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Table of Contents
Yiddish in the Netherlands
Language
Language designations:
- In the language itself: יידיש 'Eydish'
- ISO 639-3 standard: yid / ydd
Language vitality according to:
| 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.
Linguistic aspects:
- Classification: indo-european → germanic → west-germanic. For more information, see language at Glottolog
- Script: Hebrew alphabet
Language standardisation
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/
Demographics
Speaker communities
Today, Yiddish is primarily spoken by orthodox communities, espacally among Haredi Jews (Schäfer 2023).
Speaker numbers
Not known.
Education of the language
History of language education:
Yiddish wasa 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/
Legislation of language education
Yiddish is recongnized under the ECRML under article 7, paragraph 5. This is due to it being a non-territorial language in the Netherlands.
Legislation on European level
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.
Further legislation
There are no further laws regarding Yiddish education in the Netherlands.
Education presence
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:
preschool education
Yiddish is not taught on preschool level.
primary education
Yiddish is not taught on primary education level.
secondary education
Yiddish is not taught on secondary education level.
vocational education
Yiddish is not taught on vocational level.
higher education/university education
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
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
References
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.
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