Bei Mir Bistu Shein" (Yiddish: בײַ מיר ביסטו שעהן, or Yiddish: בײַ מיר ביסטו שיין, [ˌbaj ˈmir ˌbistu ˈʃejn], "To Me You're Beautiful") is a popular Yiddish song written by lyricist Jacob Jacobs and composer Sholom Secunda for a 1932 Yiddish language comedy musical, I Would If I Could (in Yiddish, Men Ken Lebn Nor Men Lost Nisht, "You could live, but they don't let you"), which closed after one season at the Parkway Theatre in Brooklyn, New York City. The score for the song transcribed the Yiddish title as "Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn".[1] The original Yiddish version of the song (in C minor) is a dialogue between two lovers. Five years after its 1932 composition, English lyrics were written for the tune by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, and the English version of the song became a worldwide hit when recorded by The Andrews Sisters under a Germanized spelling of the title, "Bei mir bist du schön", in November 1937.[2]
Neil W. Levin, a scholar of Jewish music, has contended that "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" is "the world's best-known and longest-reigning Yiddish theater song of all time."[3] Echoing these sentiments, writer Stephen J. Whitfield has further posited that the song's popularity and influence in pre-war America epitomizes how "a minority [immigrant] culture" can transform the popular arts of a large democratic nation.[4]
Travel back in time to the shtetl, and Jewish music hall in the USA in the Thirties.
Yiddish Language, German and Hebrew
Yiddish is like German, written with the Hebrew alphabet.
You can learn Yiddish on Duolingo.. It is in Beta. There are about 90 lessons of a few short exercises. I found it quicker to learn the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in Yiddish, which is German words, than I had in Hebrew. However, I had already started the Hebrew course first. Maybe the reverse also applies.
Hebrew and Arabic and Aramaic (the language of Jesus) go together.
Languages Which Go Together
Regarding groupings of languages, I enjoy learning languages which are similar. I have now added Yiddish and Hebrew and German to my list of groups.
Romance Languages
Spanish goes with Portuguese, Italian and Ladino. Latin goes with Italian.
Asian languages - Chinese and Japanese
Chinese goes with Japanese (same signs).
Russian
Russian goes with Bulgarian and Ukrainian.
Esperanto
If you want to meet people and are not good at languages, try Esperanto, a made up language which is easy with no exceptions, and you can join a scheme which allows you to stay in the homes of other Esperanto speakers for up to 3 days, free homestay in exchange for speaking Esperanto. You could hop from country to country with Esperanto speakers, or set up a group of your own in three nearby countries, rotating who stays with whom..
Useful Websites
https://www.duolingo.com/learn
Esperanto Homestay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasporta_Servo
https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/yi/en/Learn-Yiddish
Learn Hebrew through music
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