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reflections on home and belonging,
reflections on what it means to build
a community and a life in Germany
while also knowing it’s temporary and
they eventually want to be in Israel but
also — even though it was temporary
— wanting to make it comfortable
for themselves even though being in
Germany brought complicated feelings.
“I learned about Jewish experiences
and attitudes in this important moment
in Jewish history when Holocaust
survivors rebuilt their lives and their
culture,” Leflein said. “This process, the
culmination of two years of learning
with Professor Luchina, reaffirmed
the value of learning Yiddish and
understanding a Jewish past through
the nuances of a Jewish language.”
COMICS IN YIDDISH
Another student, Noah Givner,
translated the Japanese manga (comic
book) One Piece — among the most
famous and best-selling comic book
series in history —from English into
Yiddish.
The comic series follows the
adventures of a crew of pirates, which
provided for a unique translation
process.
“Comics have short phrases and
a lot of spoken phrases like slang. It
was a very interesting project because
you don’t always get an opportunity
to talk to native speakers, but for this
particular project, we needed to really
go to the dictionaries and consult
with native speakers to figure out
how to say this or that phrase in
Yiddish and the authentic way to
express slang,” Luchina explained.
One fun Yiddish translation of a
phrase the stereotypical tough pirates
say in the comic: “a bunch of wimps”
in Yiddish is “a bintl nebekhlekh.”
YIDDISH OR HEBREW?
A graduate student from Armenia
who researches language ideologies,
Emma Avagyan translated press
polemics from over 100 years ago on
the future of Hebrew and Yiddish as
primary languages of Jewish culture.
The articles featured different
debates, statements and ideologies
about whether Yiddish or Hebrew
should be the language of the Jewish
people, whether one of them is better or
worse or more or less natural. Avagyan
was able to pore through and analyze
endlessly interesting excerpts from
those articles.
Avagyan says this project deepened
her understanding of the historical,
linguistic and socio-cultural dimensions
of Yiddish during the 19th century.
“I learned about its intricate
relationship with Hebrew, its role
in shaping Jewish identity and its
resilience in the face of challenges,”
Avagyan says. “The project highlights
the link between language and cultural
identity, contrasting Hebrew’s revered
status for religious and scholarly
purposes with Yiddish’s everyday use in
Jewish life.”
Avagyan says the project and the
insights she gained will be integrated
into her Ph.D, dissertation.
Because Luchina customized the final
projects around what the students were
interested in, she hopes it serves as a
meaningful experience and resonates
with them in ways that go beyond the
class.
“I hope it will stay with them and
they will be able to connect with
Yiddish later on using the skills they
built, and that it’s something they want
to share with other people.”
Noah Givner
and his
translation of
One Piece
Ari Leflein’s project
of newspapers
from DP camps
Emma Avagyan and
her articles from
Yiddish press