As Lashon HaKodesh is a Holy language, it cannot be mixed together with any other language. To say, “Good Shabbos!” / “Good Shabbes!” / “Good Shaabos” is mixing English – a Latin-based language with Lashon HaKodesh (distorted).

The correct way to greet your friend on Shabbat is to say, “Shabbat Shalom!” And with Lashon HaKodesh, a person is giving his or her friend the greatest greeting of all – SHALOM.

It is time that Lashon HaKodesh is pronounced correctly by all communities, both ashkenazi and sephardi.

It is especially important to make the changes to pronounce the NAME of Hashem correctly, and to begin to make a Kiddush HaSHEM in all our Tefillot.

The 6th letter of the Aleph Bet is a VAV. It is not a “WAW”, as they may have been taught. “Waw” is incorrect.

The sound “WE” or “WA” is actually the NAME of Hashem.

When the 2 YUD’s of Hashem’s NAME are written together, the sound is “WA”. However this is never pronounced. This is the only time where there is the sound “WA” in the Aleph Bet.

Here are some examples:

1. David HaMelech is “DaVID HaMelech.” He is not “DaWEED HaMelech.”

2. A mitzvah is a “MitzVAH.” It is not a “MISSWAH” or a “MUSSWA.”

3. Mitzvot are “MitzVOT.” They are not ” MISSWOT “ or “MUSSWOT”.

4. Mitzvotav are “MitzVOTAV.” They are not “MitzWOTTAW.”

So a bridegroom is a (G)HATAN.
He is not a ‘CHATAN’ / ‘CHASSAN’ / ‘CHOSSON’/ ‘CHUSSON.’

9. The letter “AYIN” is guttural. The AYIN should not sound the same as the ALEPH.

The ashkenazi communities should start correcting their pronunciation.

“Taff” is “TE.” It is not “Se.”

It is as if someone had a bad lisp (lithp) or had some teeth missing.

The Torah was not given in Munich or Hamburg. The Jewish People came out of EGYPT, which is in the Middle East.

On being called up to the TORAH (not TOIYreh), the correct way to say the Bracha (not ‘BRUCHA’ or ‘BROCHO’) is:

“………..BARUCH ATAH A-D-O-Shem NOTEN HATORAH.”

– Not “BOruch ATOY Hashem NOSSEIN HASSORAH.”

This must be corrected very urgently.

• The “AH” sound cannot be changed into an “OY/OIY” sound or an ‘AW’ sound. So when a beracha is made, a person should be saying:

“BAruch ATAH….” and NOT, “BOruch ATOY or BOruch ATAW……..”

Some examples are below:
a) The word, “TORAH” has been distorted into the word, “TOIYROH”.

b) The name of “MOSHE Rabbeinu” has been distorted into the word, “MOIYSHER.” Who is MOISHER?

It is MOSHE Rabbeinu who gave us the TORAH.

Moshe did not give us the ‘TOIYROH’, or ‘TOYREH,’ and the Torah was not given to the Jewish People by a man called ‘MOIYSHER RABAIYNU.’

The name of the greatest of all the Prophets is ‘MOSHE’. It is about time the ‘rabbis’ and ‘dayanim’ got this right.

a) “Yerushalayim” has been changed into, “YerISHU LAYIM”. What does “YERISHU LAYIM” mean? “They will INHERIT LAYIM?”

b) “Yom Tov” has been changed into, “YON TIF”. This is not Hebrew. Hashem gave us days which are “YOM TOV” – not YON TIF.

“YOM” ends with a “Mem” not a “Nun.”
“TOV” ends with a “BET” not a “Peh.”
These are glaring examples of how Lashon HaKodesh has been distorted into words that are unintelligible.

The NAME of HASHEM beginning ALEPH – DALED – NUN – - which is extremely Holy – is continually mispronounced every day. The “OH” sound cannot be changed into “EE”. The 2 cannot be mixed.

It is extremely urgent for all communities to correct this. It is very dangerous for the leaders: dayanim, rabbanim and rebbeim of communities to let this continue.

There is NO forgiveness for this aveirah.

The breaking of the THIRD Commandment is UNFORGIVABLE – “LO YENAKEH.”

Lo Tissa et SHEM Hashem Elokecha lashav ki LO YENAKEH Hashem eit asher yissa et SHEMO lashav.” (Parsha of Yitro 20:7)

“You shall not take the NAME OF HASHEM, your G-d, in vain, for HASHEM WILL NOT ABSOLVE anyone who takes His NAME in vain.”

There is a correct way to pronounce every letter of the Aleph Bet. We are not allowed to change Hashem’s Torah.

Drastically changing the pronunciation of any letter is changing Hashem’s Torah – and this is something very grave.

Every letter is extremely holy. Each letter has a particular sound – like a particular note. When that sound or “note” is played incorrectly e.g. I play a piano with a hammer instead of my fingers – then great damage is caused.

Damage is caused Above, and correspondingly, below.

3. In Hebrew, the vowel “A” is “a” and “U” is “u”. So “Amein” is “amein”. The vowels cannot ever be twisted into “OOmein.” This is not Hebrew.

