WIKITONGUES: Jack speaking Ladino

This video was recorded in Thessaloniki, Greece, where Jack lives, by Wikitongues volunteer John Kazaklis. Ladino, also called Judeo-Spanish, Sefardí, Judío/Djudyo, and Haquetía, among others, is a Jewish language of Latin origin, spoken primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, France, Turkey, and Israel. Read more on Wikipedia: bit.ly/2id4xMW.
The speaker(s) featured herein have not explicitly agreed to distribute this video for reuse. For inquiries on licensing this video, please contact [e-mail].
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[@ManiacalViolet]

I am the first generation in my father's family for 600 years to not speak Ladino. I am trying to learn. My father is 74, born in Ankara, raised in Istanbul, lived in the US since 1969.

[@HotVoodooWitch]

Please learn and pass it on.

[@LVZVRUS]

Bro this is a mood. I’m the first generation, too. Grandpa from Thessaloniki and Grandma from Damascus. I’m a English speaking New Zealander lol

[@euro_babe]

same. ancestors from Spain, went to Turkey during the ottoman empire. my parents speak ladino and turkish but unfortunately didn't pass it on to me. I understand all of it though

[@bababashqort3598]

If your dad is 74, I wonder how old are you...

[@mebrowneyedgirl]

Guys, please this language is too beautiful to die. Much love from a Greek.

[@shussey99]

I understand this man very well. When I first traveled to Spain, I would speak the Spanish I grew up speaking. My friend in Spain claimed that I was using the 'Antique' Spanish. I didn't know what they meant by that -- Now I do.

[@bnic9471]

Yeah . . . languages in colonies are a little like time capsules. The Germans and Norwegians in my state, who are dying out, sound a century or so out of date to listeners from the mother country. Spanish is my second language, but this fellow was almost entirely intelligible. Thanks, I think, to my knowing Portuguese and having read so much Cervantes in the original.

[@johanvandermeulen9696]

@@bnic9471 ?Conoce la palabra gazpacho? A Diós rogando y con el mazo dando.

[@ricardosoto5770]

@@bnic9471 Yo must be from Minnesota? Or Michigan?

[@paranoidrodent]

@@bnic9471 You are spot on about colonial dialects tending to be time capsules. Canadian and Louisiana French dialects are chock full of archaic features too. Quebec French, Ontarian French and to a lesser degree Acadian French are both starting to drift back into greater harmony with international French thanks to modern communications and them being healthy linguistic populations (rather than slowly dying out).

[@funkydrops]

Espero de encontrar pronto unos hablantes ladinos porque me parece estupendo que nos entendemos!!!

[@benjaminbeebe6555]

I have Ashkenazi ancestry but have become increasingly fascinated by the history & culture of Sephardic Jewry. This is a unique & beautiful language worthy of all efforts to save it.

[@benjaminhammel2520]

My family Is Ashkenazi as well, my father is married to a Sephardic woman, but somehow our traditions are more similar to Mizrachi than anything. Such interesting cultures we have!

[@jman6866]

I'm a native Spanish speaker and Sephardic, honestly this just sounds like 16th century Spanish, i understood everything

[@dsf8497]

PandasHateGrizzlies that’s basically what it is (from what I’ve read). Yiddish is the same but with German.

[@mamayemajr.7514]

@@dsf8497 yiddish is not the Same imo.It Has more Hebrew words and changed.Not much but did.

[@liubomirtsankov4074]

Que bien, soy bulgaro y lo se castellano. Puedo entender todo lo que habla. Que interesante!

[@leonsverdov2208]

@@mamayemajr.7514 well, Middle German was influenced by Latin turning into Hochdeutsch, with the dialect that was influenced by ancient Hebrew and Aramaic turning into Yiddish-Teitsch

[@agenteismael18]

Exacto

[@undoubtedly]

My great grandmother who was from Thessaloniki and Holocaust survivor spoke exactly like this. Brings back many memories. Certain Ladino words I still use with my family. Thanks for uploading this ❤️

[@dotsywotsy18]

My parents as well. Mordo and Sol Tiano. My mother was born Varsano. I’ve ginger to Thessaloniki to try to find root’s and going back in august. Do you know who is speaking?

[@SuperGamingCraftSGC]

​@dotsywotsy18 my parents are bulgarian jews (also sephardic). They told me that Varsano is an Ashkenazi name (it also exists in bulgaria) and means "from Warsaw (Varshava)". Is that true? Sorry for the weird question, it just interesting and I could never find an answer to that on the internet. It's interesting because there are not many ashkenazim in the balkans which are primarily sephardic, but I know there are some. Most were probably integrated into sephardic society though

[@liberoAquila]

I'm Serbian from Bosnia where this language was traditionally spoken by Jews, I studied standard Spanish in school and understand 80%.

[@karolinailic2868]

Ja isto sve razumem, Ali ako hoces da znas pravopis I gramatika, organizuju se kursevi.... Znas preko Zoom ...

[@JCMLR]

@@karolinailic2868 Bosnia is not Serbia.

[@karolinailic2868]

@@JCMLR l did not mention neither Bosnia or Serbia....

[@JCMLR]

@@karolinailic2868 Sorry mate I didn't mean to tag you.

[@karolinailic2868]

@@JCMLR ok.... I am learning and following ladino lessons right now. It is very interesting...

[@dulcineia9039]

Muy interesante! Soy judía Ashkenazi de una familia que habla Yiddish, pero estudiaba el español para ser maestra de español, y ahora (después de más de 60 años de estudio) lo hablo bien. En la universidad tenía unas clases sobre el español medieval, y así puedo entender la lengua viejísima. El ladino de este video lo entendía casi perfectamente aunque había varias palabras y estructuras obviamente ladino. Muchísimas gracias. Era una experiencia maravillosa.

[@63Anul]

Se entiende absolutamente todo. Los sefardíes son y deben ser españoles de pleno derecho. Han mantenido el español de la época en que los expulsaron de España y por eso mismo su manera de hablar nuestra lengua es un tesoro que se debe mantener. Su desaparición sería una gran pérdida cultural, no sólo para los judíos, sino para toda la inmensa cultura en lengua castellana.

[@luisvelascomartinez3572]

Antes lo deberian ser los latinos de las antillas españolas que son los que mas reclaman ese derecho, en cuanto al sefardi, a dia de hoy, es un idioma tristemente expulsado desde 1400, salvo por cuestiones economicas, no creo que lo hagan.. ni con el sefardi ni con el ladino

[@Asdepicaros]

@@luisvelascomartinez3572 Cualquier Sefardi puede optar por la nacionalidad española o portugesa demostrando que son sefardies.

[@RoderickVI]

Él dice que su familia era de Mallorca, así que sus ancestros hablaban catalán no castellano, y encima seguramente eran katalanim y no sefardim. Pero en el tiempo deben haber recogido el castellano al reunirse con más exiliados judios (la mayoria de la Corona Castellana). Asi que no diria que han conservado su lengua desde la epoca, muchos han acogido el castellano pese a no haberlo hablado jamas mientras vivian en la peninsula

[@alexstewart8097]

Amen!.

[@mariamederos7872]

Fascinating! I speak modern Spanish, and can understand perfectly and without effort! Perfect pronunciation and such a beautiful voice. Thank you for not forgetting Ladino! It gives modern Spanish-speakers a chance to hear Old Spanish. I'm deeply grateful!

[@JobimSynthMusic]

I speak Brazilian Portuguese and this sounds very like an accessible and perfectly understandable form of spanish, with a LOT of words sounding exactly like Portuguese. I can understand like 95% what he's saying plus the last 5% from the context of other words and the story. fascinating.

[@sneocatenaccio746]

Essa é a lingua dos meus ancestrais sefardis... Como são conhecidos os júdeus da peninsula ibérica.

[@danmorgan3685]

Maybe you should study it as a hobby. I'm studying German because it's a bit easier because I'm a native English speaker with an English degree.

[@crochetwithmaja1528]

Same here, and I speak Italian. How interesting.

[@blakebennett5358]

I noticed he said "agora", not "ahora". Also the "j" was more like Portuguese. In the most famous Sephardic song ever, morenika, there's the word "preta", not used in Spanish. I guess this was at a time when Portuguese and Spanish were more similar to each other....

[@rick-ry3kj]

Yeah it sounds to me like a Portuguese speaking person speaking Spanish.

[@NickyRikki]

I am sooo proud to be Sephardic... My father always reminds me of our true language and heritage.

[@RodMerida]

Do you still speak it?

[@ulissesschwarzviana6214]

Falo português e pude entender tudo, 100%. Tenho o espanhol como segunda língua.

[@quetzalcoatl3242]

Que bueno. Que haya sefardita por muchos anios más.

[@NickyRikki]

@@RodMerida I know a few words from my grandparents...... tali kulo, tali Braga ( ladino proverb)... means to such an ass such underwear lol.... we are Sephardic jews from Bucharest romania. Community called communitea israelitor de rit spaniol everiesc din Bucharest. We Spanish jews accepted under ottoman rule in romania as merchants.

[@NickyRikki]

@@quetzalcoatl3242 Soy una orgullosa mujer rumana judía sefardí de Bucarest.

[@mya5980]

I heard many people speaking this yesterday here in Jerusalem where I am here 9 days on a pilgrimage!🙏😊

[@DaT1aGEnDerANdRosExUaL]

Empece a llorar. Mi familia es Judía y muchísima familia mía se murió durante la guerra.

[@danielemeytre4010]

No llorar, habla ladino! Just added a ladino dictionary on my phone, since is kinda ancient Spanish, is also a good excuse to learn more spanish by myself. Primo Levi wrote something about saloniki Jews, so for me they have mythic aura. I like them.

[@eitanethan]

My father is Jewish, my mother is Mexican with Sephardi ancestors. I know Spanish and Hebrew decently fluent. I was able to understand pretty much everything. So awesome, I find myself throwing in Spanish words when speaking in Hebrew and throwing in Hebrew words when speaking in Spanish, no doubt the origins of Ladino. Beautiful, hermosa y יפה !! muchas gracias por la presentación, תודה רבה!

[@DrNukeShow]

I was like when does he stop speaking Spanish and start speaking Ladino

[@RodMerida]

It's the same language, just an archaic variant of it with some few Italian words, or some word that is unused by modern speakers but existed in old Spanish, like "meldar" for read, instead "leer".

[@alicetwain]

@Sergio Diaz It actually sounded a lot like Venetian dialect too.

[@gal749]

Ladino is a language that descended from Spanish with a few Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords. It's like Yiddish but based on Spanish instead of German.

[@RodMerida]

@@gal749 . Yiddish is very different from German, much of its daily vocabulary is very different (not most of it) and its grammar is partially based on Polish or Slavic languages, so it's hardly understandable by standard German speakers. But Sephardic Spanish is much more similar to Spanish and is completely understandable. The vocabulary it may have taken from Turkish, Hebrew, Slavic languages, Greek or Arabic is very noticeable for a standard Spanish speaker, but is minimmal compared to standard Spanish, and is completely understandable by a speaker of modern Spanish. So in practice Judeo-Spanish is not "a different language derived from Spanish", it is an archaic dialect of Spanish. Its main differences are its archaic elements from Spanish itself, that are most of them understandable by a modern speaker. There is an interview made by César Vidal to Eliezer Papo, a Sephardic rabi native in Judeo-Spanish, where Eliezer speaks and answers in Ladino, and they completely understand each others all the time. So Sephardic Spanish, is another form or version of Spanish (as he himself states in that interview).

