How learning Yiddish can get you a free bagel next Tuesday
Learn Yiddish, get a free bagel.
By David Ian Klein March 31, 2021
If you weren’t already interested in learning Yiddish, Duolingo may have given you another reason, — free bagels!
That’s right, in honor of the launch of a new Yiddish course on the popular language-learning platform, Duolingo is offering to pay for your bagel order at a handful of stores around the country when the course goes live on April 6.
They include Katz’s Deli in New York City, Factor’s Famous Deli in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Manny’s Cafeteria, as well as Pittsburgh’s Pigeon Bagels and Miami’s Zak the Baker, which are both certified kosher.
However, there’s a catch. You have to order in Yiddish.
Since the deal is only available on launch day, you probably won’t have much time to verse yourself in the traditional language of Ashkenazi Jewry before breakfast, so here are a few terms with which to familiarize yourself. Consider this cheat sheet our gift to you.
Can I have a bagel — Ken ikh hubn a beygl
Toasted — Tsubroynte
With — Mitn
Cream Cheese — Shmirkez
Butter — Puter
Onions — Tsibele
Garlic — Knobl
Tomato — Pomidor
Lox — Loks (it’s an easy one)
Egg — Eyer
Everything bagel — Altsding-beygl
So how to put it all together at the counter?
“Can I have an onion bagel with cream cheese, lox and tomato?” would be “Ken ikh hobn a tsibele beygl mitn Skmirkez, loks un Pomidorn?”
Or, my go-to order, a toasted everything bagel with butter, would be: “Ken ikh hobn an altsding-beygl tzubroyntn mit puter”.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
