Ladino language

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Judaeo-Spanish
Ladino
גֿודֿיאו-איספאנייול Djudeo-Espagnol
גֿידֿייו Djidio
גֿודֿזמו Djudesmo
איספאנייול Espagnol
איספאנייוליקו Espagnolico
חאקיטיאה Jaquetía
לאדינו Ladino
Pronunciation[dʒuˈðeo espaˈɲol]
Native to Israel
 Turkey
 USA
 France
 Greece
 Brazil
 UK
and others
EthnicitySephardim
Native speakers
Between 70,000 and 200,000.[1] Most recent estimates around 95,000.
72,000 in Israel,
7,000 in Turkey,
3,500 in the USA,
2,500 in France,
around 1,000 each in Greece, Brazil and the UK. (2013)
Dialects
  • Haketia Variant - Morocco, Canada
  • Levantine Variant - main variant, two branches
    Occidental branch - originally spoken in Albania, Romania, Western Bulgaria, Western Greece and Yugoslavia
    Oriental branch - originally spoken in Eastern Bulgaria, Eastern Greece, the Middle East, North Africa (except for Morocco) and Turkey.[1]
  • Ponentine Variant - extinct
Mainly Latin script
Original script Rashi and Solitreo
Other scripts; Persian, Cyrillic, Greek and Hebrew.
Official status
Regulated byAutoridad Nasionala del Ladino in Israel (using Latin letters)
Language codes
ISO 639-2lad
ISO 639-3lad
ELPLadino
Linguasphere51-AAB-ba ... 51-AAB-bd
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Ladino (also called Judeo-Spanish) is a Jewish Romance language that is very close to the Spanish language. It has many old Spanish words and Hebrew words.

History[change | change source]

During the Middle Ages, many Jews lived in Spain. They were called Sephardic Jews or Sephardim (in Hebrew). Forced to leave Spain after the country was taken over by Christians, they brought the old Spanish with them to their new countries. Some Sephardic Jews still speak Ladino in Israel, Turkey, Bulgaria, the United States, and other countries.

Like many other Jewish languages, Ladino is an endangered language, is in danger of language death. It could become an extinct language. Most native speakers are old because many of them who emigrated to Israel and did not pass on the language to their children or grandchildren. In some Sephardic Jewish communities in Latin America and elsewhere, there is a threat of dialect levelling by the extinction by assimilation into modern Spanish.

Writing[change | change source]

Ladino is usually written by using the Latin alphabet but in Israel, it uses the Hebrew alphabet.

Ladin language[change | change source]

Ladino should not be confused with the Ladin language, which is related to the Swiss Romansh and Friulian languages and is mostly spoken in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region of Northern Italy.

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Judeo-Spanish Language - General Overview". Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2013.

Other websites[change | change source]