[@gal749]

@@RodMerida I said it *descended* from German (more specifically Old German), not that it's similar to it.

[@agustinranu5508]

I'm from Argentina and it sounds like a Brazilian who speaks Spanish

[@seekingonlytruth4620]

It's amazing that Separdhi Jews are still speaking in Ladino even centuries after Alhambra Decree.

[@changolini]

Not as many you think its dying really fast

[@joshduenyas7161]

If we forget our history then who are we?

[@ricardomilos39]

@@joshduenyas7161 we are the people of the present

[@ricardosoto5770]

Sadly ladino is dying to Hebrew in israel, to French in France and Canada, to English in the UK and USA and to modern Spanish in Latin America and Spain..

[@RodMerida]

@@ricardosoto5770 . Que muera el judeoespañol absorbido por el español estándar moderno (en cualquiera de sus acentos) si sus comunidades emigran a países hispanohablantes es completamente normal (así se perdió el judeoespañol haketía del Norte de Marruecos durante el protectorado español, difícil que no lo hiciera si hasta los viejos árabes de la región hablan castellano como un español de Segovia). Lo que ha permitido que se mantenga una variante arcaizante de español con una evolución paralela algo distinta y más conservadora, es precisamente el haberse visto exiliados a países de habla no hispana, sumado a lo celosos que los judíos son de su tradición cultural, litúrgica, oral y literaria y su identidad, folklore y raíces, así como al hecho de vivir en barrios propios, juderías, con sus propias escuelas, hasta prácticamente la secularización de los siglos XIX y XX. Lo que no tendría que perderse es en países de habla inglesa o francesa, porque sus idiomas son lo bastante diferentes del ladino como para que pueda conservar sus propios rasgos fonéticos. Si lo está haciendo es por la globalización y la presión normativa cada vez mayor de los medios de comunicación audiovisuales y de un sistema educativo nacional obligatorio único. Ojalá y logren encontrar una fórmula para conseguir que ese dialecto se siga hablando sin que vaya experimentando una peligrosa sangría de los pocos hablantes jóvenes que aún puedan quedar generación tras generación (a saber si lo único que queda ya que lo hablen son viejos). La única que se me ocurre es que fuera declarado como lengua cooficial en alguna región o distritos de Israel, pero al sionismo eso no le interesa, y deben de estar dispersos demográficamente dentro de Israel también, a diferencia de cuando vivían en juderías y barrios concentrándose en focos por todo el Imperio Otomano y se carteaban y compartían su propia prensa y publicaciones internas a la comunidad.

[@algunnomegracioso6310]

very beautiful language but with a very sad history

[@ortodoxgeto-dac9706]

why? :-)...It s a Spanish language from XVII century. The Jews anyhow they come in Provincia Hispanica, with the Mohammedans. After Reconquista 718-1492, because they were not loyal to the Spaniards but to the Mohammedans, the Spanish just forced them to go out from Spain-(did not kill them as was the custom then) to their cities in Palestina- but the Jews are going to East of Europe in the Ottoman Empire of Sumeiman I.

[@artfanatsymanic]

ortodox geto-dac of course they killed them. they killed them by the thousands. this is common knowlege.

[@Loungemermaid]

ortodox geto-dac they did too kill them. And torture them. They were victims of the Spanish Inquisition

[@ivanredskin]

couchmermaid eso paso hace muchos siglos?? castitilian inquisition, no spanish.

[@bellariev6354]

@@artfanatsymanic Lol, that's nothing new in history, people killing other people... also they invaded the iberian peninsula and they expected to not having consequences?

[@thesoapbarcom3971]

Thank you for recording this lovely gentleman Jack, from Thessaloniki. I hope he's still 'with us'. I speak Spanish and French and I understood every word!

[@aprendizercomygor]

It sounds basically like Old Spanish, thus also a bit closer to how Portuguese and Galician sound. IMO the consonants are stronger (less lenition of consonants) and the vowels more varied than in modern Spanish.

[@korlaiculture4716]

Ygor Coelho you’re correct, but this also may be archaic

[@franciscasilva8406]

It sounds like a Portuguese trying to speak spanish

[@franciscasilva8406]

i didn't say it sounded like portuguese, I said it sounded like a portuguese trying to speak spanish.

[@arteks2001]

Sounds like Spanish from northern Mexico.

[@enzocompanbadillo5365]

@@arteks2001 No hubiera pensado que del norte de México en específico, pero cuando alrededor de 0:30 dice “exactamente“ me recuerda al acento mexicano.

[@nikolazekic549]

For those who are interested in Ladino and its history, I recommend watching lectures by Eliezer Papo, the non-residential rabbi of the Jewish community of Sarajevo.

[@ricardosoto5770]

Eliezer Papo is great..

[@nikolazekic549]

@@ricardosoto5770 Yes, he is!

[@orlandoburgess4858]

@@nikolazekic549 In southern Bosnia on the borders with the Dubrovnik-Neretva county (around Capljina, Neum & Stolac), there is a small community of speakers. They are not Jews by any halachic standards... if you catch my drift!

[@nikolazekic549]

@@orlandoburgess4858 Oh, I was quite unaware of that! I wonder if rabbi Papo knows...

