JudeoSpanish

Judeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino, is a Romance language historically spoken by Sephardic Jews. It descends from medieval Iberian Spanish (Castilian) and emerged after the 1492 expulsion of Jews from the Crown of Castile. As Sephardic communities dispersed across the Mediterranean, the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and later the Americas, Ladino developed regional varieties. Broadly, scholars distinguish Western Sephardic varieties, associated with Iberian diasporas around the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions, and Eastern Sephardic varieties, common in the Balkans and the Ottoman domains. The language integrates Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords and, in some regions, elements from Turkish, Greek, or other local languages.

Traditionally, Ladino was written in the Hebrew alphabet, though in modern times it has also been written in Latin script. It has a rich tradition of oral and literary forms, including religious poetry, translations of Biblical and liturgical texts, folk songs, and proverbs. In the present day, numbers of native speakers are small, and Ladino is considered endangered in many communities. Nevertheless, revival and preservation efforts persist, with educational programs, dictionaries, and media in Ladino in Israel, Turkey, the Balkans, and North America, as well as academic research. The language is generally classified as a Romance language with substantial Jewish and host-language influences, and is often described as a distinct Sephardic linguistic and cultural marker within Jewish heritage.