Nah Yo-dle: Low German Wordle
You may have just done a double take, but no, this is not a Daily Bonnet article. A Manitoba Mennonite really did create a Low German version of Wordle, a word puzzle craze whose popularity skyrocketed in December 2021. Jared Falk, 37, launched Nah Yo-dle on March 20 after becoming a dedicated Wordle fan himself.…
The quiet labours of a Low German translator
Ed Zacharias started with Exodus, translating word by word into Low German (Plautdietsch). For a decade he worked at it, sometimes with institutional backing, sometimes as a volunteer hunkered in his home office, relying on help from interested Wycliffe personnel and a loose network of Low German promoters. He was motivated by a love of…
Door-to-door on the colonies
While some might see Low German as the arcane language of people stuck in the past, Jehovah’s Witnesses have embraced it. For years, they have dedicated considerable energy to learning the language, translating materials and reaching out to Low German-speaking peoples. They have a centre in Blumenau, a Mennonite community in Mexico’s Chihuahua state, and…
New teaching resources for Old Colony teachers in Bolivia
Students attending one-room village schools in this Mennonite colony 60 kilometres south of Santa Cruz use slates instead of notebooks. Instruction is in German and the main study materials are a Bible written in Gothic script, Gesangbuch (hymnal) the Fibel (primer or reader) and Catechism (basic church doctrines). Girls usually receive six years of formal…