[@orlandoburgess4858]

@@nikolazekic549 Rabbi Papo??? What? He is not a rabbi. He has a PhD. Thats it. Not sure if we are talking about the same person here. Dr Eliezer Papo has been accused of being too one sided. His idea of Ladino is framed specifically as a Jewish phenomenon. Thats not reality. Ladino is spoken as a language (or part of a dialect) by many people today. Some of them stayed Jews, and some assimilated (down the generations).

[@OscarTartalo]

Me gustó mucho escuchar este castellano con matices antiguos y que se ha logrado conservar por tanto tiempo. Me emocioné cuando Jack dijo "de la nación mía".

[@oscarventura4669]

Mis abuelos llegaron a la Argentina alrededor de 1910, 1920 desde Turquía o desde Rodas . Los antepasados de ellos habían vivido en España por cientos de años hasta la expulsión en 1492. En sus nuevos destinos las familias siguieron hablando el castellano de aquella época y la fueron mezclando con palabras en hebreo ya que los más religiosos rezaban de los libros del antiguo testamento.La cultura francesa se imponía en el imperio otomano en los lugares de estudio. y el idioma oficial era el turco. Estas influencias se ven en el Ladino que se conservó hasta nuestros días ayudado por el deseo ancestral del judaísmo de mantener sus historias y creencias a pesar de las dificultades desde su exilio de 2000 años.0

[@oc3607]

I'm spaniard and I was like...wait I can understand this 100%. No sabía que mi idioma tuviera esta variante, es MUY interesante!!!!!!!!

[@teresaathanasiadis5430]

Jo tambien no sabía, pero ahora jo tengo que admitír que és una lengua muy, muy parecida con el Español. Los Judeos son mesmo personas maravillosas, porque ellos inventaron muchas otras lenguas proprias, como el dialecto Yiddish (lembrase de ''Ba mir bistu shein''?)

[@swanhildm]

Jackson Park I understand spanish and was amazed how pure it obviously stayed over the centuries in comparison to the German derived Yiddish which I as a German just understand partially due to slavic and hebrew admixture.

[@LoserBroProductions]

Jackson Park Solamente sé un poquito de este porque soy de rancho 👌😂👌😂👌😂🇰🇵

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

Jorun28 jiddisch versteht man doch eigentlich ganz gut, finde ich ^^

[@rodsilver19]

Teresa Athanasiadis --> this language was not invented by judeos, they simply lived some time in the iberia peninsula, so they learned the spanish language but they didnt learn it properly so they mixed the spanish language with their own language!! it's like you living in england for 10 years and when you come back to spain you no longer speak spanish language properly but a mix of spanish with english!! do you understand it now!!! I'm portuguese and i understood it 95% what he was saying, actually it is very close to the portuguese language!! Judeos lived in iberia peninsula which is constituted by portugal and spain and this ladino is well a mix of spanish and portuguese from what i can hear!!

[@MissUltimaThule]

Wow. I have Sephardic ancestry and I always wondered what Ladino sounded like.

[@maxiaguirre]

just watch some mariachi video here in YT, it´s the same langauge

[@henrytcardenas]

in texas we speak a variant of ladino....

[@korlaiculture4716]

henrytcardenas why?

[@Mike01029]

I think it's just Spanish slightly tweaked, I could almost understand word per word

[@texashookdude9920]

Jack is speaking Ladino / Judeo Spanish; I'm a Spanish teacher and I can understand perfectly the ideas he's trying to convey, though he uses some archaic form of Spanish in some words but I can still understand 99.99%; this is amazing that he's able to verbalize all of his thoughts into Ladino. it's sad that the language (Ladino) seems to be dying out among the younger generation

[@jmmallel6520]

Yo avlo la lingua me parrientis vieni di Rhodis .. y casa avlamous eta lingua ki por la dolor si ta mouriedo dospouz di moz otros no ay maz digunus. Annia Buena paraa 2019 Jo Mallel

[@lauriesnowflake2200]

Do not have plastic

[@aracy.p]

gracias por su esfuerzo en preservar la cultura judeo española,, una abrazo desde España.

[@m.m.h2935]

Se entiende perfectamente. Esta lengua es una joya que hay que preservar.

[@hannemanmano2560]

Ojalá no se pierda el idioma. Saludos desde Utebo-Zaragoza

[@GuestDGaming]

I'm a native English speaker who speaks Spanish, and I understood him easily. Wow!

[@ojrivas6843]

Basically spanish but beautiful as its own language and the history it carries.

[@crack_lag651]

I speak italian and portuguese and i study spanish at school, i understood almost everything. Really cool

[@rafaeldias9097]

I'm a Portuguese speaker and I understand almost everything, that's very impressive. Beautiful language.

[@joannavandenbring1725]

I'm an Italian speaker and understood almost everything too - so definitely a very Latin language!

[@nefelibataintermitente5939]

Isso mesmo eu estou pensando está língua se parece muito al português... Eu sou peruana... Que esta aprendendo el portugués

[@M4th3u54ndr4d3]

I speak portuguese, and Ladino is easier than spanish, I am impressed

[@groeleorg]

i am a german speaker and understood a lot as well - even though I speak very little spanish

[@laudesita8134]

Me dió mucha alegría escuchar lo y entender todo lo que usted habló.

[@migliorarSi]

Interessante. Un dialetto dello spagnolo. 🔔

[@ricardosoto5770]

Djudeo espanyol is another name for ladino...

[@MannyGonzalezReyna]

Ladino sounds like old Castillian, 100% understandable... thanks for sharing!

[@cincin2u]

I speak Spanish and Italian and I hear a lot of the Venetian influence Jack talks about. It sounds great.

[@adairgonzalez4558]

I'm spanish speaker and I can understand perfectly this! :)

[@damardeluque8728]

si entiendes el español ¿por qué escribes en inglés?

