This morning I received another paper version of the MTA Rider Report Card, and I caught something on it this time that I didn’t the first time I received one, namely all of the other languages that it comes in.  In particular, Yiddish!

Despite having been brought up around a grandmother who spoke a mix of German, English, and Yiddish I have no clue as to how to read Yiddish.  Heck, I never even thought that it was a written language, how’s that for ignorant! 

250px-page_from_yiddish.jpg

Basically my grandmother spoke a few Yiddish words in the middle of sentences, mostly when she was describing a few select things, and growing up I had just assumed that Yiddish was the old fashioned way of talking in some form of Pig Latin - I never realized that it was an actual full language until just now.

So while I cannot read Hebrew to decipher exactly how the translation from English to Yiddish goes about the subway report card, I’ll assume that the questionnaire says things along these lines…and please, excuse my broken Yiddish…

  1. Is there enough room to squeeze in enough meshuggenehs on the train?
  2. Does your commute deal with a facacta amount of delays?
  3. Would a Metrocard fare hike have you verklempt?
  4. Do you feel that the subway system is worth babkes?
  5. Have you found the trains to clean or do people shlep schmutz all over the place?

Personally, I feel that the voice of the extremely large Yiddish population that takes the NYC subway system each day should have their voices heard, heard loud and clear!  It’s about time.