Does anyone actually know how to speak the Aramaic language well enough to have been understood by the native speakers?
I hope his comments about Hebrew being a dead language don't offend Jews, I'm pretty it was just Mel's Mind/Mouth clutch slipping.
Bad Dog! Surf before posting questions:
Aramaic survives as a spoken language in small communities in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon will not attempt to be a full dictionary for this Modern Aramaic, which is best undertaken as a separate task, but where an ancient word has a modern continuation, the Modern Aramaic use will be recorded.
from:
http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/aramaic_language.html