[@13tuyuti]

DAMAR DELUQUE porque la gente que entiende espanol ya sabe que los hispanohablantes entienden lo que se dice en el video porque todos entienden el video. Para la gente que no entiende espanol la informacion podria ser mucho mas interesante porque ellos no tienen forma de darse cuenta solos de que alguien que entiende espanol puede entender el video. Entiendes?

[@rodsilver19]

i'm portuguese and i understand 90% to 95% of it!!the jews lived in iberia peninsula = portugal + espana, for a long time, so they learned the spanish language and mixed with their own language and with other languages of other groups that lived in spain in the XV century!! portugal is giving them portuguese nationality for expelling them 500 year ago from portugal for being jews as the catholic king came to power!! they either could leave the country or convert into christian, the new christians!! many stayed in the country and turned into catholics but were persuited for exercicing their faith in private far from the eyes of the catholics by the catholic church, inquisition!!!

[@arthurmoran4951]

supongo que quiso dar el mensaje a la pregunta anterior de un usuario ingles o que habla el ingles, igual el ingles es un poco mas global, aparte tiene 58% de vocabulario de origen latino es algo genial

[@elsa9247]

Me conmueve escuchar este hombre hablar un español que se comprende tan fácilmente. En siete minutos nos dice tanto de la cultura y la historia de generaciones. Gracias.

[@mrcastro12]

Es maravilloso escuchar a ladino. A mi es poetico y hermoso

[@cadr003]

I've read an article that Judeo-Castilian was an important lingua franca in the Ottomon Empire after all the Jews were expelled from Spain. Salonika apparently had a decent size community until WWII happened, and now the number of speakers are at an all time low.

[@merccadoosis8847]

Djudeo or Espanyol [Ladino] was the lingua franca used by Sefardic Jews in Iberia, Holland, and England as well as Eastern Europe. It is pronounced phonetically and is probably the easiest language to learn in all of Europe. Unknown to many Latin Americans, it is a fact that many Latinos had ancestors who spoke Ladino. It would be just grand if this language was resurrected once again and taught throughout Europe and the Western hemisphere. Though I have never been taught the language, I was able to understand about 90% of what this gentleman said. I agree with him that we must take steps to preserve this beautiful language.

[@sonnymak6707]

Yes because the Ottomans did not have a national policy. it was a multi "national empire' with a dominant Religio-ethnic group and tolerated politically non dominant groups with protected status. So Jews married within the community with little interference and were free to developed their separate culture and language albeit in an inferior capacity to the ruling group. In fact ladino speaking jews most married each other and rarely married Jews who spoke Arabic in other parts of the empire.

[@ZZPAFF123]

Well it sounds like we say it in Spanish: Salonica

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Yes it was considered as the "Jerusalem of Europe" (Thessaloniki City) Pero el nombre en Espanol se dice "Tesalonica"

[@davsalda]

I speak Spanish fluently and could understand 100% of what he said. Ladino/Judeo-Castilian is so similar I would say it's a dialect of Spanish (I have never studied Italian but I can understand 65% even more when it's spoken in the news). You can really tell where more archaic pronunciations were kept (i.e. he actually differentiates between 'b' and 'v' which modern Spanish/Castilian does not and is always pronouced as 'b'). Fascinating, it is a shame Ladino has declined so much. I remember seeing in Wikipedia that a significant number of people speak it in Israel?

[@Cris-hd1wb]

I am Romanian and I understand so much of this, wow !

[@matthewkiely2516]

Are Spanish speakers understanding this?

[@thomas5054]

I'm a native Spanish-speaker, and I can understand the great majority of what he's saying. Judaeo-Spanish actually didn't change as much as some other Jewish languages did when compared to their parent languages. One of the things I noticed is that it has a lot of archaic features and vocabulary, but that's understandable given that the Sephardi Jews were expelled from Spain prior to 1600. For example, he says 'nos' instead of 'nosotros' for the pronoun we. This is how it used to be in Spanish until the medieval era, when the '-otros' was added to make the pronoun match with 'vosotros'.

[@oc3607]

Trig Jegman Spaniard here! Sounds totally Spanish mixed with a bit of catalan and a bit of portuguese. I speak Both catalan and Spanish so I can understand it 100%

[@philomelodia]

Trig Jegman perfectly. He is very clear.

[@ryanzarmbinski7446]

Trig Jegman More or less. Ladino had a lot of Turkish and eastern European linguistic influence, so it sounds a little odd

[@ArturoStojanoff]

Yes

[@adriandavila330]

I understand most of this. I love Ladino! One of my favorite Chanukah songs is Ocho Candelikas.

[@TheGrmany69]

En la mar hay una torre or durme, durme ; earch them, they are gorgeous.

[@skontheroad2666]

The Ladino Seder songs are the last of what has been passed down amongst many families. Every year, we go around the table and sing certain songs in Ladino and Yiddish, as well as English, for the kids to learn and to help preserve our traditions.

[@ricardosoto5770]

Ladino music is great..

[@elemanuel6079]

interesting. very understandable. already being a castilian speaker i feel like it shouldn't be too hard to learn. going to get in touch with my sephardic roots 👐

[@CheshireCesare]

Su acento suena como español con un toque de portugués y italiano :) Es fascinante oír este dialecto y poder entender tanto, ojala se pueda preservar en el futuro.

[@mihovillmisha9885]

No italiano sino venezziano.venezzia a sido la senora del mar mediteraneo

[@thedevil1667]

Y griego tambien. Pero creo que habla griego tambien

[@Homoclassicus]

I'm surprised that they have been living very far away from Spain for more than 500 years, yet the language changed barely nothing, it sounds still mostly like a very conservative Castillian dialect with pronunciation much like Old Spanish. Talk about a conservative language!

