I Guess I'll Always Wonder...

My title sounds like it could be a line from a sentimental song, maybe there is one I don't know about. Just the same, it's also a good fit for this post.

My sister-in-law sent me this picture a while back, obviously because she knows I love books. But no, I never got a truck load at the time, not even when Hutterite Diaries first came out.(:

The picture took me back to an interesting thing that happened to me some years back. I was in contact with a German professor from Montreal, Herfried Scheer. He had studied our Hutterisch dialect for many years and wrote about it. One of the books, Die Deutsche Mundart der Hutterischen Brueder in Nordamerika (The German Dialect of the Huttterian Brethren of North America) he wrote was sort of like a dictionary. It's a compilation of Hutterisch words that he found interesting. He added pronunciation, told where the word originated from (our dialect has German, Russian, English, Polish and possibly a few other words as well) and how the word is used.

Ours is a German dialect, so many of our words are used the same as it's used in High German, but some, interestingly enough, are used differently. Herfried Scheer sent me a copy of this book, soon after I contacted him. Needless to say, I found it fascinating and read it cover to cover, and learned a few things about Hutterisch, the language I'd been hearing/speaking all of my life. I'll always be grateful for that!

About the same time I got a similar dictionary from a different professor in Austria, and read that one through as well. Hutterisch is a Carinthian dialect, originating from the province of Carinthia, Austria, which incidentally was Professor Herfried Scheer's homeland. This dictionary had many of our words in it, thus my interest in it.

One day I told a friend that I was reading dictionaries. She responded with, "Linda, are you aware that it's not normal to read dictionaries from cover to cover?" I laughed and told her I was fine with the fact that I'm not always going with the flow. I reminded her of the German song, Nur die toten Fische schwimmen immer mit den Strom. (Only dead fish always swim with the flow) But who determines what normal is, anyway? :)

But back to my original story. When I first came in contact Professor Herfried Scheer, I was saddened to learn that he was battling cancer. He was still doing fine at the time, though. He loved talking about our Hutterisch dialect and how much he enjoyed studying it. He chuckled when he told me about his first encounter with Hutterites. He was living in a back-woodsy area in Alberta somewhere - "the Alberta wilderness" he called it - when one day there was a knock on his door. He opened it and found some Hutterites trying to sell him some "Pulsten" (feather pillows). It was that word that started him on this journey of studying Hutterisch, 'his life-long passion'. After that visit, he and his wife, Helga became good friends with the Hutterites. They stayed in contact with them for some years, even after they moved to Montreal.

Many years later, when he was already retired, I heard about his study of Hutterisch and contacted him. Even though he was sick, he was happy to share what he'd learned about Hutterisch, and talk about his friendship with the Alberta Hutterites who came to his door that day, all those years ago.

Just before Christmas of 2008 I received an email from one of Herfried Scheer's sons, telling me that his father was on his deathbed and wanted to talk with me. To say I was perplexed as to what he might want, would be an understatement. And his son didn't know what this was about either, at least not at first, but said he was going to visit his dad in the hospital and would ask. Shortly after I got this message:

I'm lying in my hospital bed and dictating this to my son who is here with a mini-computer. The most important: printed material, there are about a thousand pages. (most likely to do with his study of Hutterisch) Talk with Mother Scheer, Mrs. Helga Scheer about this. Can you come to Montreal and Chazy, NY with a truck in the next little while?

Liebe Gruesse, Friedl

Yes, somewhat vague, and also obvious how sick he was. It's a very strange feeling to get an email from someone who's on his deathbed. I honestly didn't know what to think; this was so out of the blue. But he obviously wanted to get these books into the hands of Hutterites, and I was the only one he was in contact with at the time. I also know it meant a lot to him that I was using his book and sharing it with others.

I didn't go to his home in Montreal, or to his cabin in Chazy, a town in northeastern Clinton County, about 8 miles from Canada. Apparently he had some of his books there. I just wasn't sure about this and had so many questions swirling in my head: How many books were there really? What were they about? Would they be useful? And with their dad so sick, I also didn't think it would be an appropriate time to meet his family, even though this was probably one of their Herfried Scheer's last wishes. But, I felt very honoured that he would consider giving me some of his books.

