Beginner III Yiddish (Sunday)

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

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 and English.

Instructor: Karolina Szymaniak

Who should take this course?
This course is for those who have previously taken two semesters of Yiddish. It is appropriate for those who took Beginner II Yiddish in fall 2022. This class assumes knowledge of basic vocabulary and conversational patterns and grammar (including the present tense, verbs with separable prefixes, the imperative, diminutives, plural nouns, and numbers).

What topics will this class cover?
This course will further develop four basic language skills: reading, speaking, writing, and listening. Students will learn with the help of historic and contemporary materials, including radio programs, songs, and abridged excerpts from Yiddish literature. Grammatical structures will include the negation, existential construction there is/there are (review), possessive adjectives, accusative articles and pronouns, declension of adjectives in nominative and accusative. Vocabulary topics will include studies, family, professions, and physical appearances. The course also includes a brief overview of selected topics in Yiddish cultural history, such as the history of Yiddish literature and holidays.

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

Course Materials:
This course will use the following textbooks:

• In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook, Vol I & II by Asya Vaisman Schulman, Jordan Brown, and Mikhl Yashinsky (Purchase)
• College Yiddish: An Introduction to the Yiddish Language and to Jewish Life and Culture by Uriel Weinreich (Purchase)

Karolina Szymaniak is assistant professor at the Jewish Studies Department at the University of Wrocław and Research Fellow at the Jewish Historical Institute. Her research interests range across modern Yiddish literature, Polish-Jewish cultural relations, and translation studies. In addition to having taught Yiddish language and culture throughout Poland and Europe, she has also served as a consultant for the POLIN Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in Łódz. Her recent publications include Montages. Debora Vogel and the New Legend of the City and My wild goat. Anthology of women Yiddish poets (in Polish). She is also the editor of Rachel Auerbach's ghetto writings, which received the 2016 Polityka History Award.

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