Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Yiddish

This is a great book, it was very enjoyable and easy to learn from. It will definitely give you a working start with Yiddish.

I gave this book to my twelve-year-old daughter, who just started learning Spanish as well -- she's half-Hispanic and all Jewish -- and she's been quoting it to me ever since. Thank you, Rabbi Blech, for such an enjoyable read. This book and "Haiku for Jews" are the current favorites in our house.

After purchasing numerous Yiddish language tapes and books, I have finally found the source that teaches you, not just the nouns and blessings/curses, but the pronouns and verbs. This is a user-friendly book that gives a brief (5 chapters!) history of the language, then nose-dives into the language. It teaches the reader how to conjugate verbs, eschew common mistakes, and reading the Hebrew aleph-bet (this part is optional, don't be scared!). It is superbly written. I haven't stopped reading it yet!

Honestly, I was as put off by the "Complete Idiot's" part of the title as you probably are but the unfortunate choice of title shouldn't dissuade you from purchasing this book. It's absolutely superb, well-written and informative without being unduly pedantic. Every paragraph is lucidly presented and done so in a manner that is terrifically entertaining. Rabbi Blech's sense of humour is without parallel and you really should try both of his other books - "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jewish History and Culture" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism". I postponed purchasing all of these titles for quite some time because I really find that "Complete Idiot" designation to be both offensive and insulting towards its intended audience. The publishers really need to re-think this concept because it's leading people to avoid purchasing books that are a real treat to read. Perhaps they might want to rename the series "The Complete Novice's Guide to ...". These are intelligent books written for intelligent people and they should be marketed that way. This book is really a relatively effortless way to become fluent in Yiddish (or at least clever enough to fake it) provided you're willing to put in a little time and effort.