A Walk Through College Yiddish

Tuition: $480 | YIVO members: $375**
Students: $240 (Must register with valid university email address)
 

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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.

Instructor: Dovid Braun

Who should take this course?
This course is appropriate for Yiddish students at the intermediate level and above.

Course Description:
The superb grammatical organization of U. Weinreich's College Yiddish renders it much more than an elementary university textbook. This course is envisioned as an overview and explanation of basic Yiddish language structure for students desiring systematic review and elaboration of concepts, regardless of whether they've used this or other foundational Yiddish textbooks as their formal introduction to Yiddish study. 

The course will be taught primarily in Yiddish, with enrollees participating in Yiddish and, as needed, English (or other helpful languages). It is thus a course for students at various levels of Yiddish who have, at a minimum, progressed beyond the Beginner level of typical Yiddish-teaching programs and who want to reinforce their understanding of the language's building blocks. With its focus on an understanding of the forest, then the trees, of the organization of Yiddish word order and word building, the course ought to benefit Yiddish teachers as well as students. For enrichment, learners are highly encouraged to take this class simultaneously with other, more conventional-style, Yiddish language courses that progress along the traditional Beginner through Advanced tracks. 

College Yiddish was published by YIVO in 1949 as the fundamental university-level textbook and grammar of the Yiddish language for English-reading students. Its author, Uriel Weinreich, rose to prominence as a world-class Yiddishist and general linguist. 

Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
Yes, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.

Course Materials:
College Yiddish: An Introduction to the Yiddish Language and to Jewish Life and Culture by Uriel Weinreich. (Purchase)

Dovid (David) Braun has taught all levels of Yiddish language at YIVO's intensive summer program since 1990 at Columbia University and New York University. He initiated and taught in the intensive summer programs of the Yiddish Book Center (Amherst, MA) and Jewish Historical Institute (Warsaw, Poland). He has taught Yiddish language, Yiddish linguistics, and/or general linguistics as a faculty member of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and he regularly participates in varied research projects involving Yiddish language and culture. He serves as co-president of the Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center (Bronx, NY) which is now the only NYC area venue where public Yiddish cultural events are held on a regular basis.

**Become a member today, starting at $54 for one year, and pay the member price for classes! You’ll save on tuition for this course and more on future classes and public programs tickets.