Mar 10, 2013
Why we should be teaching basic English in our schools
Here is a good example of why we should be teaching [at least] basic English [and math and some other studies] in our schools.
I dont speak more than a few words of Yiddish, but using Google Translate was easy enough to discover that "Ruft Farn Kumen" does not mean "Raping available by demand", but means "call for delivery". And, yes, this is a real ad (it has been confirmed) for a store in Monsey. Another option is that it is not a translation of the Yiddish but they meant to offer the possibility of "wrapping"..
I dont speak more than a few words of Yiddish, but using Google Translate was easy enough to discover that "Ruft Farn Kumen" does not mean "Raping available by demand", but means "call for delivery". And, yes, this is a real ad (it has been confirmed) for a store in Monsey. Another option is that it is not a translation of the Yiddish but they meant to offer the possibility of "wrapping"..
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This was in Monsey. As far as I know, US law requires English studies, much more than the Liba plan that Lapid proposes to enforce in Chareidi schools here in Israel. If the chassidim in Monsey don't know basic spelling, in a city in which many of their customers and all the non-Jews speak only English, why do you think forcing them to study English here would have any better results?
ReplyDeleteIt's not as you say: Why we should be teaching. If you just force them to teach it, you'll get results like what you see here. The attitude about secular studies is what you want to change. But for that, you'd have to change a sixty or more year opposition to secular studies.
Besides, Israelis who do study English make these kinds of mistakes in an embarrassingly high frequency.
with the entire ad in yiddish, why even bother adding that one line in English? they must be aware that they dont really know english...
ReplyDeleteI dont expect an Israeli to have perfect spelling. Most Americans, forget about Jews, don't have perfect spelling.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the attitude is more important.
Rafi, the latter is true: the ad is offering chosson-kallah gifts and wrapping is indeed available on demand.
ReplyDeleteרופט פאר קומען means "call before coming".
Your last question remains: why bother having the last line in English?!
The answer, in my opinion, has to do with the dire state and quality of the Yiddish spoken today in some of the communities:
A conversation based only on Yiddish vocabulary is highly uncommon. Instead, what you hear is a balanced mix of Yiddish prepositions, basic Yiddish vowels and nouns - sprinkled with English "converted" words, "Yinglish".
The author here had a delicate choice:
a. using a purely Yiddish syntax, the risk being that half the targeted YIDDISH SPEAKING crowd would not understand.
b. Writing the English term "wrapping" using Yiddish script. Here, also, the result is unpleasing, as the reader doesn't naturally register the word.
c. Write the sentence in English....
Oy vay! In Israel that would be awful - this is really in Monsey??
ReplyDelete