[@Jswift124]

Homoclassicus j,

[@mjddrag]

Homoclassicus diaspora

[@ricardosoto5770]

Orthodox Jews value tradition a lot. Jews are a literate people since there is a religious obligation to learn to read and write. Also, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain happened a few years after the printing machine has invented. Sephardic Jews were enthusiatic about that. Publishing was a traditional jewish business.

[@artoy6575]

It depends on the variant, variants from communities in other countries (like Turkey) you can already see a bigger difference because of the influence.

[@RicardoRMedina]

I am a Spanish speaker from Puerto Rico. Having read old Castilian language literature like "El Mio Cíd" in school I can understand about 90%. Amazing how they preserved the language for generations.

[@josesolans2475]

I am Cuban-American, and for a few quirks in vocabulary and phonology I am able to understand most of what he is saying. Amazing how little a language may evolve over the centuries, especially when surrounded by entirely different languages and cultures.

[@Gustavo-fd2rp]

Pude entender perfectamente toda la historia que Ud. contó. Saludos desde Argentina

[@marksman314]

Native English speaker here who learned Spanish to fluency, and I can understand this essentially perfectly... It's beyond fascinating that this community maintained this language intact for 500 years. I love this man, and I'm intensely sad about all the terrible things that happened to his community over the centuries--from the Reconquest to the Holocaust--which led to his now being one of the only and last people around him speaking this tongue.

[@andresmora5192]

Yo entendi casi todo, el idioma Ladino es como un Español antiguo.

[@TheOMAR617]

I’m full Spanish,and I understand everything he’s saying 🤯

[@bestroller7461]

Yo soy argelino y llego a entender todo lo que dice

[@jgonzalez372]

Aprendiendo la lengua de mis antepasados, yo decendiente de Anatolia del Este(Tûrkiye), Chipre, los balkanes ✡️❤️

[@jaimemunoz5148]

Yo soy Mexicano nacido en San José California, afortunadamente viví 13 años en Leon Guanajuato Mexico. Es fascinante escuchar el Ladino y entendí 97% de su lenguaje. Súper interesante y ojalá no se pierda este idioma tan hermoso…!

[@selah.9430]

Hablo español. Se entiende perfectamente!!

[@missScarlatine]

I understand a bit of castillano and I understood most of what he said. I hope this language survive, for all of those who didn’t came back.

[@skuder491]

Ainda que o castelhano atual seja consideravelmente compreensível para nós, falantes de português, esta variante que conservou certos arcaísmos é ainda mais entendível. Muito interessante mesmo.

[@jacoboarca8516]

Ti estás a falar galego, non portugués...

[@boobalooux]

@@jacoboarca8516 que pendejada dices? ajaja, ya no son el mismo idioma, no es gallego, es Portugués.

[@jacoboarca8516]

@@boobalooux claro, pero el español todavía puede llamarse castellano...doble vara de medir...

[@boobalooux]

@@jacoboarca8516 normal hay idiomas que tienen 2 nombres; el chino se puede llamar 普通話 (putonghua) o 汉语 (hanyu), el catalan se puede llamar valenciano (son el mismo idioma) , el indonesio y el malayo tambien etc. el gallego está regido la real academia galega y el portugues por la Academia das Ciências de Lisboa y la Academia Brasileira de Letras. que lo entiendas o se parezca a tu idioma no significa que es tu idioma, ya todos tienen un nombre.

[@jacoboarca8516]

@@boobalooux no. Todos los idiomas tienen un nombre previo en su proceso evolutivo. El francés es el langue d'oil, concretamente el parisino de el pueblo Franco. El italiano, país nacido a mediados del siglo XIX, tomó su estándar en la lengua toscana, concretamente en el dialecto Florentino. El alemán, nace de la versión franconia y se denomina alemán cuando nace Alemania, a finales del siglo XIX. El inglés, está basado en la lengua anglosajona llegada a la isla tras las invasiones de estos pueblos, aunque se compone también del juto, frisón, lenguas celtas e incorporaciones latinas. Y así podría seguir con todas las lenguas. Si tu tomas un texto en lo que se consideró castellano y el español actual, sería incompresible. Sin embargo, el gallego y el portugués no es que se parezcan, es que todavía mantienen una similitud del 95%. Las diferencias son fonéticas, y que el gallego tiene otra ortografía. La lengua nace en Galicia, con lo cuál si llamamos al español por basar su inicio en Castilla, como castellano, debemos hacer lo mismo con el resto de lenguas. En el caso del chino, dentro del mandarín también existen muchas variantes. Con lo cuál que mandarín? Saludos amigo.

[@robertofeldmann9914]

Kerido Jack, io creo ke la lingua yudezma va a kontinuar en Latinoamérica, porque aquí la gente habla español, y puede naturalmente preservar el legado sefardí. En mi país, Chile, hay yidiós de Monastir (Bitolj) Macedonia, de Izmir e Istambul (Turkia) y de Salonika (como las familias Acunis, Benveniste, Dueñas, Ergas, y... la familia Benmayor !!! Hay aquí un famoso pintor, llamado Samy Benmayor. Estoy seguro que es pariente tuyo, y él ama todo lo sefaradí. No estás solo en el mundo, hermano kerido. Jazak Ubaruj, brajá y salud, saludoso y bueno ke estés!

[@robertofeldmann9914]

TRANSLATION: Dear Jack, I believe Ladino language will continue in Latin America, because here people speak Spanish, and can naturally preserve the Sephardic heritage. In my country, Chile, there are Jews from Monastir (Bitolj) Macedonia; from Izmir and Istambul (Turkey) and from Salonika (like the Acunis, Benveniste, Dueñas, Ergas families, and the Benmayor family !!! There is here a famous painter called Samy Benmayor. I am sure he's a relative of yours, and he loves everything Sephardic. You aren't alone in the world, dear brother, Be strong, blessing and health, healthy and good shall you be!