Six days after Herfried Scheer wrote this message, he passed away. Through other emails with both his sons, I learned that besides his own work, the printed material he mentions in the message, there were many old books, he wanted me to have.  They told me they'd sort through everything and send me a list. In one email Helga Scheer told me they haven't sorted any of his stuff, as 'it was just too hard', which I totally understood. She also sent me his obituary. Sadly, we lost touch and I never heard from them again. I guess I'll always wonder....

Interesting, how pictures or songs sometimes conjure up certain memories. Unplanned as this was, I enjoyed writing about those intriguing days. Does that ever happen to you, where something unexpectedly triggers an old memory... and maybe like me, you feel compelled to write about it. 

Bible Stories in Hutterisch

For a number of years now Hutterite children have enjoyed Bible stories in our mother tongue. Together with Dick Mueller, Wycliff Bible Translater/Linguist, I helped translate this set of books. The three that you see here have already been published, with two more coming out at some point in the future. I've heard many sweet stories from parents whose children have these books, how much time they spend with the them and the CD that comes with each one. Or older siblings reading to younger ones - all of which make the long hours spend translating very worthwhile!

 Jakobi and me

Right now I am thoroughly delighted watching my darling nephew, Jakobi listening to these stories.  Every night he brings his parents Book 1 in this series, to read to him, other times he follows along in the book, while listening to the CD. Sometimes I have to joy of reading to him as he's snuggled on my lap. His favourite Bible story is Noah and the Ark. One day he was playing on the floor, placing animals in a bowl. When his mom asked what he was doing he replied, "Oah Ochn." (Noah's Ark) He's just starting to talk and some of his beginning consonants are always missing. So you can imagine how many chuckles we have as he's trying to articulate things, which we sometimes have a hard time deciphering.

At snack one day, his mom, Karen gave him a candy with Santa wrapping. He took one look and announced, "Mein, der Oah!" (My, Noah) He's never heard of Santa, but knows Noah quite well. In all the time spent with this book, nobody ever told him that I am the one narrating the stories. So, one evening while listening he exclaims, "Mama, Linda zellt." (Mama, Linda's telling the story.)

A few days ago I was babysitting, I noticed that he was talking to himself, while stacking blocks on the floor. I listened closer and he said, "Huchn Turm. Aufn, aufn, aufn, Hibbi.)" (High tower, up, up, up to heaven.) Just as he'd heard it many times from his book. Not only is he learning Bible stories, but building his Hutterisch vocabulary, with practically the only books he'll be able to do this with!

Jakobi, fast asleep with his favourite book.

A clip of mommy reading, with Jakobi chiming in, click here.

 

 

If there's a Hutterite child in your life, Bible stories in the language they know best would be an ideal and special Christmas gift. The books are available at HB Book Centre.

Marty's Colour Adventure - Elma Maendel, Cynthia Stahl (giveaway)

'Marty's Colour Adventure' is a story written in rhyme and is about a mouse scurrying around the kitchen on a Hutterite colony, looking for yummy things to eat. Both the author, Elma Maendel and the illustrator, Cynthia Stahl live on a Hutterite colony and are passionate about quality literature for young children. With this story the focus is on Hutterite children, as there are very few books where Hutterite children can relate in a real way with the characters, culture and language. For 'local colour' some dialect words are used in the text and the children are clearly Hutterite. However, this book can still be enjoyed by any other child. Along with helping to teach colours, children will enjoy get a glimpse of life on a Hutterite colony.

I can't help but add one of my favourite pages. As you can see, there's a dialect word in this rhyme, and its definition is printed at the bottom of the page. (I know, it's a little bit hard to see in the photo, but it's much better in the book.) Each of the Hutterisch words, has the English one right there.

 

 

Needless to say, our children love this book, not only because of it's catchy rhythmically language, whimsical story and delightful illustrations, but also because they see themselves in the story.