The vowels and pronunciation have been so severely distorted by the Chassidim and communities of Eastern Europe, or those of ashkenazi origin – that some words have unfortunately become unrecognisable. The problem persists until today, and it must be corrected – speedily.

b’li reishit b’lie tachlit (without beginning, without end)

then you have indeed heard the word ‘tachlis’.

IIRC Urdu bears the same relation to Hindi that Croatian does to Serbian. Same language, different alphabets.

Is this phenomenon related to the nasal in [binst] or [za(y)nt] in some Litvish dialects?

Interesting comment. My mother, a cynical sort, used to refer to the “lockshen koydesh.”

I think this is a more general phenomenon than simply ayin preceded and followed by an “a”. See, for instance, the pronunciation of מעשׂה (“story”) as [maynse].

Actually that is another example of exactly the same phenomenon. The `ayin comes between two patachs; it’s properly “ma`aseh”; in the Litvish accent, at least, the vestige of the `ayin can be heard as the “yn” sound to which you refer, just as in “Yaynkev”, “taynness”, “hoshaynne”, etc.

But oddly enough, the anomalies are in words from “lashon kodesh” — Hebrew or Aramaic — that never had to be transliterated into Yiddish.

I think this should either be (Israeli) leshon hakodesh (the leshon is in smikhut) or (Yiddish) loshn-koydesh. You’re right that this is the main source of non-phonemic spellings in Yiddish, though books published in the Soviet Union regularized the spellings of these Hebrew-Aramaic words words. But there are other anomalies as well. אױף is almost universally pronounced [af] as a preposition, and generally pronounced [uf] as an adverb, though some people use the spelling-pronunciation [oyf]. קײן is pronounced [ken] and not [keyn], though the latter is found in קײן מאָל נישט [keyn mol nisht] (“never”). זיך is often pronounced with some variation of [zakh] instead of [zikh], even in Standard Yiddish. Un azoy vayter…

Milhouse:

Yankev is not Yiddish for Yaakov, it’s just another transliteration of the Hebrew; the “n” is an approximation of the consonant “‘ayin”, which most Ashkenazim drop in most contexts, but remains sounded when it is both preceded and followed by an “a”, as in “Ya‘akeiv”, “ta‘anis”, “hosha‘ano”, etc.

I think this is a more general phenomenon than simply ayin preceded and followed by an “a”. See, for instance, the pronunciation of מעשׂה (“story”) as [maynse].

Fedya:

The German word Spiel can also be used to mean a (stage) play, in which case it’s short for Schauspiel. Further proof that The spelling without the H is of course the correct one, but then Yiddish is just German with really bad spelling. :-p

In Yiddish as well, as in the ubiquitious Purim-shpil. Additional evidence that German is just a corrupt dialect of Yiddish.

Derekh agev, I have to quibble with some of their translations. Takhles seems closer to “purpose” or “result”. And davka (Yiddish dafke), to me, expresses contrariness, something not captured by the translations “particularly, specifically.”

But oddly enough, the anomalies are in words from “lashon kodesh” — Hebrew or Aramaic — that never had to be transliterated into Yiddish.

That makes sense.

In other words: Oy. What’s a poor yekke from the midwest to do? When I was a kid, older Jews in my congregation literally questioned my Jewishness when I would sometimes not get basic Yiddish terms.

However, I have been happy to adopt useful Yiddish terms as I come across them in accordance with the chart that indicates their increasing use. I did not know I was part of a trend.

Yankev: Can anyone think of other languages whose names we are makpid scrupulously particular never to translate into English?

Try asking someone from the British Isles if they speak “Celtic” (as in the Boston Celtics).

Milhouse: Hebrew-Yiddish name pairs were originally separate names: one was the person’s Hebrew name used for ritual purposes, and the other was the secular name.Yankev is not Yiddish for Yaakov, it’s just another transliteration of the Hebrew; the “n” is an approximation of the consonant “‘ayin”, which most Ashkenazim drop in most contexts, but remains sounded when it is both preceded and followed by an “a”, as in “Ya‘akeiv”, “ta‘anis”, “hosha‘ano”, etc. And the “e” is the Litvish (and Temani) pronunciation of a cheilom (aka cholam).One does in fact hear of “Osher Anshel”; I’m surprised that you haven’t. A pair that used to be common but for some reason has dropped out of use is “Yehoshua Falk”.

And pairs “Zvi – Hirsch”, “Dov – Ber”, as well as “Zeev – Wolf” are simply translations between Hebrew and German (or Yiddish if you like).

Milhouse: And the “e” is the Litvish (and Temani) pronunciation of a cheilom (aka cholam).
One does in fact hear of “Osher Anshel”; I’m surprised that you haven’t.

Yeah, I went from a Conservative shul to a very small rural Orthodox shul with mostly Litvishers as members, many of them born in Europe. I remember my first Yem Kippur there, trying to figure out whose wine they were talking about at Mincha when they said it was time for Yenoh.