[@eldruidacosmico]

Hola Roberto! Soy Venezolano, y actualmente vivo en Costa Rica y descubrí recientemente no solo que tengo genes sefardí, sino que Costa Rica tuvo una inmigración sefardí muy importante y me he interesado mucho en conocer sobre esta parte de mí.

[@gilbertoviquez5720]

Hola, qué tal. Soy costarricense y quisiera decirle que el mito de que los costarricenses son sefarditas desde sus origenes y excetera es solo eso, un mito. La mayoría de los costarricenses descendemos de las huestes de Juan de Cavallón, Juan Vázquez de Coronado, Perafán de Rivera y Diego de Artieda Cherino y Uclés. El español costarricense tiene muchas similitudes con el Ladino, ciertamente, pero esto se debe más al aislamiento durante la colonia y a la poca influencia indigena que a cualquier otra cosa.

[@GohanLSSJ2]

No son los costarricences los que tienen amplia descendencia sefardí. Esos son los jamaiquinos.

[@ILTstudent]

+Gilberto Víquez No se olvide de que muchos descendientes de judíos llegaron al continente americano después de las conversiones forzadas. Es probable que poco de ellos seguían identificándose públicamente como judíos. Ademas, presentarse como descendiente de otra nación que España, Alemaña, Italia o Francia nunca ha sido muy bien aceptado socialemente en Costa-Rica. es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racismo_en_Costa_Rica#Antisemitismo

[@juliovelez3759]

Gracias Jack! Fue un placer escuchar su breve historia. Soy nacido en Nueva York Ee.Uu. pero mi familia es del caribe con obvia raices de Espana. Yo me crie en un vencindario muy mezclado y adonde habia una comunidad Judia. Tuve la oportunidad de escuchar judios hablar Ladino. Mi primer jefe se llamaba Ralph Algranati y fue un hombre ejemplar y con un gran corazon. El me eseno un poco de la cultura e historia de los judios que hablan el Ladino. Siga haciendo videos para educarnos, informenos de su historia, ES IMPORTANTE que esta historia no desaparezca. Buena Salud y bendiciones para usted y su famila.

[@Jav089]

que baluarte para la lengua española tener este ejemplo de castellano antiguo traído a nuestro días.

[@luischacon6494]

Clearly understood

[@ashleyfleckenstein346]

The way he speaks is just gorgeous. To me, it sounds like Argentine Spanish or even Portuguese sometimes. It also has some characteristics of medieval Spanish. I'm a native English speaker but I understood 95%.

[@valentinaferrer6436]

Los que hablamos español entendemos todo. Que maravilla!

[@massielur]

I want to meet this gentleman! He has such an interesting life story

[@CheshireCesare]

This is amazing! I'm a native Spanish speaker and I can understand the great majority of what he's saying.. It's so exciting to me, to know that this beautiful language can sound so familiar and potentially open up a massive batch of histories and stories from other parts of the world I would've never known

[@OnePlayOnly]

Suena a castellano antiguo

[@marksimons8861]

It sounds so like modern Spanish to me. In contrast, English has evolved a vast amount since 1492 - much of it before Shakespeare wrote his immortal words just 100 years later.

[@TheGrmany69]

Es castellano antiguo, el Ladino se a "preservado" con los años y ha conservado las características del español antiguo, el que hablaba el quijote por lo menos.

[@GohanLSSJ2]

ES Castellano antiguo. El Ladino es la lengua de los judios sefarditas cuando España los expulsó en 1492.

[@Jantsenpr777]

Well, is VERY similar to modern standard Spanish, but there are some minor differences, particularly in vocabulary and pronunciation of some phonemes. It actually sounds more like Portuguese than modern Spanish.

[@Jantsenpr777]

Es castellano antiguo. Particularmente, antes del reajuste de las sibilantes que se dio en el siglo 17, en el cual el castellano se diferenció por completo del gallego-portugués y del aragonés. Esta era la pronunciación de Cervantes.

[@josecabaltera1625]

I'm a pidgin speaker of both Italiano y español and find it beautiful how aspects of both intermingle and create a viable (albiet dimishing) means of communication. Fascinating stuff. Glad this is now recorded.

[@stephaniec.2520]

I came back to hear Jack again. My beloved aunt in Studio City, California who is now deceased, spoke Ladino fluently. I don't know why she never said to my cousin Debbie and I: "Would you like to learn Ladino? I will teach you." I regret not speaking it. Would purchase a DVD course but it would have to be also in English for me to understand. Sorry if name icon comes up twice.

[@martha5611]

Mi español es el de México te entiendo todo lo que platicas es muy interesante. Unas cuantas palabras me parece que son como el italiano de cualquier forma se entiende. Felicidades por tu canal en KZbin! :)

[@Katerynale]

Hebrew is my second language and I learned Spanish back in 2003 and I understand a lot of this

[@edgarpalomo3205]

Se entiende al 100% increíble.

[@tobikrutt]

I am not a native Spanish speaker but I have been studying Spanish for the last four years and I understand him perfectly. It sounds as exactly like Spanish to me. I expected Ladino to sound more like a combination of Spanish and Hebrew, in the same way that Yiddish is a combination of Hebrew and mostly German.

[@nunciosidereo4070]

It has a lot of antique or arcaic elements like for example "dexar" or "deshar" as he pronounces. Now it s dejar. Or "facer" that now is hacer. Or the use of "nos" instead of nosotros. It was kind blowing and very interesting. There is also that "meldar " that must be a Hebrew word. But you are right and he also says we refers to he s speak as español, not ladino or judezmo or judeoespañol.

