Re: [Cz-L] Czernowitzer German

I speak perfect German, nevertheless I love czernowitzer Deutsch, it
has "Herz" and reminds me the language my father , uncles and aunts spoke.
Whenever I read the expressions you wrote, I get back a piece of them.
Keep on sendng them please.
shana tova
Lilian

El 10/09/10 18:22, Miriam Taylor escribió:
> In reply to Cornel and all others who wrote about the way we spoke German.
> As I remember it, we spoke atrocious German. Not only did we introduce loan
> words from Yiddish and Ruthenian, also Polish (like Pirogen).
> We mispronounced many sounds. We said schen instead of schön and mide
> instead of müde Our grammar was bad, we said "bin ich mir gegangen", which
> would be OK in Yiddish but in German sounds as if someone speaking English
> had said: "I took myself for a walk".
>
> There certainly were many who could speak and write German correctly, but in
> daily life, we mostly spoke our own kind of mixture, whether due to
> ignorance or because we chose the words we used, so as to most accurately
> convey what we wanted to say.
>
> Some Hebrew, Yiddish or Ruthenian words conveyed meaning which could not be
> conveyed in German. For instance, the words "Davka", "stam" and "meila" from
> Hebrew via Yiddish do not have equivalents in German. Nor do the Ruthenian
> expressions: "paskudnyi", "po wolye" and " czort neh voznye". Sometimes the
> German word had a different connotation, think about "Hirt" versus
> "pastachl", or "Fest" versus "Praznik", or "Politzeh versus "Fussboden".
>
> On my last trip to Czernowitz, I was driven from Lviv to Chernivtsi, by a
> driver who spoke only Ukrainian. Everything had been prearranged, so there
> was no need for the two of us to talk. But four hours is a long time to be
> in a car with someone and not exchange a word, so when I could think of the
> right word, I tried out my Ruthenian/Ukrainian. When we had to slow down
> because ducks were crossing the road, I said "Katczka", when a car came
> unexpectedly out of a side road and almost hit us, I exclaimed: "Bozhe moi".
> When we were stuck in traffic in Kolomea and had to drive slowly, I said:
> "Po wolye, po wolye. Each time, the driver seemed to be pleased that I tried
> to speak his language and did not mind my bad pronunciation.
>
> All these words I learned in Czernowitz. Not in school and not from a
> dictionary.
>
> Mimi
>

-snip-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
 Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed
 in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily
 the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members
 or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has
 an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
 searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Please post in "Plain
 Text" if possible (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/elist/lyris/leave.html

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2010-09-11 06:40:34