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Intensive Beginner I&II Yiddish
Tuition: $850 | YIVO members: $675**
Students: $425 (Must register with valid university email address)
This is a live, online course held weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, assignments, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish and English.
Instructor: Malena Chinski
Who should take this course?
This course is appropriate for those who are new to Yiddish or would like a review.
What topics will this class cover?
Drawing on a communicative approach, this intensive class will provide a basic background in Yiddish language, starting from the Yiddish alphabet, and covering a wide range of communication goals, vocabulary, and initial grammar concepts. Throughout the semester, students will work on each of the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
The class will be based on Unit I (chapters 1-4), and Unit II (chapters 5-7) of In eynem, and the alef-beys chapter. These materials will be complemented by other produced by the instructor for the class.
Communication goals and vocabulary units will include: getting acquainted and greetings, classroom expressions, geography and languages, talking about regular activities, describing objects and colors, numerals, giving commands and advice, talking about studies and professions, and discussing presence and absence. Grammar study will address: definite and indefinite articles, personal pronouns, regular and irregular verbs in the present tense, word order, plural nouns, the diminutive, the imperative, negative statements, introduction to verbs with separable prefixes, basic form of the adjective, and possessive adjectives.
The class will also address Shabbos customs and the Jewish calendar. Additional resources, such as Yiddish songs, proverbs, expressions, and authentic children book materials, will be proposed by the instructor according to the group’s interests.
Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
No, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is not required. However, students who have no prior experience with the Yiddish or Hebrew alphabets are highly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Yiddish alphabet before class, as the course will move at a fast pace. The tools and videos provided here will be helpful in getting a handle on reading and writing the alef-beys, and are designed for independent use.
Course Materials:
This course will use the textbook In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook, Vol I & II by Asya Vaisman Schulman, Jordan Brown, and Mikhl Yashinsky (Purchase).
Malena Chinski studied Yiddish at the IWO Foundation of Buenos Aires with Ester Szwarc and Avrom Lichtenbaum. She has recently taught beginner and intermediate classes at the Maison de la culture yiddish in Paris and in the Summer Program for Yiddish Language and Literature in Berlin. Her doctoral dissertation, completed in 2017 at the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento in Argentina, focused on the commemoration of the Shoah in Buenos Aires throughout the first postwar decade. During her postdoctoral fellowships in France at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah, she researched cultural initiatives and scholarly works undertaken by survivor Yiddish writers in Paris. Among her publications is a collective volume co-edited with Alan Astro, Splendor, Decline, and Rediscovery of Yiddish in Latin America (Brill, 2018).
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