Interview Transcript：A German Learner’s Perspective on Yiddish Language and Culture

Interviewee	A non-Jewish Yiddish learner from Germany
Primary Topics	Language learning, European Jewish culture, identity, preservation, and standardization
Editorial Note	Edited for clarity, coherence, and readability while preserving the interviewee’s stated views

Interviewer:
To begin, could you tell me a little about yourself and explain how you became interested in Yiddish?
Interviewee:
I have loved languages since I was a teenager and began learning foreign languages both at school and independently. In addition to German, I already speak four other languages, so Yiddish will probably become my sixth.
I grew up in a very open-minded family that regularly welcomed people from different countries and regions. Those experiences taught me that language is a key to understanding culture. To me, culture encompasses how people feel, how they think, and what guides their behavior. It reflects the shared perspectives and worldview of a community, and language is central to all of this.

Interviewer:
Do you come from a Jewish family, or do you have relatives or friends of Jewish heritage? Are you learning Yiddish mainly as a personal hobby, or are you hoping to build a deeper connection with Jewish people and culture?
Interviewee:
The latter. I want to explore Jewish culture and better understand what it means to be Jewish, especially in the European context. Europe has an extraordinarily rich Jewish cultural history, yet many non-Jewish Europeans, including people like me, know very little about it. That lack of knowledge is one of the main reasons I decided to study Yiddish.

Interviewer:
Do you expect to use Yiddish outside the classroom? Given the long-term decline in the number of speakers, why did you choose Yiddish rather than Hebrew or another language associated with a Jewish community?
Interviewee:
I chose Yiddish because it was historically the everyday language of Jewish communities in Germany and across much of Europe, even though that is no longer the case in most places today. To engage deeply with European Jewish history, I believe I need to understand Yiddish.
At the same time, native Yiddish-speaking populations are growing in certain parts of the world, even if this growth is not occurring in Germany. There are thriving Yiddish-speaking communities in the United States, Eastern Europe, Antwerp, and, as I understand it, Australia as well.

Interviewer:
This is not intended as a knowledge test, but could you briefly explain your understanding of the differences among Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jewish traditions?
Interviewee:
As I understand it, Ashkenazi Jews originally lived in German-speaking regions and later migrated eastward into Eastern Europe. Sephardic Jews were historically associated with what are now Spain and Portugal. Mizrahi Jewish communities lived across North Africa and other parts of the Middle East and developed close cultural connections with surrounding Muslim societies.
There are also communities from Yemen and neighboring regions, each with distinctive migration histories. Following the destruction of the Second Temple, Jewish communities dispersed throughout the Mediterranean region: some remained in the south, while others moved farther north. We discussed this history in class recently.

Interviewer:
In your view, does vernacular Yiddish dilute Jewish identity, or can it resist cultural assimilation? Does it preserve Ashkenazi culture, or might it deepen divisions among different Jewish communities?
Interviewee:
I do not believe that my individual efforts can preserve a minority language on their own. Unfortunately, the European Union has not officially recognized Yiddish as an endangered minority language eligible for dedicated government support, although advocacy groups continue to campaign for such recognition.
What I can do is help raise awareness among the wider public in Germany, where I live and where most of my social connections are. People first need to know that the language exists before they can form informed and fair opinions about it and treat Yiddish speakers with respect.

Interviewer:
As a non-Jewish learner, what has the experience of studying Yiddish been like? Does the language feel unfamiliar, and do you find culturally or religiously specific expressions difficult to understand?
Interviewee:
The grammar and vocabulary themselves are not especially difficult for me, largely because a substantial portion of Yiddish vocabulary is Germanic in origin. My greatest challenge at the moment is the Hebrew-based alphabet, since I have been studying the language for only about a year.
I am now approaching the point where I can read Yiddish texts with greater fluency. Once I become fully comfortable with reading—and eventually with writing—I expect my progress to accelerate significantly.

Interviewer:
You mentioned that some Yiddish-speaking communities are expanding rather than disappearing. Do formal cultural institutions preserve Yiddish, or do they risk turning it into a static museum language? Hasidic communities use Yiddish in daily life, while institutions such as YIVO promote a standardized form often associated with academic research. Which of these forces has the greater influence on intergenerational transmission?
Interviewee:
That is a complex question. I have read about debates within Jewish communities concerning standardized, institutional Yiddish used by research organizations and the informal, everyday Yiddish spoken in Hasidic communities. In my view, both forms are valuable, and they do not need to compete with one another.
Hasidic communities in Western countries, including the United States and parts of Europe, have growing populations, which has helped expand the number of everyday Yiddish speakers. At the same time, the standardized Yiddish promoted by institutions such as YIVO is extremely useful because it provides a shared formal language for discussing political, academic, and other specialized subjects.

Interviewer:
Is there anything else you would like to add that we have not covered today?
Interviewee:
Nothing else comes to mind at the moment.
Interviewer:
Thank you very much for your time and for sharing your perspective.
Interviewee:
Thank you.