Seinfeld in Yiddish
October 5, 2014 11:46 PM Subscribe
There are a lot of, um, strong opinions about Seinfeld at MeFi. To those let us add criticism of the goofy iMovie title card animation, the horrific sound design, but also the cosmic brilliance of these Seinfeld excerpts dubbed in Yiddish (5x SLVimeo).
I'm not a fan of Seinfeld (the show). But this seemed to... work, in a weird way. I think I like it better than the original. Not enough to watch more than 7 minutes of the first link, but still better than the original.
posted by el io at 12:35 AM on October 6, 2014
posted by el io at 12:35 AM on October 6, 2014
Yiddish is just German with a weird accent and a few new words.
posted by telstar at 3:29 AM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by telstar at 3:29 AM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's like watching Hamlet in the original Klingon.
posted by X-Himy at 4:06 AM on October 6, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by X-Himy at 4:06 AM on October 6, 2014 [9 favorites]
And telestar, I think that is rather reductive, and I'm fairly certain that my Yiddish professor would have something to say about that. Granted, I only took one semester and I'm terrible at languages, so I would have no idea what she would be saying.
posted by X-Himy at 4:07 AM on October 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by X-Himy at 4:07 AM on October 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
English is just Latin with a weird accent and a whole lot of different words.
posted by maxsparber at 4:38 AM on October 6, 2014 [10 favorites]
posted by maxsparber at 4:38 AM on October 6, 2014 [10 favorites]
Yiddish is just German with a weird accent and a few new words.
Oy vey. Per YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Yiddish is a Western Germanic language (not a dialect) written in the Hebrew alphabet that is complete in its own right, just like English, Dutch, and Afrikaans. It includes Hebrew, Jewish-French, Jewish-Italian, German, and Slavic elements as well.
And watching Seinfeld in Yiddish somehow seemed completely natural to me. I have a feeling that Yiddish-speaking audiences of 80-90 years ago could have found quite a bit to laugh at in Seinfield.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 4:54 AM on October 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
Oy vey. Per YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Yiddish is a Western Germanic language (not a dialect) written in the Hebrew alphabet that is complete in its own right, just like English, Dutch, and Afrikaans. It includes Hebrew, Jewish-French, Jewish-Italian, German, and Slavic elements as well.
And watching Seinfeld in Yiddish somehow seemed completely natural to me. I have a feeling that Yiddish-speaking audiences of 80-90 years ago could have found quite a bit to laugh at in Seinfield.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 4:54 AM on October 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
Das is nicht bupkis!
posted by rlk at 5:03 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by rlk at 5:03 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
That was that show about those guys. I heard about it.
posted by clvrmnky at 5:27 AM on October 6, 2014
posted by clvrmnky at 5:27 AM on October 6, 2014
So what's next, dubbing Rescue Me in Irish Gaelic, The Sopranos in Neapolitan Italian, and Fargo in Norwegian? Makes about as much sense.
posted by aught at 5:45 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by aught at 5:45 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
The feeling of these should resonate with anyone who has had to watch cheesy TV as part of a language class. (Forsthaus Falkenau, anyone?)
But this seems even more like something produced specifically for instructional purposes. The first video is the one where you learn about how to greet your host family ("How are you!","Welcome to Florida!", "They have arrived safely!") and where you learn important domestic vocabulary words like "Sofabett," and then the story descends into complex issues of culturally-specific etiquette, which you will be discussing with the class after viewing the video.
posted by BrashTech at 5:48 AM on October 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
But this seems even more like something produced specifically for instructional purposes. The first video is the one where you learn about how to greet your host family ("How are you!","Welcome to Florida!", "They have arrived safely!") and where you learn important domestic vocabulary words like "Sofabett," and then the story descends into complex issues of culturally-specific etiquette, which you will be discussing with the class after viewing the video.
posted by BrashTech at 5:48 AM on October 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
So what's next, dubbing Rescue Me in Irish Gaelic, The Sopranos in Neapolitan Italian, and Fargo in Norwegian? Makes about as much sense.
That's true. You'd want to do Rescue Me in Irish Gaeltacht, the Sopranos in Calabro-Sicilian, and Fargo in German or Swedish.
posted by maxsparber at 5:57 AM on October 6, 2014
That's true. You'd want to do Rescue Me in Irish Gaeltacht, the Sopranos in Calabro-Sicilian, and Fargo in German or Swedish.
posted by maxsparber at 5:57 AM on October 6, 2014
Yiddish is just German with a weird accent and a few new words.
Nu, a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot.
posted by graymouser at 6:00 AM on October 6, 2014 [16 favorites]
Nu, a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot.
posted by graymouser at 6:00 AM on October 6, 2014 [16 favorites]
the Sopranos in Calabro-Sicilian,
The villages that various characters in the Sopranos talk about their families coming from in the first season are in the Naples area, and when Tony visits Italy in Season Two, he goes to Naples. All mob members being Sicilian is just a stereotype.
Fargo in German or Swedish.
