Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 19.013 October 9, 2009 1) farker-mitlen (Stuart Cohn) 2) Yiddish medical translations (Jordan Kutz) 3) Kiyubishever rov (Cedric Ginsberg) 4) Sukes-lid (Rita Falbel) 5) Max Perlman's "Benzin" (Cedric Ginsberg) 6) Non-religious literature in Yiddish (Malvin E. Ring0 7) "Well over the fast!" (Yehuda Berger) 8) Moyshe Sambatyon (Alice Dazord) 9) Isaac Babel in Yiddish (Leonard Fox) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 23, 2009 Subject: farker-mitlen Greetings, I am trying to figure out a phrase from a Memorial book for the Community of Racionz but I don't understand this term. Could anyone define "farker-mitlen" as in the following phrase: Es zenen ober nit geven keyn farker-mitlen, vayl ale farker mitlen zenen genumen gevorn fun poylisher militar. I tried looking this term up in my Weinreich dictionary but all I could find was farker = intersection. Thank you, Stuart Cohn 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 3, 2009 Subject: Yiddish medical translations http://www.yiddish2go.com/ I don't know anything about this firm so I was very intrigued when I came across this website. They refer to a Yiddish language translation "industry." While there are lots of Yiddish translators, interpreters, and some firms that primarily do Yiddish translation, I've never heard it referred to as an "industry" before. Has anyone had any experience with this firm before? Their references to knowledge in localization and specialized terminology for various fields is also interesting to me and it brings to mind the issue of contemporary medical translation for Yiddish speakers. In a case which has nothing to do with the above firm, I saw and was baffled by a medical form in Yiddish for a hospital that was, how shall I put this politely, very poor. The words for conditions, body parts and procedures were inconsistent, or occasionally transliterated English (wrist, joint, cancer) and most frighteningly in one case just plain wrong (a mix up between the words for kidney and liver!!). I really wish I had kept the form because I've been unable to find it in the time since. I hope it's been replaced by a better version, as this was about two years ago. Medical translation is tough generally and even tougher with how much Yiddish can vary. In normal American Hasidic Yiddish cancer is expressed as one of several euphemisms but to almost anyone in Boro Park the technical term would be "cancer." In the dictionary you'll find the word "rak." Speaking to people around the world I've mostly heard euphemisms "yene mayse" etc., as well as the word "kreps." With "joint" I've heard/seen at least three different Yiddish terms as well as seen the English joint in print in Yiddish letters. The forms I saw were clearly aimed at a Hasidic population, which is of course the main population requiring medical translation forms in Yiddish in NYC. But the main population is not the only. I've known people in Philadelphia who spoke only Polish and Yiddish or Russian and Yiddish who relied on forms in Yiddish. Had they been in NYC they would have been baffled by a (hypothetical) sentence like "veyst ir oyb ayer inshurins vet dekn di kostn fun a kondishn oder kenser vos ir hot frier gehat (pre-eksisting kondishn)," with pre-existing condition being transliterated English. The best solution may be to use multiple terminology so that the widest audience can understand. But if a form can only contain a minimum number of words (or a minimum amount of space) this may not be possible. In some respects translating a poem and keeping the correct tone between languages is harder than translating an insurance form or a patient confidentiality agreement. But no physical harm can come from mistranslating a poem. People can be hurt or killed by confusion about medical procedures stemming from botched translations. In any case, I wish this firm and everyone else tackling this important but difficult work All the best. Jordan Kutz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 23, 2009 Subject: Kiyubishever rov In a once-off literary cultural publication (Dorem-afrikaner zamlbukh) which appeared in South Africa in February 1945, there is a statement that the proceeds of the sale of the book would be donated to Ratnfarbandishe yidn {=Kiyubishever Ruf}. Does any Mendelyaner know the significance of Kiyubishev [Kubishev] - I have seen reference to ethnic cleansing of the Taters in Kubishev Oblast, but there was no reference to Jews. Does anybody have any knowledge of the Fund, was it simply the name of a Fund established to assist Jews in the Soviet Union in the immediate post-war era? Who ganized the Fund, and what were its origins? Cedric Ginsberg 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 1, 2009 Subject: sukes-lid Has anyone heard of the Sukkos song (lyrics below)? Sukes a yontef a fargenign Ven men un vayber Hern oyf tsu krign Zi git im esn A hipsh bisl Un shokhn kukt arayn In shisl A gut, gezunt un zis yor Rita Falbel 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 16, 2009 Subject: Max Perlman's "Benzin" Could someone check and correct where necessary the words of the song "Benzin" by Max Perlman? "Benzin" fun Max Perlman Transcribed and transliterated from the original recording by Cedric Ginsberg Petroleum iz a tzoyber klang, un akht vi flisik gold Di velt bakumen hot, a nayem zin Es hot der mentsh gevolt azoy, un di tsayt hot es gevolt Az alts zol dreyn zikh arum benzin Me zukht benzin, men grobt azoy di erd Durkh blut in harts durkh fayer un durkh shverd REFRAIN Ay vil men forn, ay vil men forn, nor tsum forn darf men ongisn benzin Un az men gist nit keyn benzin, Shtup aher un shtup ahin, es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin. In kasino dort baym yam, bay der roleta aparat Yidn pravn khshtos a gantse nakht Dort shteyt reb Yankl, mit zayn vayb, shoyn opgeflikt oyf glat, Farspilt dem gantsn oytser vos gebrakht Zayn vayb bet im, oy Yankl "Stop di Game" Du vest nisht hobn mit vos tzu forn aheym Un er vil forn ay vil er forn, nor tsum forn darf men ongisn benzin un az men gist nit keyn benzin, Shtup aher un shtup ahin, es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin An almen shoyn fun akhtzik yor hot zikh amol farglust A yunge shayne maydl far a vayb Dos maydl ober hot gevust az er hot gelt a sakh Hot zi geheyrat tsulib tsaytfartrayb Dos yunge vaybl vil forn nit shpatsirn, A yid an alter ken zikh shoyn nit rirn Ay er vil forn, ay vil er forn, nor tsum forn darf men ongisn benzin un az men gist nit keyn benzin, Shtup aher un shtup ahin es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin Ay vil men forn, ay vil men forn, Nor tsu forn darf men ongisn benzin un az men gist nit keyn benzin, hot dos lebn nit keyn zin es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin Cedric Ginsberg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 16, 2009 Subject: Non-religious literature in Yiddish With regard to the query as to whether there was any substantial non-religious literature published in Yiddish, one has only to look at a catalog of the book holdings for sale of the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA. I am a product of a Sholem Aleichem shul in Brooklyn, and my wonderful teacher of half a century or more ago was Zion Weinper, a noted poet. I recently bought a book of his poems from the Center, all of them secular. In addition, the holdings of the Center contain numerous secular books published in pre-war Poland, Lithuania, etc. It is worth an inquiry. Malvin E. Ring 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 25, 2009 Subject: "Well over the fast!" My friend and I are puzzled by the pre-Yom Kippur exclamation, "Well over the fast!" I've searched through Google and have found no evidence of an etymology or of a Yiddish version of the phrase. Perhaps fellow Mendelyaner can shed some light on this peculiar wish. Yehuda Berger 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 3, 2009 Subject: Moyshe Sambatyon I am looking for biographical information concerning Moyshe Sambatyon, the author of the "sixth continent." Thank you in advance. Alice Dazord 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 15, 2009 Subject: Isaac Babel in Yiddish Re: Gerry Kane's inquiry about Yiddish translations of Isaac Babel. On pages 32-33 of Efraim Sicher's exhaustive bibliography of Babel's works and their translations, there is a listing of Yiddish translations and their places of publication. A word of caution: the pdf version is fine, but if you choose the html version, you will have to read the Yiddish text backwards; not a problem, of course, but at first glance you might wonder what language is being written from right to left in Hebrew letters! html version: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=3Dcache:yxGHgnhHKFUJ:www.stanford.edu/~gfreid=in/ Publications/babel/BABEL2.pdf+isaac+babel+yiddish+translations&cd=3D18& ;h=l=3Den&ct=3Dclnk&gl=3Dus&client=3Dsafari pdf version: http://www.stanford.edu/~gfreidin/Publications/babel/BABEL2.pdf Interestingly, Sicher says, on page 16: "The last Soviet edition of Babel's works in fact appeared in Yiddish in 1939." I have been a great admirer of Babel for more than fifty years, as well as a collector of his works in various languages, but I have never been able to track down a copy of this edition. If anyone has one for sale, please let me know. By the way, Sicher also lists Babel's translations from Yiddish into Russian. Leonard Fox ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 19.013 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead,direct your mail as follows: Material for Mendele Personal Notices & Announcements, i.e. announcements of events, commercial publications, etc., always in plain text (no HTML or the like) to: victor.bers at yale.edu (in the subject line write "Mendele Personal") Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e. inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature: mendele at mailman.yale.edu IMPORTANT: Please include your full name as you would like it to appear in your posting. No posting will appear without its author's name.Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email addresses in the body of the message, as responses will be posted for all to read. 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