Re: Ladino Database

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Reyzl,

Thanks for your advice on transliteration.  It is very helpful.  A
discography of recordings in a foreign language seems so daunting that it
would be a real shame to go to all the effort only to discover that all the
spelling needs to be edited.

I wonder if a transliteration standard (similar to the Yivo standard for
Yiddish) exists for Hebrew.  I believe that I've heard that the Library of
Congress has one.  Perhaps there are Hebrew transliteration guidelines in
the Encyclopedia Judaica.  Is one more generally accepted, for example, by
libraries?   Is there a printed discography (or bibliography) guide for
Hebrew.

(I'll phone YIVO to find out about their system for Yiddish.  Do they have a
web site?)

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl (at) flash(dot)net>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 3:03 PM
Subject: RE: Ladino Database


Critically important for anyone creating a database that contains Yiddish
material -  learn the YIVO transliteration system or you will have a whole
mess.   You will also not realize that what you have at home may already
easily exist on some online data base, only because you didn't know how to
write the word correctly.   You saw here earlier this year someone who was
looking for a common Yiddish song, but because she didn't transliterate or
transcribe it correctly she couldn't find it in any common Yiddish song book
or even on web sites that follow the official transliteration rules, e.g.,
Bob Freedmans.   When I pointed the problem out to her succinctly and
directly and transcribed it correctly for her, some one who doesn't know me
from Adam said that I was a nasty person.   It may be silly to stress this
technical issue on this list, but I hope that you are wiser person.

Write to YIVO and ask for a copy of the Transliteration rules to be sent to
you.  I wish the rules were somewhere on the web, but they aren't on yet as
far as I know.   Furthermore, know that people from Spanish or French
speaking countries, will transliterate Yiddish differently than English
speakers, but the YIVO system is built on an international linguistic system
with direct correspondence to Yiddish spelling so that those rules should
apply to all Yiddish words written in the Roman alphabet, no matter the
dialect of the speaker.


Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky


----------
From:  robert wiener[SMTP:wiener (at) mindspring(dot)com]
Sent:  Wednesday, November 18, 1998 10:36 AM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
Cc:  jbresler (at) ultra(dot)net
Subject:  Ladino Database

Joel:

             Wow!  It seems like quite a project.  I have an old 4x6 card
catalogue that I stopped once I anticipated that computers could create a
database more efficiently.  (Would that be 15 years ago?)  Unfortunately,
I've never taken that step and now 1/2 of my LPs and all of my cassettes and
CDs are uncatalogued.  So I'd appreciate advice from any list members.

             Can you (and others) share with us your experience and
recommendations for such a venture?  What software to use, how to set it up
(e.g., what information/fields to include), transliteration
consistency...?  For those of you who have created databases for Yiddish or
Hebrew, did you do it in both that language and English?
I've heard of programs that read CD information on
the CD-rom.  Do you know of them?  I've also heard of some databases of
recordings that you can use as a source so that you don't have to do all the
entries yourself -- it seems that you electronically check off the albums
you own.  Has anyone used them?  Would a scanner help in downloading the
information?  What sort of hardware do you need (for example, for a
collection of about 4,000 LPs, 2,000 CDs, and 1,000 cassettes?  What do you
wish that you had known before you began the project (in addition to how
much time it would take)?  Are there any resources for funding such a
venture?

             Thanks,
             Bob