MovieChat Forums > Lemale et ha'halal (2012) Discussion > Hebrew vs Yiddish

Hebrew vs Yiddish

posted 11 years ago by at7000
2 replies | jump to latest

Maybe an Israeli can confirm the accuracy of this- In my experience in the USA the heredi community still speaks Yiddish or other European dialects at home and with others in the community.

Perhaps they used Hebrew in the film because virtually no one else but heredi and other Jews in their 80s and 90s speak Yiddish any more? For the film to have a more widespread language appeal in other words? At least in Israel, where almost all citizens speak/understand modern Hebrew.

I'm fairly sure most heredi Jews don't like modern Hebrew and believe the Hebrew language should be confined to studies and spoken for religious purposes only. In other words- It is a holy language not suited for casual use and outside of religious traditions.

[–] beetiesmom 11 years ago

I noticed two women in the theater where I was viewing the movie reading the credits---I wish I'd spoken to them before the theater empties to see if they felt the spoken dialogue was pretty much the same as the captions!

[–] Volvi 8 years ago

Late reply but have only just viewed this movie. Outside Israel ultra orthodox speak mainly Yiddish with little to no Hebrew amongst themselves. In Israel as being depicted many speak in the modern Hebrew amongst themselves with exception to certain sects especially in Mea Sharim Jerusalem where it would still be 90% Yiddish.

The subs were fairly accurate, a few words here and there questionable.

The target audience for this movie was to secular Israelis where Hebrew is the first language so makes sense to have the dialogue in Hebrew. Nevertheless Yiddish would still be widely used here and there by this community but not depicted in the movie, again because of the target audience imho.

PS. I speak both Yiddish and Hebrew.