Ladino language

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ladino-language

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the linguistic classification?Judeo-Romance language, a descendant of Old Spanish
2. What is the current status?Critically endangered, with ongoing revitalization efforts by scholars and cultural advocates
3. Where did Ladino come from?Ladino started in Spain before 1492, then Jews carried it to the Ottoman Empire after being expelled. The new places added many new words.
4. Why does Ladino have words from many different languages?Ladino borrowed words from Turkish, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and others because the people who spoke it lived among many different cultures and needed new words.

Sephardic Jews: Jews of Iberian origin, characterized by distinct cultural, religious, and linguistic traditions, including Ladino.
Judeo-Romance Languages: A group of languages spoken by Jewish communities that developed from Vulgar Latin, such as Ladino and Yiddish.
Lexical Borrowing: The process by which words from one language are adopted into another language.