Ladino
Language Information
Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) is spoken in Israel, Turkey, and by Sephardic Jewish communities in the United States, France, Latin America, and the Balkans.
Ladino developed from the Spanish spoken by Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, who settled mainly in the Ottoman Empire. It preserves many features of medieval Spanish, with words from Hebrew, Turkish, Greek, and Arabic. It was traditionally written in the Hebrew alphabet, but today it is usually written in Roman letters. It is endangered, with perhaps a few tens of thousands of speakers, mostly elderly.
Ladino developed from the Spanish spoken by Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, who settled mainly in the Ottoman Empire. It preserves many features of medieval Spanish, with words from Hebrew, Turkish, Greek, and Arabic. It was traditionally written in the Hebrew alphabet, but today it is usually written in Roman letters. It is endangered, with perhaps a few tens of thousands of speakers, mostly elderly.
- Language Family
- Indo-European
- Subgroup
- Romance
- Branch
- Ibero-Romance
Ladino Language Sample
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1
Ladino
Todos los umanos nasen libres i iguales en dinyidad i derechos i, komo estan ekipados de razon i konsensia, deven komportarsen kon ermandad los unos kon los otros.English translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Source: OHCHR translations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights