(CNN)Late last year, officials at the New York State Department of Health knew they had to act fast to stem the tide of a growing measles outbreak in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Reaching out in the community's own language, the agency spent tens of thousands of dollars printing and distributing measles information sheets in Yiddish to hang on the doors of more than 45,000 homes in those communities. But something got lost in translation: The Yiddish was mangled, according to language experts consulted by CNN. The door hangers delivered to Rockland County homes were so riddled with errors that parts of it were "barely comprehensible" and "practically indecipherable," said Chaya Nove, a Yiddish scholar. "The translation is so ridiculous, it's almost offensive," she said. Read More"It's incredibly sloppy," added Anita Norich, a professor emerita at the University of Michigan and a Yiddish scholar. "It's infuriating." The experts said the Yiddish was also poor in two ads highlighting the dangers of measles that the health department placed in publications in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community late last year. Some say the bungled language is part of a larger problem: The state has had trouble communicating effectively with its ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, contributing to the largest and longest measles outbreak in the United States since at least 1993. Not only did the state health department make the Yiddish mistakes, the agency failed to quickly utilize -- or in some cases utilize at all -- some well-known methods of communicating with ultra-Orthodox Jews, a community that can be closed off to the outside world. For example, it took the department three months to distribute a booklet that was instrumental in increasing vaccination rates in one ultra-Orthodox community two years ago. Plus, agency officials say they only recently started to work on using two other communication platforms -- a news phone line and a texting app -- that are particularly popular with ultra-Orthodox Jews."In order to be credible, you have to get the message out via the methodologies that a community commonly uses," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, professor of health policy and management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. "And since measles spreads quickly, there are cascading consequences to delay." JUST WATCHEDNew York man: I'm worried for my baby's safetyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH New York man: I'm worried for my baby's safety 01:56There's a lot at stake in stopping this outbreak. Since October, more than 600 New Yorkers have contracted measles, with more than 30 new cases reported in the state during the last week by New York state and city health departments. In New York City and Rockland County, the two epicenters of the outbreak, about 55 patients have been hospitalized, and 14 have been admitted to the intensive care unit. Measles has spread from New York to several other states, including Connecticut, New Jersey an
health,'Incredibly sloppy': Yiddish translation of New York's measles message riddled with errors - CNN,
(CNN)Late last year, officials at the New York State Department of Health knew they had to act fast to stem the tide of a growing measles outbreak in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Reaching out in the community's own language, the agency spent tens of thousands of dollars printing and distributing measles information sheets in Yiddish to hang on the doors of more than 45,000 homes in those communities. But something got lost in translation: The Yiddish was mangled, according to language experts consulted by CNN. The door hangers delivered to Rockland County homes were so riddled with errors that parts of it were "barely comprehensible" and "practically indecipherable," said Chaya Nove, a Yiddish scholar. "The translation is so ridiculous, it's almost offensive," she said. Read More"It's incredibly sloppy," added Anita Norich, a professor emerita at the University of Michigan and a Yiddish scholar. "It's infuriating." The experts said the Yiddish was also poor in two ads highlighting the dangers of measles that the health department placed in publications in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community late last year. Some say the bungled language is part of a larger problem: The state has had trouble communicating effectively with its ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, contributing to the largest and longest measles outbreak in the United States since at least 1993. Not only did the state health department make the Yiddish mistakes, the agency failed to quickly utilize -- or in some cases utilize at all -- some well-known methods of communicating with ultra-Orthodox Jews, a community that can be closed off to the outside world. For example, it took the department three months to distribute a booklet that was instrumental in increasing vaccination rates in one ultra-Orthodox community two years ago. Plus, agency officials say they only recently started to work on using two other communication platforms -- a news phone line and a texting app -- that are particularly popular with ultra-Orthodox Jews."In order to be credible, you have to get the message out via the methodologies that a community commonly uses," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, professor of health policy and management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. "And since measles spreads quickly, there are cascading consequences to delay." JUST WATCHEDNew York man: I'm worried for my baby's safetyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH New York man: I'm worried for my baby's safety 01:56There's a lot at stake in stopping this outbreak. Since October, more than 600 New Yorkers have contracted measles, with more than 30 new cases reported in the state during the last week by New York state and city health departments. In New York City and Rockland County, the two epicenters of the outbreak, about 55 patients have been hospitalized, and 14 have been admitted to the intensive care unit. Measles has spread from New York to several other states, including Connecticut, New Jersey an
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