[elli1]

ARE there any speakers of modern Aramaic?

According to Google, there are approx. 400,000 speakers of modern Aramaic located in small communities in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon & other places in the ME. For all practical purposes, it is a dead language though. I wonder (don't know) if Biblical era/ Jewish scholars understand the language (like Latin?) and if Gibson chose those languages because they would be understood by the scholar community?

[Cronos]

400,000 don't make it a dead language! Thanks! I really do think that if there's one thing we lack as a nation it is knowledge of foreign languages. A good start would be to bring back Latin to the classrooms -- it has been shown that those studying Latin grammar etc. are better at Maths and definitely able to pick up Romance languages much faster.