Posted on 10/14/2021 3:32:17 PM PDT by Eleutheria5
In April, the language-learning app Duolingo added its 40th language to its program arsenal: Yiddish. A couple of decades ago, it would have been unthinkable for a mainstream non-Jewish language program to offer an expansive, comprehensive course in Yiddish. But Duolingo’s Yiddish addition only serves to reflect the increased global interest in learning a language that once had as many as 12 million speakers.
Ladino, a Romance language of Sephardic Jews still spoken by hundreds of thousands worldwide, has also garnered much interest in recent years. Ladino classes, both online and in-person, are widely available to prospective learners.
But while those two Jewish languages are enjoying a cultural renaissance, many others — ones spoken in Crimea, Baghdad, Baku and beyond, which have both miraculously survived and succumbed to tumultuous periods in world history — have remained largely inaccessible to interested learners.
This month, that’s changing.
The Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages in the UK has launched its inaugural semester of courses in 12 Jewish languages, belonging to the Aramaic, Arabic and Turkic language families. They range in number of speakers, from millions to none.
The courses, which began this week, run for an hour a week online and are free for all students.
“There are currently many brilliant research projects and online platforms concerning Jewish languages,” said Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, president of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and the creator of the new program. “What is missing is the possibility for the growing number of interested students to learn these languages, even less in an academic setting.”
This is why she sees the OSRJL’s format — online and free — as significant: it ensures that classes are accessible to an international pool of students.
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(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
You do that.
Thanks for letting us all know.
Others might be interested.
It might do you some good, too. You could eavesdrop on Jooo! conversations and find out how we’re planning to screw you over, thinking you don’t understand us. Nyahahahaa!/s
Yah, nah.. we've got agencies paid to monitor hostile foreigners.
Not my problem.
Cool.
It’s great they are making it available.
Yep, it is cool
Thank you for this post. My daughter is a linguistics nerd and I passed this on to her.
It’s awesome that there’s still something to make available.
Dream on;-)
I wonder how much Judeo-Greek is like the Greek of the Septuagint?
I have the Septaugint in my bookcase. It’ll be fun to compare once the course starts.
I wonder if the same can be said for the Greek New Testament, too.
“Not my problem.”
דער אלטער שכורישע ערל מיינט אז ער איז גאנץ גוט און פיין בלייבן אין טעקסיס מיט זיין פערד. ניאהאה! לאז אים חלומ’ן
Bruidhinn Beurla, amadan. Faigh obair.
Gabh amar.
That some incantation to summon those beneficent (heheheh) federal agents to protect you from hostile foreigners? Let me know if you meet any of either (hostile foreigners OR beneficent federal agents). Scratch that. Hostile foreigners, you’ll meet if you just head due south.
My friend’s father was raised speaking, reading and writing Ladino (the Jewish language in Spain, derived from the name “Latin”). After the Masada uprising, the Roman Empire forcibly relocated a lot of Jews to Spain, so it goes way back.
When my friend’s father was young on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, several of those languages were present in the neighborhood, especially Yiddish.
When clearing out his house after his passing (at a ripe old age), boxes of his old correspondence were eagerly sought by an American professor, to study the language.
Unfortunately, when Hitler destroyed the ancient Jewish community of Salonika in Greece, he just about killed off Ladino. But it’s still spoken all over Gibraltar, one of the few places on earth where Jews, Christians and Muslims get along on a daily basis with no drama ever. The possible other being America.
She might want to watch the three seasons (so far?) of Shtisel on Netflix (subtitled in English). It is an awesomely accurate portrayal of the Haredi community in Jerusalem, both culturally and linguistically. They alternate between modern Hebrew and Yiddish in daily conversation, and it’s also a compelling story.
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