Hebrew vs. Yiddish

What’s the difference?

By Deane Barker • • tags: judaism, linguistics •

They are related, but they are separate languages. Hebrew is the more historical and traditional of the two. Yiddish is sort of a regional dialect/creole of Hebrew.

Yiddish was spoken by European Jews. It’s a mixture of Hebrew, German, and other Eastern European languages. Hebrew is a language born in the Middle East, long before Jews migrated to Europe (the Ashkenazi). Many American Jews will speak Yiddish, since they migrated from Europe (not from Israel).

Both languages use the Hebrew alphabet in written form.

Sources vary, but there are between 5x and 10x as many Hebrew speakers than Yiddish speakers. There was a vast decline in Yiddish speakers after the Holocaust of World War 2.

Many European Jews speak both languages.

Why I Looked It Up

I just got to wondering one day.

Links from this – Ashkenazi Jew October 12, 2022
This refers to the largest ethnic groups of Jews. (Note: there are a lot of different ethnic/racial divisions among Jews .) The Ashkenazi was a group of Jewish people who migrated North from the Middle East to Eastern Europe about 1000 BC. In turn, this group immigrated heavily to the United...