. Your love of the common language will eventually give you great power for good. Great talk!

[@shifrabaila6673]

I can readily sympathize with Melanie. In my own family, I found out after my mother past away that not only did she speak Yiddish fluently, but also know Hebrew as well and she did not teach me either. She spoke Yiddish to my father so the kids would not understand what was being said. I really became angry at her when I finally moved to Israel (at age 42) and found it very difficult to learn the language. I, too, had "Yiddishism" in my speech from hearing my mother and her family speak at family gatherings - so I gleaned some of the more important phrases, i.e., (translated phrases): go to sleep, go eat, go away, and leave the girl alone.

[@JanetGrant-le4sl]

My parents were first generation Americans and spoke Yiddish until they went to Kindergarten and still after that with their parents (and after that only when they didn't want their "kindah" to know what they were saying to each other). So I have felt very similar feelings to you, Melanie, in what I feel our generations have lost (and I am much older than you) by the generations before us assimilating by giving up their language. Still, I take some pride in insisting on being called Bubbe when my first grandchild was born. He's 3 now, and to him, it is the most natural thing in the world to call me that.

[@thumbstruck]

So much is lost because of fear, shame, and ignorance.

[@andrewsindler5867]

אויב נאָר זיי פארשטאנען וואָס זיי פאַרלירן

[@yoilyweiss2601]

In New York yiddish is still one of the most used languages

[@chloroxbleach287]

Go Yoily Go!

[@Tamar-sz8ox]

I love it ! ❤️ Geh gezunterheit ! Dank !

[@liums7917]

You should really come to Switzerland and see how similar Yiddish and Swiss (Alemanic) is. Or for a taste of it you watch the movie "Motti Wokenbruch" (Half German/Yiddish)

[@rjkulman8990]

Mel, be the bridge, its ok, thats what we do best, even when some of us think that we've overstepped the "boundry line"

[@arttherapy727]

Great talk

[@hank1519]

Good job, Melanie!

[@silentobserver3791]

A great talk, thank you!

[@minkagoldstein9228]

I didnt know that Lukshin was pasta or noodles in english as a kid and had a huge fight with a kid in school over this. i say we were having lukshin and cheese for lunch and she said it was noodles and cheese. i grew up with the same yinglish. a friend of mine shocked me when she didnt know what i meant that "this was a huge schlepp".

[@TheZarkoc]

another good ted talk

[@Myboxter98]

My grandmother and parents spoke Yiddish in front f me when I was young so I wouldn’t understand what they were saying. But over time, with repeatedly using the same phrases and gestures, I got understand what they were saying and they lost their advantage. Yiddish has words that sometimes don’t translate because there is emotion or a spirit in the word that can’t be captured. I’m 74 and earlier my gentile grinds would use and often mispronounce Yiddish words and we all laughed.

[@harrynash1990]

Melanie I am sure we we were in the same class at UCL where we studied under Dr.Helen Beer, in fact of course it's you.And you're the same Melane Weiss who joined me for dinner at Sammy's on one of my business trips to NYC My wife and I were scheduled to fly to NYC this Thursday and catch the QM2 back to the UK Saturday but for obvious reasons m'darf bleiben in shtieb . It would be nice to hear from you...I'm still at UCL..still speaking mein poylisheh Yiddish 'ch bin kein technologiker und weiss nicht voos tsi tien tsi machen kontakt mit sie Efsheh oif You Tube I'll search my old phone directories. Zay g'sindt. harry nash

[@hebreophone]

מקסימה

[@serdip]

אידיש איז קיין מאל נישט פארלוירן און אויך עס איז נישט ווידער-געבוירן נאר עס מאכט מיט אצינד א באנייאונג אן עדות פון אונזערע באפרייאונג דער וואס נעמט נאר צייט צו באקוקען ווי גרינג עס איז זיך אויסצודרוקען אין דער רייכער אידישער שפראך געבט זיך א שמייכל און געבט זיך א לאך מיט הייליגע אותיות פון לשון הקודש ס'איז גלייך סיי פאר אונגראריש און סיי פאר פויליש איך לערן עס חאטש פון וואנען איך שטאם ווייל מיין ליבשאפט פאר אידיש ברענט ווי א פלאם © 2017

[@jesselev5012]

Bplease translate!!!

[@Rolando_Cueva]

© 2017 lol

[@kleyzmer]

האט דא קען מאן זאגן איך אונד דיר דיר אונד מיר מיר זיינענן דער קלעמקע צום דער טיר

[@janepiepes2243]

You didn't really pronounce " Tsurus" correctly. The "TS" are joined together. It's neither the T or the S by itself.

[@PianoMeSasha]

she has absolutely dreadful pronunciation.

[@haroldgoodman130]

her pronunciation is correct for what she heard, not what you believe it should be. in fact, there are at least 3 very different ways to pronunciation Yiddish.

[@ef2718]

@@haroldgoodman130 Given Tsures is a loan word from Hebrew צרות, then the first consonant is צ which sounds like ts. Jane is correct.

[@mrfarina1474]

im gonna be honest like why is she doing this in a random college in maine and not in brooklyn or Manhattan or something

[@iRosati]

4:50

[@saykhelrachmones8668]

Mazel tov.

[@Shmelke45]

Zaier shein

[@kleyzmer]

איך אונד דיר (מלאני) דיר אונד מיר זיינען די קלעמקע צו דעם טיר. א שיינעם דאנק

[@elliez.3561]

איך מיין אַז איך דיר מסכּים נישט הונדערט פּערצענט

[@vonjd]

As a German, you can understand most of Yiddish, it is very similar. So why not learn German and be able to communicate with millions of people in their mother tongue!

[@deborah393]

Because Yiddish is not German. German is the mother tongue of Germans. Yiddish is the mother tongue of Ashkenazi Jews. Yiddish encompasses an entire culture that is not German, and the 25-ish% of Yiddish that is not German reflects the experience of Ashkenazi Jews in the Diaspora. Often a phrase which literally means something in German means something entirely different in Yiddish because of the references to Jewish Culture, Jewish History, or the Tanakh. You can't just learn the words. You have to learn the culture and history.

[@worldwithoutwar8622]

Dat's not a Metaphor, Darlink. It's a hyperbole . . .

[@vecvan]

Yiddishists to drink with? I don't understand, is that koisher?

[@liamsandal6360]

Not "koisher" but "kosher". There is no holam vowel in the word. So, the next time you make fun of Yiddish, know what you're talking about.