For Marge Gunderson?
posted by aught at 6:26 AM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
The villages that various characters in the Sopranos talk about their families coming from in the first season are in the Naples area, and when Tony visits Italy in Season Two, he goes to Naples. All mob members being Sicilian is just a stereotype.
Fargo in German or Swedish.
For Marge Gunderson?
posted by aught at 6:26 AM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
This is canon.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 6:31 AM on October 6, 2014
posted by overeducated_alligator at 6:31 AM on October 6, 2014
Minnesota is primarily German and Swedish. North Omaha would be a good place for Danish.
posted by maxsparber at 6:36 AM on October 6, 2014
posted by maxsparber at 6:36 AM on October 6, 2014
@YiddishProverbs on Twitter is a blast, although for some reason they only post them in English now. It used to be in both Yiddish and transliterated Yiddish.
posted by griphus at 6:46 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 6:46 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
did they slow the videos down? They seem slower. Maybe TV was just slower back then.
posted by rebent at 7:29 AM on October 6, 2014
posted by rebent at 7:29 AM on October 6, 2014
I love Seinfeld, but his is bafflingly unwatchable. Is this the feeling of those who tell me they hate Seinfeld? Or they don't get it?
Things have become somehow clearer.
posted by bensherman at 7:51 AM on October 6, 2014
Things have become somehow clearer.
posted by bensherman at 7:51 AM on October 6, 2014
I always thought the people who don't like Seinfeld just don't understand what NY life is supposed to be. They'd rather continue playing their Brooklyn fantasy game.
posted by ReeMonster at 7:57 AM on October 6, 2014
posted by ReeMonster at 7:57 AM on October 6, 2014
did they slow the videos down? They seem slower. Maybe TV was just slower back then.
Comedy with a laugh track is always slower than it'd otherwise be, which works okay when you just sort of settle in to the reasonably carefully sound-designed flow of dialogue, laugh track, dialogue, laugh track but becomes suddenly jarring when something (e.g. pasting in clumsy home-made dubs of lines and thus making all the levels go wonky and having really conspicuous edits into and out of the original audio's laugh waves) disrupts that flow.
posted by cortex at 8:38 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
Comedy with a laugh track is always slower than it'd otherwise be, which works okay when you just sort of settle in to the reasonably carefully sound-designed flow of dialogue, laugh track, dialogue, laugh track but becomes suddenly jarring when something (e.g. pasting in clumsy home-made dubs of lines and thus making all the levels go wonky and having really conspicuous edits into and out of the original audio's laugh waves) disrupts that flow.
posted by cortex at 8:38 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
"horrific sound design?"
Dubbed version, not original Seinfeld. In the dubbed version you can hear the Yiddish speakers clicking on and off their microphones to say each line.
posted by the jam at 8:52 AM on October 6, 2014
Dubbed version, not original Seinfeld. In the dubbed version you can hear the Yiddish speakers clicking on and off their microphones to say each line.
posted by the jam at 8:52 AM on October 6, 2014
So what's next, dubbing Rescue Me in Irish Gaelic, The Sopranos in Neapolitan Italian, and Fargo in Norwegian? Makes about as much sense.
Sure, why not, that sounds like it would be interesting. Just because you don't understand a thing doesn't make it nonsensical.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:54 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sure, why not, that sounds like it would be interesting. Just because you don't understand a thing doesn't make it nonsensical.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:54 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
The next show they should dub into Yiddish: Little House on the Prairie.
Why should Seinfeld have all the fun?
posted by spinifex23 at 9:51 AM on October 6, 2014
Why should Seinfeld have all the fun?
posted by spinifex23 at 9:51 AM on October 6, 2014
I think this is how I always heard it. What do you call something that is more faithful to the original than the original itself?
posted by benito.strauss at 9:52 AM on October 6, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by benito.strauss at 9:52 AM on October 6, 2014 [5 favorites]
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
posted by Mchelly at 1:21 PM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 1:21 PM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yiddish is just German with a weird accent and a few new words.
אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט
And some funny letters, too.
posted by MtDewd at 1:42 PM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט
And some funny letters, too.
posted by MtDewd at 1:42 PM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
And now my father finds Seinfeld funny for the first time ever.
Also, props to whoever provided the "a show about gornisht" tag.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:37 PM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
Also, props to whoever provided the "a show about gornisht" tag.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:37 PM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
I always sort of thought it was in Yiddish anyway, if you get my drift.
posted by Yakuman at 10:25 PM on October 6, 2014
posted by Yakuman at 10:25 PM on October 6, 2014
The Pluto Gangsta: "And now my father finds Seinfeld funny for the first time ever.
Also, props to whoever provided the "a show about gornisht" tag"
Glad for your dad, and you're welcome for the tag. I was wondering if anyone would catch that.
posted by yiftach at 10:59 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also, props to whoever provided the "a show about gornisht" tag"
Glad for your dad, and you're welcome for the tag. I was wondering if anyone would catch that.
posted by yiftach at 10:59 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:05 AM on October 6, 2014