[@didac2203]

I'm Catalan speaker and I can see how he says some Catalan words instead of Spanish (due to his Majorcan ancestry probably).

[@JCMH]

Él dice "a lo manco" en lugar de "al menos". Tengo entendido que en mallorquín "menos" se dice "manco".

[@didac2203]

@@JCMH así es, curioso sin duda

[@alex.danilo.pereyra]

I'm a native spanish-speaker and i can understand a 99% of this video.

[@Eliusalmo1]

Precioso! Un idioma muy español hebraico..

[@ArielleVicMaxim]

This how my grandparents spoke well my grandmother still alive and still speaks little bit like he does

[@andyjohnson1917]

for me its just plain spanish with little to no change ... I'm from mexico (north) and I can tell its like hearing someone from my hood speaking with a word here and there different.

[@thekingofmoney2000]

The accent is very different, it has a strong Portuguese influence in the accent.

[@AvyBuecel]

Esto es prácticamente español y se entiende al 100% I-N-C-R-E-Í-B-L-E

[@albertconstantine5432]

Very understandable. Fascinating. Gracias!

[@MrSkribanto]

Se ve que el castellano no ha cambiado mucho en los últimos 500 años, yo podría pasar horas hablando con este caballero y nos entenderíamos a la perfección. Así debieron hablar los que llegaron con Colón aquí a las Américas.

[@lilmee7469]

I'm german with a moderate grasp of Spanish. I understand ALL of this. I would have probably placed him in Mexico, because he speaks so clearly.

[@marinhomarinho4197]

I'm Brazilian and I understand everything.

[@mapled3135]

This is basically perfect Spanish. Impressive after 500+ years. You have to give it to the Jewish people.

[@MrLantean]

It is actually a form of Medieval Castilian Spanish. The grammar and syntax are derived primarily from Medieval Castilian Spanish with many loanwords and expressions from other languages like Arabic, Aramaic even Hebrew. Since it is derived from Medieval Castilian Spanish, it has words and terms that may no longer exist in modern Spanish. Modern Spanish speakers will have some problem in understanding it. It is just like modern English speakers will be having difficulties in understanding Middle English.

[@susomedin5770]

MrLantean We have no problem understanding Jim at all.

[@MrLantean]

A friend of mine who speak fluent Spanish mentioned although he is able to understand most of it, there are certain words, phrase and terms that he is unfamiliar with.

[@mapled3135]

MrLantean yes that's right. I do understand the meaning of those words, he's just using them in ways that are not used in modern Castellano.

[@mapled3135]

What is amazing to me is the fact that these people have been out of Spain for centuries and the language is still understandable to the rest of us.

[@mithrasenkidu9423]

My grandparents were Spaniards and I understand this man perfectly. It would be so sad that Judeo-Spanish die!

[@venny6373]

I am Italian, this sounds like an italianish version of spanish mixed a bit wit of venetian dialect. Love it, perfectly intellegible to me

[@justinspainard]

Exactly, this dialect or accent sounds like “Itañol” or “Espaliano” ( Castilian with Italian) probably because of the deportation of Sefardíes from Spain 🇪🇸 to Italy 🇮🇹 and then re-deported to Turkey 🇹🇷

[@radiojet1429]

I'm astounded! The Cervantine Spanish/Ladino spoken by this gentleman is very close in pronunciation to that spoken in New Mexico (USA) by my ancestors since their arrival with Onate in the 1500s. Many Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado Hispanics, are descended from Crypto-Jews who hid in New Mexico from the Inquisition. Dialects in Spanish are very distinct - Andalucia vs. Cuba, for example and to hear Ladino spoken like a New Mexico native is utterly fascinating. Most Ladino-speaking Jews arrived in Salonika after the Edict of Expulsion in 1492.

[@robertoa.m.3984]

Claro k si! Felicidades a la maravillosa comunidad ladina/sefardi…..su cultura es un milagro 😊

[@roldonsantosdopaco9807]

Obrigado Senhor Jack pelo depoimento! Sou falante de português e compreendo muito bem o ladino.

[@Teupaicatolico4]

Eu brasileiro entendendo esse "espanhol" de determinado século preservado! que o ladino é uma língua bonita é!

[@kaczynskis5721]

Primo Levi (d. 1987) mentioned Ladino speakers from Thessaloniki being among the Auschwitz inmates he encountered in the latter part of WW2.

[@marcoduret]

Probablement l'une des plus belles langues romanes, longue vie au Ladino, merci du partage....

[@sebastianmendez2172]

If he were sitting at my dinner table here near Dallas, Texas I'd understand almost 85% of his conversation!

[@ellaclaire7062]

wow i can understand what he's saying... I'm a Filipina who speaks Spanish

[@asier835]

Precioso escuchar a este señor

[@corkysinclair9834]

Soy de Puerto Rico y entendí todo lo que dijo este Caballero.

[@RicardoRMedina]

Try to listen to a dialect spoken on one of the Philippine Islands called "Chabacano" and you will be surprised of much one can understand if you are fluent in Spanish.

[@34caminante]

Ermoso, lo ke mos dishites, me akodras a mis abuelos.

[@Werner_pol]

Myriam Cuneo qué língua é esa?

[@RAP023]

@@Werner_pol Yo tambien quiero saber. Lol

[@imanoldurham5395]

@@Werner_pol es ladino escrito,difiere mas del espanol que el ladino hablado.

[@MrsNoviembre]

Me encanta! I love it. Saludos desde España

[@xjorgecorrea]

increíble como lo entiendo todo ... flipa