Languages (was Re: [Sca-cooks] globetrotting)

[Randy Goldberg MD]

> I don't know Yiddish is dead. Most large cities around the world have
> a Yiddish-speaking population, and there are still Yiddish cinema,
> theatre, and publications. There are possibly more people in the
> world that speak Yiddish than, say, Basquaise...

The only people still learning Yiddish are adult or nearly-so, except in
pockets of Chasidism. Except in those communities, most of which think it's
still 1880, Yiddish will be dead in another generation or so. My
grandparents were the last mainstream generation to use Yiddish as a living
language (again, with the exception of Chasidic enclaves), and they are
nearly gone. In another 20 years, the Chasids will be the only ones using
Yiddish on a daily basis; everyone else who knows it will be a scholar.

Avraham

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Avraham haRofeh of Northpass
     (mka Randy Goldberg MD)