In the U.S.A. and Canada, how common is the Yiddish language?

I’d bet very small numbers are fluent still around the world. As for using little bits of Yiddish here and there, yes, it’s very commonplace among Ashkenazi Jews, and many Yiddish words have been adopted into the English language in America, especially the urban dictionary.

In certain industries even many of the non-Jews use the terminology regularly like the garment industry, Hollywood and theatre, and more.

You probably use or know some Yiddish without realizing it.

I have noticed more use of it on TV lately. Just the other day Chris Matthews used mishigas, and I thought to myself a lot of people won’t know what it means.

Schmuck, schtick, yutz, putz, schnook, mashugana, nosh, schmear, I could go on and on. All commonly used in many parts of America by Jews and people who aren’t Jewish.

As Ashkenazi Jews assimilated in the US, especially with the rise of the Reform movement, primary Yiddish speakers died out.

And the biggest source of Yiddish literature and writing was wiped out during the war, so little new blood came into North America.

There are still a lot of Yiddish speakers in Israel. And it is still the primary language amongst Hasidic Jews, especially in Brooklyn. Many view Yiddish as the language of Orthodox Jewry.

I have only heard it spoken in the movies, and never in real life sorry.

There are several words in chess lingo that are Yiddish in origin as well. Notably “patzer” (a player of low skill) and “kibitz/ing/er” (basically the chess equivalent of armchair quarterbacking).

I think there are still some Yiddish newspapers in America. In NY, and maybe a few other locations. It all might be online now.

In America Yiddish was probably used as the common language between many Jews new to America from various countries while they still weren’t fluent in English, so my guess is it was convenient for communication. Similar to how I use Spanish with Brazilian friends who don’t speak English.

Yiddish took a hard hit with the Holocaust. The majority of the Jews killed in the Holocaust spoke Yiddish. The Holocaust killed about ⅓ of The Jewish population worldwide. A population that was rather small to begin with.

A small number of younger Jews study Yiddish to keep the language and literature alive. Most of these modern Jews don’t use Yiddish as their daily language but are using it academically. I’m not sure what the Hassidim are doing nowadays.

Yiddish was the daily language of Eastern European Jews before the Holocaust and, s @JLeslie says used by them initially when they came to America. Second generation Jews like my parents, primarily spoke the English that they learned from birth, but would use Yiddish if they didn’t want us to understand them. Now my brother and nephew study and write in it sometimes.

It is interesting to note that Hebrew was formerly only used for ritual and study of the Torah and Talmud and only became a daily spoken language again with the advent of Israel. Many words for modern developments were not in it and had to be invented or coopted from other languages.

@janbb Great point about Hebrew. It’s interesting how Israel revived the language. I think of it as being similar to Latin, which is basically dying. It seems like Israel could have named Yiddish an official language also, it’s so related to being Jewish.

As a side note my FIL’s first languages were Hebrew and Arabic having been raised by Israeli-Mexican parents. His parents never spoke Spanish very well. They fled to MX in the 20’s I think. I guess that’s before Israel was Israel so to speak.

@JLeslie Well, all the Yemenite and Sephardi Jews did not speak Yiddish so it would have caused a lot of resentment and further alienation. It already has been hard to integrate the Jews from the Middle Eastern countries with the wealthier more established European Jews who came earlier. They needed to have a “universal” Israeli language.

As others have said, “very little” Yiddish speaking in the US these days. Those who do speak it are generally very old and dying out. There is a small set of ultra-Orthodox younger jews who speak it because the family does, but they also know and speak English to outsiders.

The National Yiddish Book Center link tries to promote Yiddish culture through the rescue of Yiddish books and materials, and through various educational programs. But they have working on a shoestring budget for years, and without great success.

@elbanditoroso My nephew did an internship there. I wouldn’t say it is very little success; they have rescued numerous books. It’s just not a widely popular endeavor.

@janbb Makes perfect sense.

I remember once hearing something about some politician in Israel several years ago that some were unhappy with, and some of the talk being that he was a Mizrahi Jew, I don’t remember his name. Like they didn’t trust him as much, or culturally different or something. I’m not sure. It caught my attention at the time, but I don’t remember the details now.

Yiddish was the primary language of my grandparents, who immigrated from Eastern Europe, and my parents could speak as it well. It was frequently used when my parents did not want my brother or me to follow what they were saying. I studied German in college and was surprised at how much of Yiddish I could pick up. I believe Yiddish is considered a dialect of German, though it contains many words of Hebrew origin. My grandmother was a regular reader of the Yiddish newspaper, the Forward, which is now monthly magazine.

@Yellowdog I think you are the Memphian right? Memphis is actually “on the map” in the orthodox community. Quite a few observant Jews move to Memphis for its reasonable cost of living compared to more expensive cities with orthodox communities. When I lived there I think there were 2 orthodox synagogues, and 6 total synagogues. Also, at least one Jewish day school, and I think a K-12 also. The JCC is a very nice facility there too.

My point is, there is a reasonably sized pocket of religious Jews there for a southern city. Maybe some of them speak Yiddish if you’re interested.