LL-L "Resources" 2011.02.27 (03) [EN]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 27 February 2011 - Volume 03
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L Resources

Since I live just a few miles from the French language border, language
contacts are almost occuring daily.

1 - This afternoon I saw the movie "*Rien à Déclarer*" downtown Brussels in
a sold-out movie theatre. It deals with custom officers at the Belgian
(Walloon) - French border, in the last weeks before Schengen came into
force, ending controll at the borders. Core issues: the rivalry between the
officers of the 2 countries, plenty of jokes told about the other country, a
love story of a relationship between the sister of a Belgian officer in love
with the French rival of her brother. The French officer tries to get credit
from the Belgian family by trying to speak Belgian French. A summary:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1528313/

Boon made a similar film a few years ago, with, instead of the opposition
Belgian French v/ French French, opposition of standard French with Northern
French (Picard Ch'ti colored) from within France. Cf. url
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1064932/.

In both cases it is not the regional language one hears, but the regional
variant of the standard language. Everyone understands that, so a large
public can enjoy.

2 - I think every year a couple of books about Belgian French are published.
I bought this one a few weeks ago downtown Brussels: Michel Francard
e.a., *Dictionnaire
des Belgicismes*, 2010, De Boeck-Duculot, ISBN 978-2-8011-1608-1, 400 pp
pocket size, small print over 2 cols. For once the quality is very good.
Francard is university professor in linguistics and published many books
about walloon dialects.

A selection at the v and w of vocabulary of Dutch origin: vogelpik,
wateringue, waterzooi, witloof, volle gaz, volle petrol, Francard limits his
selection to words known by at least 50 percent of French speakers in
Belgium and at the same time used by at leat 30 percent. (This excludes
Brussels French vocabulary not heard elsewhere).

3 - A few samples of Picard on the web (spoken in Northern France and
South-West Belgium): http://www.charlemagne-nord.fr/ take "Extrait 1" and
"Extrait 2" at the bottom right.

4 - I found this afternoon: Nicolas Buat & Evelyne Van den Neste, *Dictionnaire
de paléographie française, découvrir et comprendre les textes anciens (XVe -
XVIIIe siècle),* 2011, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, ISBN 978-2-251-44406-2,
655 pp, small print over 2 cols. It is about old handwriting. Although the
samples are all French, the handwriting is very similar to the handwriting
in Dutch of the same time (and very different from German Ghotic
handwriting). Interesting is that very short fragments are directly
explained. In other manuals one often has to find the translitteration into
printed characters at the end of the book.

5 - And I also found a box "Assimil, *Le Yiddish*", ISBN 978-2-7005-8019-8,
with a book xiii + 696 pp, 4 audio CDs and 1 mp3 CD. Confusing is that one
finds 5 written forms in the book:

  a   French,

  b   Yiddish in Hebrew Characters,

  c   Yiddish in an other type of characters called "cursive" (italic? An
Alef becomes a vertical stroke followed by a C),

  d   Translitterated Yiddish into Roman Characters (stops at p. 120),

  e   A kind of Phonetic transcriptions of Yiddish for French speakers

A sample for d: hSIDIY TDER RI-NGROM-TUG (read from right to left)

A sample for e: gout-morg-n! ir rèt yidish?

Regards,

Roger



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From: R. F. Hahn

Subject: Resources

Thanks for sharing information about these resources, dear Roger!

I have never come across the Assimil Yiddish book. I would love to get my
hands on it. It sounds interesting, though I do not approve of printing
Roman transliteration from right to left.

You are correct in assuming that (c) is cursive (handwritten) Hebrew script
(though the “c” comes first, then the “I”, since it’s written from right to
left). This is the ordinary cursive or handwritten version of the Hebrew
script as used for Hebrew and Yiddish (
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hebrew.htm). (Ladino used to use a different
one, called Soltero, of which you can see a sample at the bottom of
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/ladino-info.php, though these days Ladino
is preferably written with the Roman script.)

I know this is only marginally Lowlands-related, but your diligence in
sharing resources with us deserves support and bending the rules a bit.

Please write to me privately if you have any questions regarding Hebrew,
Yiddish or Ladino, or any other such marginal stuff.

By the way, one of the hats I’m wearing these days is that of a Hebrew
teacher at a Jewish school. I am also preparing an introductory Yiddish
language, history and culture course for adults. (Working title: “Yiddish
through Verse”) Furthermore, for Seattle’s greater Jewish community (in
which non-Jews are *always* welcome), I’m currently preparing a presentation
about what the ancestors of most Americans with Central and Eastern European
roots (Jewish, Christian and otherwise) experienced just *before* they
crossed the Atlantic and were “processed” at Ellis Island in New York City.
It’s the Emigrants Halls of Hamburg-Veddel, recently turned into a museum (
http://lowlands-l.net/travels/ballin-stadt.php). I’m currently working on
that with my oldest friend (whom I know from our first year in grade
school), who still lives in Hamburg, is a first-rate photographer and has
been a “silent” Lowlands-L member for many years. (We used to live
practically within walking distance of that place.) I hope to include some
information about Hamburg’s Jewish history and its recent Jewish revival.
Furthermore, I hope to eventually work this into a video presentation that I
can share within wider circles, and that includes Lowlands-L.

So, again, thank you, dear Roger.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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