Rashi would make it a bit tricky for me certainly!
The way it is written in Latin script looks a bit like the way the young write in chatrooms.
The way it is written in Latin script looks a bit like the way the young write in chatrooms.
Ladino: Is it understood by Spanish natives?
- Thread starter JLanguage
- Start date
In Northern Italy near the Austrian border (several alpine valleys) there is a minority Romance language which is also called ''Ladino''. It is very similar (and possibly connected) to the Swiss Romantsch language (one of the Swiss official languages) as well as to Furlàn (also a minority speech in the Italian region of Friuli).
The reason for the name Ladino is that for centuries this language has been like a Latin ''island'' amidst German dialects of the Austrian/Bavarian type.
Mutual understanding is possible - to a certain extent - with speakers of Italian northern dialects - especially the Lombard dialect.
P.S.
This 'Ladino' has of course nothing to do with Ladino/Judeo-Espanol, except for the common Latin origin of all Romance languages.
The reason for the name Ladino is that for centuries this language has been like a Latin ''island'' amidst German dialects of the Austrian/Bavarian type.
Mutual understanding is possible - to a certain extent - with speakers of Italian northern dialects - especially the Lombard dialect.
P.S.
This 'Ladino' has of course nothing to do with Ladino/Judeo-Espanol, except for the common Latin origin of all Romance languages.
When Ladino actually was in daily use (e.g. in Salonica before the Holocaust), it was usually written with Hebrew letters. Those who pretend to write it today using the Latin alphabet (apparently, there is one high school in Istanbul where it is the primary medium of instruction) deliberately use a different spelling from that of Spanish, to emphasize that it is NOT just Spanish.
Understandably, those who try to use Ladino in a formal setting are influenced by their knowledge of Castilian Spanish (and of French, which was the language of higher culture throughout the Eastern Mediterranean until recently.) Notice the use of "sieklo" for Spanish "siglo" (=century, Fr. siècle) in Selim Salti's speech, which apart from that and from one Turkish word that the editors deemed it necessary to explain in a footnote, is almost pure Spanish. That the Stanzas of Joseph the Wise are also almost pure Spanish is not surprising, if they were composed in the 15th century, when Sephardic Jews still lived in Spain. This is in contrast to Yiddish, which is full of Hebrew words.
Understandably, those who try to use Ladino in a formal setting are influenced by their knowledge of Castilian Spanish (and of French, which was the language of higher culture throughout the Eastern Mediterranean until recently.) Notice the use of "sieklo" for Spanish "siglo" (=century, Fr. siècle) in Selim Salti's speech, which apart from that and from one Turkish word that the editors deemed it necessary to explain in a footnote, is almost pure Spanish. That the Stanzas of Joseph the Wise are also almost pure Spanish is not surprising, if they were composed in the 15th century, when Sephardic Jews still lived in Spain. This is in contrast to Yiddish, which is full of Hebrew words.
We, Spanish speakers, are able to understand it completely, and it´s beautiful. There are very few genuine speakers today because most of those who can talk Ladino are heavily influenced by another language or by modern Spanish.
I grew up speaking "Ladino." And I never had contact with "Spanish" or "Spanish" speakers till my mid twenties. First of all, I never heard the term Ladino till I did some googling on the history of Jewish communities in Turkey. My family always called our language "espaniol." I suspect the term Ladino is some academic invention. As for my later experience speaking to "Spanish" speakers. I understand 100% of Spanish and vice versa. No Spanish speaker ever questioned my "espaniol." The only correction to my Spanish was one time I used the phase "Con nombre del Dios" and I was told to say "Adios." I was also told by a native spanish speaker that I speak Spanish like a poor uneducated person, which is to some degree accurate, as I've never studied Spanish. The only other differences I've noticed is I pronounce the "J" sound like "sh" e.g Hijo - Ishyo. I would say Argentinian pronunciation is the closest. As for words like "Onde", I've only ever heard them pronounced like in spanish "donde." So I don't know the source of these "Ladino" words?
Must be so. I once talked with a Ladino native speaker about his experience when he came to Argentina for the first time. He said upon his arrival he was interviewed and the journalists started to laugh when he started to talk. They said: "It is his first day in Argentina and he talks already like a gaucho".
From what I was able to listen online, as a Portuguese speaker I can understand it as well. I'll go even further by saying that a regular Portuguese speaker can probably understand better Ladino than any other variety of Spanish (which isn't necessarily a surprise since Ladino is derived from an older form of Spanish).
A mi me parece muy fácil de entender, lo entiendo todo. 
Some attributions are sometimes given because of poor knowledge of the other Romance languages of Spain. Sieclo doesn't necessarily have to come from French, as it is perfect Aragonese, which was spoken in all of the kingdom of Aragon back then.
I'm not a native Spanish speaker, but I am a fluent Spanish speaker. I found it easy to understand (in Latin script). It is like a phonetic rendering of Andalusian (or Latin American) pronunciation.
Actually, academics prefer the term "Judeo-Spanish". The word "Ladino" was the name that Sephardi Jews gave to the archaic written language of the Bible translations (note also that in the past, Spanish was often referred to as "Latin" in many languages). The name "Ladino" as referring to the spoken language of the Sephardi Jews became common when many of these Jews immigrated to the Land of Israel in the 20th century and the other Jews there started calling their langauge "Ladino". Before that, the spoken language did not really have a name.