Intermediate II Yiddish
Tuition: $480 | YIVO members: $375**
Students: $240 (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 Google Classroom. Students will be granted access to the class on Google Classroom after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish and English.
Instructor: Karolina Szymaniak
Who should take this course?
This course is appropriate for those who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework (Chapters 1-20 of In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook).
What topics will this class cover?
In this course, students will build speaking skills through conversation, reinforce their command of Yiddish grammatical structures, and improve their reading fluency and comprehension with historical and contemporary texts.
Students will develop their understanding of Yiddish syntax and complex sentence structures, and grammatical topics will include verbs followed by the infinitive, dative expressions, time expressions, and inflected nouns. Vocabulary topics will include modes of transportation, the body, pain and illness, and Ashkenazi traditions.
Students will read historical documents and excerpts from literary texts, learn songs, and analyze visual materials. All supplementary materials will serve as opportunities for discussion and review.
Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
Yes, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.
Course Materials:
All course materials will be provided by the instructor.
Questions? Read our 2026 Fall Classes FAQ.
Karolina Szymaniak is assistant professor of Yiddish at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Her research interests range across modern Yiddish literature, Polish-Jewish cultural relations, and translation studies. She is also co-founder of the Jewish Arts Institute/Yidisher Kunst-Institut, and co-editor-in-chief of East European Jewish Affairs. In addition to having taught Yiddish language and culture throughout Europe, she has also served as a consultant for the POLIN Museum in Warsaw and the Museum of Modern Art in Łódz. Her recent publications include Montages. Debora Vogel and the New Legend of the City and My wild goat. Anthology of women Yiddish poets (in Polish) and Hasidic Steam Engine and Other stories. Anthology of Yiddish short stories, 16th-21st centuries (in Polish). She is also the editor of Rachel Auerbach's ghetto writings, which received the 2016 Polityka History Award. Her new edition of Auerbach’s wartime and postwar writing was published in French in 2025.
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