Yiddish Reference Works and How to Use Them

Tuition: $450 | YIVO members: $350**
Students: $225 (Must register with valid university email address)

This is a live, online seminar held weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, 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.

Instructor: Dovid Braun

Course Description:
This course will investigate Yiddish reference works, including dictionaries and thesauruses. These Yiddish tools — pivotal for readers, researchers, teachers, interpreters, translators, and writers — grow immensely in value and utility once we understand what information they contain and how to navigate them. This seminar will explore a number of such sources and present "tricks of the trade" for maximizing their helpfulness. The focus of the class will be navigating various YIVO publications.

Who should take this course?
This class is designed for those with a high-intermediate-level or advanced-level knowledge of Yiddish. The class discussion will be conducted in Yiddish.

Those who have taken a high-intermediate or advanced Yiddish class with YIVO in a fall or spring semester (such as Intermediate IV Yiddish, Intensive Intermediate III&IV Yiddish, Advanced I Yiddish, Intensive Advanced I&II Yiddish, Intensive Advanced III&IV Yiddish, or Intensive Advanced V&VI Yiddish) and/or those who have taken a high-intermediate or advanced level of the Summer Program are especially encouraged to register.

Course Materials:
The instructor will provide all course materials digitally throughout the class on Canvas.

Optionally, students are encouraged to purchase the following texts:

• College Yiddish: An Introduction to the Yiddish Language and to Jewish Life and Culture by Uriel Weinreich. (Email info@yivo.org to purchase a copy.)
• Der oytser fun der Yidisher shprakh by Nahum Stutchkoff/Nokhem Stutshkov (Access online)
• Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary by Uriel Weinreich (Purchase)
• The Standardized Yiddish Orthography by Mordkhe Schaechter (Purchase)
• Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary by Alexander Harkavy (Purchase)

Dovid (David) Braun has taught all levels of Yiddish language at YIVO's intensive summer program since 1990 at Columbia University and New York University. He initiated and taught in the intensive summer programs of the Yiddish Book Center (Amherst, MA) and Jewish Historical Institute (Warsaw, Poland). He has taught Yiddish language, Yiddish linguistics, and/or general linguistics as a faculty member of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and he regularly participates in varied research projects involving Yiddish language and culture. He serves as co-president of the Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center (Bronx, NY) which is now the only NYC area venue where public Yiddish cultural events are held on a regular basis.

**Become a member today, starting at $54 for one year, and pay the member price for classes! You’ll save $46 right now, and more on future classes and public programs tickets.