Yiddish in Fiddler on the Roof
...Or the curious lack thereof
Fiddler on the Roof is based on Yiddish-Languages stories by Sholem Aleichem. However, in their adaption, a strange thing happened; a curious lack of Yiddish remains in the final product. The most consistent Yiddish remains in the characters names; yente is an interfering woman prone to gossip-- and that's not a description of a character, but how the word yente is used in Yiddish, as well as being a woman's name!
In fact, the book is so highly translated that some lines simply don't work in how highly translated they are. Below, a quote from Tevye, as example:
"That Motel is a person." Is a rather strange statement in English. One step further, and we could say: "That Matt is a person!" . Yet, if one substitutes the Yiddish word "Mensch" for person, it has a totally different second meaning. While it still has the literal meaning of "That Motel is a human being" it also now means "That Motel is a trustworthy, upstanding, honorable sort of person."
Likewise, instead of "gut Shabbos", which is the traditional Yiddish greeting (used in place of Hello on the "Sabbath" (Shabbos). Ah gutten Shabbos is used in parting) doesn't appear in the play. Instead, it's translation to English, Good Sabbath is used.
NEVERTHELESS
A Brief (and incomplete) Guide to Yiddish
Yiddish is a Jewish language, which is a blend of primarily Hebrew and Medieval German but includes influences from Aramaic, Slavic languages such as Polish, Russian, and some small influences from Romance languages. Historically, it is the language of Ashkenazi Jewish people. Ashkenazim in some Chasidic (Orthodox) Jewish circles still speak it as a first language.
A lot of the names in Fiddler on the Roof are names that are either Yiddish or Hebrew. For a brief guide to the Russian names (and some fun tidbits), click through this link.
I recommend listening to a few videos from the Yiddish Book Center, to get a feel for how Yiddish sounds.
A few common sounds, in terms of names:
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"Ch" is pronounced as a gutteral "h" sound, as it is a voiceless fricative. It may also be written "Kh".
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In Scots, Irish,and Scottish Gaelic, the ch in the word "Loch" is a similar sound
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in Spanish the j in ojo is a similar sound
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Mordechai is pronounced "Mor-duh-hai" not like "Mord-e-Kai" which is how it is pronounced in English
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Chava is pronounced "Ha-va"
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An e on the end of a word is pronounced as a cross beween an "eh" and "uh" sound. An example is the e in "Synthesis". Technically, in IPA, it's ə , or a schwa. While in English ə isn't found on the end of a word, in Yiddish, it is.
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Golde is therefore pronounced "Gold-ə ".
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Yente is pronounced "Yen-tə ".
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