Right now I’m working on founding current online resources to start my learning journey since Yiddish is a dying language. I have found a tutor on italki and I found a zoom online that does daily yiddish lessons that focuses on learning through cultural aspects such as songs or storiesI am also trying to learn the background/origin of the language and how it differs to Hebrew in regards to pronunciation, alphabet, and the Jewish demographics it is used by. I learned that it was commonly spoken by Ashkenazi Jew. I hope to learn how to have a basic introduction to the Yiddish language and maybe be able to say basic phrases. With my community partner, I hope to learn the basics of the language. Maybe even learn to read hebrew if I get to the stage. Currently, I have been glancing at “The Joys of Yiddish” to learn the origin of some Yiddish words that are commonly found in English vernacular. I currently have no strategies set up in place, and I have not had much work with the language yet so there has not been a test of the effectiveness of my lack of strategies currently. I will build on what I’ve learned in the language by trying to utilize what I have on future lessons to continue my engagement with past lessons as to not lose or forget any material. I think it is difficult to start a language that I am not familiar with at all. But I was very interested in it given that it was spoken by my family’s ancestors and that yiddish words and culture are used all over the english language in US daily culture(such as bagels, etc). Yiddish is spoken in Israel, US, Russia, and some European countries. However its speakers were mostly wiped out during the Holocaust. Right now it is a dying language as it is very uncommon in today’s world and not widely taught to the public or handed down to heritage speakers. I am currently not experimenting with any new learning strategies for listening, speaking, reading, or writing. I have received some vocabulary lists but I am learning those with old and previously used strategies for when I have studied a new language. So far there is no way to see if I’m successful oo not since I am just starting my journey. I'm very excited to take this step inot learning a dying language and also a language that has very close ties with my family's heritage as it was spoken by my grandfather but it was never passed down.
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I understand the difficulty of not feeling sure exactly whether you're learning your language or not. Something to consider if you haven't checked it yet is Duolingo. I saw an article that said that they've offered a Yiddish course since 2021 that might be useful to check out. I use Duolingo everyday for my Spanish and Babbel for my Portuguese and have found them useful. Something else that might be fun, if you have any archival information about your family, would be to go through it and see if you can find any journals or documents in Yiddish. Translating those I imagine would be incredibly interesting for you.