Designing a Flag for Yiddish Takes Chutzpah
To access courses in French or Japanese, users of language website Duolingo click an image of the French or Japanese flags. When the website decided to develop a course in Yiddish, it found itself in a pickle: What flag should represent a language whose speakers have long been spread around the globe? An online survey collected ideas from the public. Some of the recommendations seemed a little meshuga.
“We did get suggestions of Jewish foods, like, ‘Oh, just put a bagel on it,’ which I just thought was a bit kitschy,” said Meena Viswanath, one of the contributors for Duolingo’s Yiddish course. Someone else suggested the word “kvetching,” written in a circle. Yiddish, the everyday language of Jews from Eastern Europe, has no widely accepted flag, and some symbols that have come to represent aspects of Yiddish culture—like a peacock—aren’t familiar even to many Jews. As interest in the language grows, Yiddish groups that want to capture public attention with flags and logos are finding it difficult to settle on one.
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Interest in the language has picked up in recent years. Some universities now offer Yiddish courses and Yiddish cultural festivals are held around the globe. Ms. Viswanath’s brother translated the first book in the Harry Potter series into Yiddish, and the first small print run sold out quickly. In San Diego, the Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America wants to update its logo ahead of rebranding itself as Yiddishland California. Founder Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh is considering adding a goat to the peacock in the current logo, though she’s not sure how to position the two creatures. One mock-up for a poster shows a peacock playing a fiddle while a goat plays a clarinet—two instruments popular in klezmer, or Jewish folk music.
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Duolingo eventually decided on a white komets-alef, which makes an O sound and is one of the first Yiddish letters taught to students. It appears on a blue background. The letter also has cultural significance: It’s mentioned in the refrain of a well-known Yiddish song about a rabbi teaching children how to read. Ms. Viswanath said the design seemed unlikely to offend people, too. “Yiddish speakers and Ashkenazi Jews are all over the map, in both senses of the word,” she said. “I think we came up with the best solution that we could.”
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/designing-a-flag-for-yiddish-takes-chutzpah-11617902219 (subscription)
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