Intermediate I Yiddish
Tuition: $480 | YIVO members: $375**
Students: $240 (Must register with valid university email address)
This is a live, online course held weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, assignments, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish and English.
Instructor: Nina Warnke
Who should take this course?
This course is appropriate for those who have completed Beginner IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.
What topics will this class cover?
Building on the foundations acquired in Beginner courses, students will continue to develop their listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills in Yiddish. This semester will cover Chapters 17 through the end of In eynem, Vol. II.
New communication goals include talking about the past and the future, discussing wishes, obligations and abilities, talking about seasons, weather and clothing, vacation & travel, and daily hygiene and health. Grammar discussions will deepen students' basic familiarity with past tense forms, introduce subclauses to create more interesting narratives, as well as modal verbs in present and past, future tense, and reflexive verbs.
We will also discuss songs, poems, stories, and proverbs, some of which will focus on the High Holidays.
Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
Yes, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.
Course Materials:
In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook, Vol. I & II by Asya Vaisman Schulman, Jordan Brown, and Mikhl Yashinsky.
Bochner/Beinfeld, Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary (verterbukh.org)
Schaechter-Viswanath/Glasser, Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary (englishyiddishdictionary.com)
It is highly recommended to purchase the print version of both Comprehensive Dictionaries.
Additional materials will be provided by the instructor through Canvas.
Questions? Read our 2025 Fall Classes FAQ.
Nina Warnke grew up in Germany, where she started to learn Yiddish before studying in the Oxford Summer Program and receiving her Ph.D. in Yiddish Studies from Columbia University. During that time she directed the YIVO zumer program for a few years. Since then Nina has taught Yiddish language, literature and culture at Indiana University, the University of Texas at Austin and Vanderbilt University, as well at Gratz College, YIVO, and the Workers Circle. She has researched and written extensively about the Yiddish theater. Nina is also the lead editor of the Rebecca Gratz Digital Archive at Gratz College and is working as a translator of Yiddish and German texts.
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