 

Have a little one on your Christmas list? Why not give him/her a Hutterite book? You can get this book at Amazon and at the HB Bookcentre, along with the first book in this series, 'Marty's Adventure'. That's right, may as well get both books? Or any other Hutterite book for that matter.

 

If you'd like to win this book, please leave a comment with your email address. For another entry, share this on Facebook, Twitter or your blog. But come back and tell me how you shared it. Winner will be determined with random.org, on Nov.the 23rd. Along with being announced here, the lucky winner will also be notified by email. 

 

Many thanks to Elma Maendel, who kindly provided a book for the giveaway!

 

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Hutterisch – the Mother Tongue of Hutterites

            Hutterites speak a Carintian German dialect, originating from the province of Carinthia in Austria, which we fondly call Hutterisch. This language is spoken on a daily basis. However, it’s unfortunately generously sprinkled with English words as well. Some of this cannot be altered as there are numerous things for which we have no Hutterisch word. These include, farm equipment, mechanical parts, cooking ingredients, medicines, and some kitchen utensils.

            All Hutterites speak Hutterisch, although there are dialect shifts and various lilts and other interesting nuances from colony to colony. This is even more evident among the three groups, Schmiedenleut, Dariusleut and Lehrerleut; e.g. one group uses certain words that the others don’t even know. Would be interesting to know where they learned those words, given the fact that our history is the same. But, perhaps the better question would be, how did the other groups lose them?

            Hutterisch is for the most part an oral language tradition. Yes, people do sometimes attempt to write it, in notes, text messages and emails. However, with no standard spelling system these can be quite challenging to read, with a confusing and often amusing mix of Hutterisch and English sounds, dialect shifts and everything in between. Still, I appreciate every attempt at Hutterisch communication in the written form and relish the challenge of deciphering them.

            When I worked on my German children’s book, ‘Lindas glueklicher Tag’, (Linda’s Happy Day) a German language consultant suggested I change all dialogue to Hutterisch to make it more authentic. Initially, this sounded like such an odd concept and which I wanted no part of. One of my arguments, “Ours is not a written language,” did not change this consultant’s mind.

            “Then make it a written language.” He stated nonchalantly. Easier said than done, I soon learned. In hindsight though, I do not regret this decision and both Hutterite and other German speaking people don’t have as much trouble reading it, than I initially thought. This probably opened the door to another interesting project I was a part of a few years ago.

We were approached by Dick Mueller, a Wycliffe Bible Translator/Linguist, asking if we’d be interested in translating a set of children’s Bible stories into our language. This was a long, tedious process, but worthwhile in the end – three books in this set of five are now published and available on Amazon and HB Book Centre. These books are especially enjoyed by young children, since Hutterisch is the only language they know. Each book comes with a CD. assessment. When I was in Germany and introduced myself as Canadian, someone asked me, “But, why don’t you have an accent?” Of course the answer is that ours is a German dialect.

While we were working on these books, we collected all the words in a special Wycliffe computer program and have since kept adding to the collection. This is not going anywhere fast, but we’re hoping to one day have a Hutterisch dictionary.

As mentioned before, Hutterisch originates from Austria, the land of our forefathers. A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit this beautiful country. I was grateful to visit friends and see an historical place – das Goldene Dachl, in Innsbruck, where Jakob Hutter was burned at the stake in 1526. I especially appreciated speaking my mother tongue with non-Hutterites. Of course, listening to this dialect in Austria has more High German than ours. Nonetheless, we could communicate and understand each other, which, for me was priceless!

           
I always find it interesting what people say about our accent when speaking English. Most often they can not figure out what it is, saying that it doesn’t sound like a German accent. Listening to Germans speak English, I’d have to agree with that

            Quite frequently we hear that our accent has an Irish lilt to it. After a recent conversation, someone told me, “The sound of your voice reminded me of a couple of friends I have in Europe, Estonia to be precise.  You have a Baltic lilt to your voice.”

            If you’ve ever heard a Hutterite speak, I’d love to hear your thoughts!