Songs & Rhymes In Aramaic
Songs & Rhymes In Hebrew
Songs & Rhymes In Ladino
Songs & Rhymes In Yiddish

About the Yiddish Language

Yiddish is the language of the Ashkenazic Jews (those who at one time lived or had ancestors who lived in eastern and central Europe). It is a Germanic language, written in Hebrew characters. Before the Holocaust, it was spoken by approximately 10 million people. Today, it is spoken by approximately 4 million, mostly in the United States, Israel, Canada, France, Argentina, Mexico and Romania.

About the Ladino Language

Ladino is also called Judeo-Spanish. It's the language of the Sephardic Jews (those who at one time lived or had ancestors who lived in Spain). It's a Romance language that has its roots in Old Spanish. It has many elements from several other old Romance languages. It's been further enhanced by Ottoman Turkish and Semitic words (from languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic). Most modern vocabulary words come from Italian and French.

Ladino was originally spoken in the former territories of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, the Balkans, the Middle East, Northern Africa) and parts of Europe, after the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. Until that point, the Jews of Spain spoke the same language as their Christian neighbors.

Nowadays, Ladino is mainly spoken by Sephardic minorities, the majority of who live in Israel. It's a minority language in Israel, Turkey, France and Bosnia and Herzegovina.