I love languages. My own father speaks 8 languages. But that’s not a fair statement, because when my father was growing up, his family traveled a lot.

They were escaping the Nazis and so they left Belgium (French), and went on to Portugal (Portuguese). After that they traveled to Cuba (Spanish) and finally the U.S. Additionally, my father speaks Hebrew, Yiddish and German “just because,” and of course English. And oh – my dad speaks Flemish too because that was one of the languages during his childhood in Antwerp, Belgium.

So children and adults in those days learned languages like kids nowadays learn to use Apps on their iphone! Very easily and seamlessly.

So here I am, a middle aged grandmother and all I speak is English, Hebrew, and some version of Spanish. I know a smidgen or “sthickel” (little bit) of Yiddish – kind of words and phrases here and there. Nothing to write home about.

And yes, I studied French for four semesters in Brooklyn College 30 years ago, so please don’t try to test me on that. It was a long time ago. Mais bien sur!

As I wrote in my previous post, I want to stretch……. grow, learn.

So this grandmother (moi!) has an idea now.  Un idea, sil vous plait, (if you please).

How about some of you out there help me learn some words in your language? I noticed that people from many  countries have viewed my blog, as reported on the internal “stats” of this blog. So you guys are out there. You clearly speak English because you read my stuff.

And I occasionally splatter my posts with Hebrew and Yiddish (plus I offer a pseudo-glossary on my menu).

We can start slowly. No big expectations here.

How do you say “Grandma” in your language? I am really curious. Please share in the comment section below. 🙂

Now, I could easily check it up on “Google Translator” and get a list of definition of Grandma in myriad languages.  But that would be no fun, would it?

It is much more fun if I ask you guys to write me  how to say Grandma in your particular language (other than English of course).

You see, I know that in Yiddish, we say ” Bubby” or “Bubbe.”

In German, we say “Oma” – which is what I am called because my mom is from Germany and that is what my mom is called.

But what about the other languages? –In French, Italian, Hungarian, Russian, Arabic, and all the countries that are represented behind the readers of my blog – what do YOU guys and gals call YOUR grandmothers?

My goal for this (admittedly) wacky idea is to bring some form of camaraderie between us? And besides, I feel guilty (ya, the Jewish guilt again!) using “bubby” all the time for my blog. How presumptuous  of me!?

So – Good night! Layla Tov (Hebrew), Gutte Nacht (German).