Book Launch of New German Publication

On the evening of Friday February 17, the Bethany Fellowship Centre in Saskatoon was filled with over a hundred and forty people to hear about the new publication "Enn Bloomenheim Opjewossen."

This is a Low German book written and edited by Jack Driedger and Chris Cox. Chris speaks fluent Low German. He told of 300,000 people who still speak Low German all over the world in eleven countries. Chris gave us a brief background in the language and told of the differences in High and Low German. Chris stated that there are many dialects of this language.

The book follows Jack's book "Growing Up in Bloomenheim" which is in English.

For a lot of people, Low German was their first language. Parents later spoke this language when they wished to keep secrets from their children.

Chris and Jack wrote this book for a whole new audience. One cannot correct one's mistakes in 'spell check.' Often Jack had to invent a new word to fully describe the object of his writings. The book had excellent pictures and Chris has the object of discussion on an overhead screen.

The first chapter of this book has been placed online and one can read it for free. Many copies of the book were sold at the launch.

Jack stated that all proceeds from the evening's book sales were going to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan who sponsored the evening. Jack is in the process of teaching the third series of Low German classes with over 15 people in each class. The people at Langham will be very happy to have this resource of Low German speaking people for their German plays each year.

Jack read various excerpts from the book. He told of their farm tractor, the caboose his dad built and their family hunting dogs. The caboose was an essential mode of travel in winter, often bringing home many neighbours' mail and groceries. After this presentation, Jack autographed his books. Lunch and visiting followed the meeting.