On the other hand, it was not as big an adjustment as hearing boorichee and ooleyni at other shils.

As far as never hearing Osher Anschel, I must be going to the wrong minyanim.

Milhouse: Koppel is a Yiddish diminutive of Yaakov

I did not know that. Similar then to the mod. Hebrew Kobi? Thank you.

byomtov: I don’t know that this is so, but Yiddish spelling, using Hebrew characters, is purely phonetic.

Mostly. But oddly enough, the anomalies are in words from “lashon kodesh” — Hebrew or Aramaic — that never had to be transliterated into Yiddish. Hence, with no change in spelling, the Hebrew Yakov becomes the Yiddish Yankev and the Hebrew Yom Tov becomes the Yiddish Yontiff. Younger black hatters have taken to pronouncing Yontiff the way it is spelled, leading to the anomalous “Gut Yom Tov” , which I find as jarring as Good Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom or Chag sameach I can deal with, but Gut Yom Tov is neither a chicken nor a rabbit.

I don’t know where “Gershon Zangvil” comes from. Can anyone enlighten me?

The re-spelling (from our POV) of the few well-known places from the rest of the world (Bombay, Peking) is a related phenomenon, pulling the pronunciation away from what something looks like it should sound like in English to a closer approximation of how it sounds to those living there.

Well, since Yiddish has Germanic origins, the words were originally in the Latin alphabet. There was no need to transliterate them into the Hebrew alphabet.

Yiddish words were not “originally” in the Latin alphabet; their German ancestors were, but they came into Yiddish through oral intercourse with Germans, and were thus written in Hebrew letters without the writers ever having seen the German spelling.

And for reasons I’ve never understood, the Yiddish form is often used as a paired name following the Hebrew, as in Menachem Mendel, Yiztchak Isaac, Tzvi Hirsh or Dov Ber. I’m not sure why this is done with some Yiddish names and not others; e.g. one never hears Yaakov Yankev, Asher Anshel, or Mordechai Mottel (another example of the translation taking on the diminuitive form).

Hebrew-Yiddish name pairs were originally separate names: one was the person’s Hebrew name used for ritual purposes, and the other was the secular name.

Yankev is not Yiddish for Yaakov, it’s just another transliteration of the Hebrew; the “n” is an approximation of the consonant “`ayin”, which most Ashkenazim drop in most contexts, but remains sounded when it is both preceded and followed by an “a”, as in “Ya`akeiv”, “ta`anis”, “hosha`ano”, etc. And the “e” is the Litvish (and Temani) pronunciation of a cheilom (aka cholam).

One does in fact hear of “Osher Anshel”; I’m surprised that you haven’t. A pair that used to be common but for some reason has dropped out of use is “Yehoshua Falk”.

Isn’t it plausible that this happened because Jews generally knew the Hebrew alphabet better than the Latin? I don’t know that this is so, but Yiddish spelling, using Hebrew characters, is purely phonetic. That seems to me to support the theory.

Yiddish as spoken of course also includes words from Hebrew and the national language of the speaker – Polish, Russian, etc. – as well as German.

Philistine: Offhand, seems like Tagalog, Swahili, Urdu, and Afrikaans to name a few.

I guess Hindi is another. Afrikaans and Hindi I can guess from the cognate; what are the literal translations of the others?

David Bernstein: It’s a boy’s name, short for “Mendel.”

Mendel being Yiddish for the Hebrewe name Menachem, “comforter”, which for some unexplained reason takes on the diminutive form in Yiddish. And for reasons I’ve never understood, the Yiddish form is often used as a paired name following the Hebrew, as in Menachem Mendel, Yiztchak Isaac, Tzvi Hirsh or Dov Ber. I’m not sure why this is done with some Yiddish names and not others; e.g. one never hears Yaakov Yankev, Asher Anshel, or Mordechai Mottel (another example of the translation taking on the diminuitive form).
Can any linquists help us out on this?

Yankev: Per byomtov, don’t you mean really bad transliteration from Yiddish into English?

Well, since Yiddish has Germanic origins, the words were originally in the Latin alphabet. There was no need to transliterate them into the Hebrew alphabet.

And you deleted the emoticon when you quoted me. I thought it was fairly clear I was cracking a joke….

Yankev: {snip}
Can anyone think of other languages whose names we are makpid scrupulously particular never to translate into English?

Offhand, seems like Tagalog, Swahili, Urdu, and Afrikaans to name a few.

Yankev: My grandkids — who live in Israel, but whose father goes to a black hat yeshiva — call their father “Tate” (pronounced Totti”) which is Yiddish for Daddy.

Well, how about that.

There is an entire school of thought about the word “mama” being so similar across the globe; that it comes from the sound an infant makes as it smacks its lips looking for the breast, and that it’s probably the first actual spoken word. Funny how that word is kind of hard-wired into us – my daughter is grown, but if I’m at the grocery store and I hear a little voice cry “Mama!” my head whips around.

“Mendy” is a really pretty name, but I’m not sure I’d give it to my daughter.

It’s a boy’s name, short for “Mendel.”