What's Yiddish

Yiddish is a language derived from medieval German, with the addition of various Hebrew words and phrases. As Yiddish spread throughout the world, it adapted to the language of the majority, both in terms of pronunciation and the addition of words. Yiddish is written phonetically in Hebrew letters, although it uses various letters or letter combinations to replace the Hebrew vowel points. Words which are derived from Hebrew are generally written in accordance with the Hebrew spelling rather the phonetic Yiddish spelling. In an attempt to divorce Yiddish from its Hebrew origins, the Jewish communists in the Soviet Union adopted a new spelling system, which spelled even words of Hebrew origin phonetically. This experiment was a failure. While there were 11,000,000 native Yiddish speakers in the before World War II, the Holocaust and the acculturation of Jews throughout the world in the period since that time has decreased the number drastically. There are nevertheless signs of revival of interest in Yiddish throughout the world, and it has become a popular college course in many areas.