World Cup in Yiddish—Starting 11
Ages ago, I had the idea to announce this year’s World Cup in Yiddish. Maybe I could beg FIFA to give me a booth, maybe I would just make a Twitch stream, but either way, I was determined to introduce the world to soccer in Yiddish.
Only one issue: of all of the massive dictionaries of Yiddish that exist in the world, sports vocabulary in particular is a huge gap. Avrom Lichtenboym, a Yiddish teacher of mine from Argentina, related to me that when he went to a game with a teacher of his, he remembered all the ways his teacher cheered for his team and jeered the other one, holding onto these memories as the rare cultural artifacts that they are.
How was it that Yiddish possesses a dictionary of plant terms but not of sport? It really had to do with the fact that the central interest of academics was to prove that the language could be sophisticated, not necessarily frivolous. This is also why dictionaries of vulgar words are directed at the mass market, not intended for serious study.
Sports, however, are very serious. They are the central means for intergenerational and interpersonal contact over the entire world, how countries gain their sense of character and self-expression, and how people sublimate their violent tendencies into positive expression.
Soccer in particular was very serious for the Jewish people. Great German clubs, including Bayern Munich, were considered by the Nazis as “Jew Clubs” because of their substantial pre-war Jewish presence. Much of the Zionist movement could be said to be built off the backs of European Jewish sports clubs like Maccabi. Organized soccer was played in DP camps; it built Israeli presence in Europe through the success of its clubs; and Maccabi Los Angeles is still on record as America’s most winning domestic team.
Prewar Europe possessed newspapers and magazines in Yiddish about sports. The most prominent one was the Polish “Sport Express.” It was from here that I started deriving the vocabulary list that I thought a fluid game call could be built on. Because the soccer articles are summaries, it is difficult to extrapolate what a “play by play” call would sound like.
But I thought it was worth trying after realizing that the only thing that could leverage common, spoken Yiddish into a broader consciousness was going to be something much longer than a song, more engaging than a podcast, and more shared than specific Jewish content. It would have to be the World’s Game. And with that, throughout the World Cup, I will share a fantasy play-by-play in Yiddish built with vocabulary I have found, starting with the Starting 11 for the United States.
toyerman - goalkeeper
manshaft - team
shturmer - attackers
loyfer - midfielder
farteydiker - defender
Fligl - wing
Internatzionaler bekher - world cup
Metch - Match
Kegner- opponent
Trenirer - Coach
Haynt-bay-nakht in Inglewood, Kalifornye, shpilt di manshaft fun di fareynkte shtatn kegn paraguay. Der internatzionaler bekher haybt zikh on far di amerikaners, der ershter metch in der grupe shtapl. Shpayter, ire kegners veln zayn oystraliye un turkay.
Ver hot der trenirer Pochittino oysgekliben tzu shpilen? Lomir kukn af der reshime!
Der toyerman iz Matt Friese. Afn bank blaybt der yid Turner.
Farteydiker: Tim Ream, Miles Robinson un Alex Freeman
Fliglekh: Sergino Dest un Antonee Robinson
Loyfers: Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman
Shturmers: Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic
Nisht geferlekh!
Tonight in Inglewood, California, the US team plays against Paraguay. The World Cup begins for the Americans, the first match in the group stage. Later, their opponents will be Australia and Turkey.
Who will the manager Pochettino select to play? Let’s look at the list!
The goalkeeper is Matt Friese. On the bench remains the Jew Turner.
Defenders: Tim Ream, Miles Robinson and Alex Freeman
Wingers: Sergino Dest and Antonee Robinson
Midfielders: Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman
Forwards: Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic
Not bad!
