| UNESCO | Ethnologue | Endangered Languages | Glottolog |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unesco's vitality score | stable | at risk | not endangered |
Click here for a full overview of the language vitality colour codes.
The standardised spelling of Yiddish is known as YIVO (Yidisher visnshaftlekher institut, founded in 1925). The YIVO standard is maintained by the Institute for Jewish Research, New York. https://www.yivo.org/
Today, Yiddish is primarily spoken by orthodox communities, espacally among Haredi Jews (Schäfer 2023).
Not known.
Yiddish was never tought in Dutch schools. In universities, Yiddish was studied in the past. Today the University of Amsterdam offers Yiddish courses. The JNW (Jiddisch-Nederlandse woordenboek) was first published in 1987 and is digitally available at https://jiddischwoordenboek.nl/
Yiddish is recongnized under the ECRML under article 7, paragraph 5. This is due to it being a non-territorial language in the Netherlands.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands has ratified Yiddish under the ECRML in 1998 under article 7, paragraph 5. It is thus protected to some extend. The Yiddish speaking community is not recognized as a minority under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. This is due to the fact that Yiddish speakers are part of the jewish religous group. In the most recent evaluation (Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, 2022), six out of twelve undertakings were fullfilled. In the fields of promoting the visibility of Yiddish and fostering transnational connections the Netherlands are not (fully) satisfying their obligations. Also, creating a permanent body of counseling the government has not been created. The committe recomends focussing on continuing the support of primary and secondary education and establishing a representative body for the Yiddish speaking community. Also, raising awareness of Yiddish in the majority population, support of cultural activities and encouraging transnational contact with other Yiddish speaking communities is recomended.
There are no further laws regarding Yiddish education in the Netherlands.
Yiddish language education is available through university education or voluntary courses like summer schools. Any affiliation with Yiddish is thus accessable to people who already have an interest in learing it. The University of Amsterdam reports a high number in participants for both the language courses and the Master's programm. To what extent is language education available in the area under scrutiny:
Yiddish is not taught on preschool level.
Yiddish is not taught on primary education level.
Yiddish is not taught on secondary education level.
Yiddish is not taught on vocational level.
Yiddish is being taught at the University of Amsterdam since 2023. Yiddish aquisation is part of the Bachelor's programm 'Hebrew Language and Culture'. It is also accessible for students of other programmes.
Adult education is being offered by a variety of institutions. The Volksuniversiteit of Amsterdam and the Jewish Study Centre in Leiden offer courses. Furthermore, there are (international) summer schools. Further informaition is available at the website of the Stichting Jiddisj: https://fredbor.home.xs4all.nl/0.5/index.html
Council of Europe (2024): Charta of Regional and Minority Languages. 4th Edition.
Council of Europe (2023): Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. 10th Edition.
Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (2022): Seventh Evaluation Report on the Netherlands.
Schäfer, Lea (2023): Yiddish. In: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Linguistics.
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ydd/
https://fredbor.home.xs4all.nl/0.5/UK/home_uk.html
https://fredbor.home.xs4all.nl/0.5/index.html
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/east2295
https://jiddischwoordenboek.nl/
https://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/faculteiten/en/faculteit-der-geesteswetenschappen/news/2022/12/yiddish-back-in-amsterdam.html
https://www.yivo.org/Yiddish