What Is Ladino? Four Things to Know

By Sarah-claire Jordan
If you’ve never heard of Ladino before, you’re in for an interesting read. Also known as Judaeo-Spanish, it originated in Spain. It is in the Romance language family and a descendant of Old Spanish. It is spoken in Turkey and parts of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the Balkans. Other European and Mediterranean countries are home to native speakers too, along with Canada and the United States.

So, what is there to know exactly about this interesting language? A few things, really. Here are just four things that you should know about Ladino:

1. It is mainly spoken by Sephardic Jews

Sephardic Jews make up small minority communities found in in Turkey, parts of the Middle East and North Africa, the Balkans, European and Mediterranean countries as well as Canada and the United States. They are a Jewish community that originated in the Iberian Peninsula. No one is exactly sure how that happened, but some think maybe there have been Jewish people living there since before Roman times. The language that is the most typical of these communities is Ladino, or Judaeo-Spanish, though there are other languages that are spoken as well.

2. Ladino very similar to Castilian Spanish

Ladino is based largely on the grammar, phonology, and vocabulary of Old Castilian, which was the language of what is now Spain at the time the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. Since they had to move to other places at that time, the influence of Modern Spanish never really reached the Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jews. There are some differences, of course, like the use of many Hebrew and Aramaic words, but the two languages do sound very similar, so much so that some dialects of Ladino are actually mutually intelligible with Modern Spanish.

3. There is a large repertoire of Ladino songs

Scholars of Ladino folklore have been collecting songs written in Ladino for a long time now, and some of the songs they have found date back to even before the time when the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain. A lot of the earlier songs were just Ladino translations of Hebrew songs, but soon songs written originally in Ladino became more commonplace. Now, there are a number of groups and artists who sing Ladino songs and pay homage to their ancestors and community in this way.

4. Ladino is an endangered language

Unfortunately, like many languages spoken only in minority communities, Ladino is at risk of extinction. In some of the countries where it is spoken, it has status as a recognized minority language, and is even taught in some universities, but that might not be enough to keep it from dying out. The main issue is that most of the native speakers today are very old and are not passing the language on to their children and their children’s children.

In certain communities with high numbers of Ladino speakers, there are efforts being made to at least have important materials translated into the language. Alpha Omega Translation is a company that has experience with minority languages and, most importantly, understands why we must try to preserve them.

For an overview of our translation expertise, visit our financial translation page

Category: Foreign Language