Basic Yiddish: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessible reference grammar with related exercises in a single volume. The workbook is structured around 36 short units, each presenting relevant grammar points which are explained using multiple examples in jargon-free language. Basic Yiddish is suitable for both class use as well as independent study. Key features include: a clear, accessible format many useful language examples jargon-free explanations of grammar abundant exercises with a full answer key Clearly presented and user-friendly, Basic Yiddish provides readers with the essential tools to express themselves in a wide variety of situations, making it an ideal grammar reference and practice resource for both beginners and students with some knowledge of the language.

Did you know that Yiddish is written in Hebrew letters but pronounced more like German? Introduce your kids to their mama loshen (mother tongue) and open the door to their cultural heritage! The basic Yiddish vocabulary includes more than 150 words for family members, objects in the home and school, colors and numbers. Each concept is presented with a bright picture, the Yiddish word, and the translation and transliteration. The once-thriving language, spoken by millions, is undergoing a revival, and kids will enjoy learning to speak the colorful tongue.

One doesn't have to be Jewish to recognize the words that have made their way into every fold of popular language: Chutzpah, Mensch, Tokhes, Mishmash, Nudge, Shtick, Schmaltzy, Schlep, Icky, and so on. Then there are phrases whose meaning and syntax are borrowed from Yiddish: "bite your tongue", "drop dead", "enough already", and "excuse the expression". This hilarious, concise guide includes chapters on the Basic Descriptions of People (the good, the bad, the ugly, and the goofy), the Fine Art of Cursing, Juicy Words and Phrases, Exclamations and Exasperations, and the Fine Art of Blessing.

You're no idiot, of course. You can serve up a mean s'il vous plaît in a French bistro, live la vida loca for a night of margaritas, and manage a sayonara! after sushi, sake, and karaoke. But when it comes to throwing around a little Yiddish, you feel like a total nebbish! Don't throw up your hands in a helpless “Oy, vey” just yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Learning Yiddish is your guide to this unique tongue, whether you're tackling rules of grammar or just throwing around some key phrases so you sound a little less goyish. In this Complete Idiot's Guide® you get: --A fascinating explanation of how and why Yiddish developed. --An easy introduction to the Yiddish alphabet, as well as to the distinctive sound of Yiddish. --All the Yiddish you'll need for communicating with family and friends or for bargain-hunting on New York's Lower East Side. --A treasury of Yiddish words and phrases for everything.

Containing nearly 50,000 entries and 33,000 subentries, the Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary emphasizes Yiddish as a living language that is spoken in many places around the world. The late Mordkhe Schaechter collected and researched spoken and literary Yiddish in all its varieties and this landmark dictionary reflects his vision for present-day and future Yiddish usage. The richness of dialect differences and historical developments are noted in entries ranging from "agriculture" to "zoology" and include words and expressions that can be found in classic and contemporary literature, newspapers, and other sources of the written word and have long been used by professionals and tradesmen, in synagogues, at home, in intimate life, and wherever Yiddish-speaking Jews have lived and worked.

This fascinating, useful, and funny collection of proverbs, curses, maxims, and ribald expressions will teach readers all they ever wanted to know about this remarkable language.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.