Vinidos en bonora! Welcome to KAU Ladino!
The person responsible for this homepage is Dr. Kent Fredholm. In my research, I combine perspectives from applied linguistics and educational research on language learning. I am particularly interested in how students and teachers use online resources to learn or teach foreign languages. I am also very interested in minority languages and in language revitalisation initiatives.
This homepage – a work in progress – is dedicated to my interest in Ladino (also known as Sephardic Spanish, Djudeo-espanyol, Djudezmo and other names). Ladino is a Jewish language based on the Romance languages spoken by the Jewish diaspora originating in the expulsion of the Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal a few years later. (Sepharad is the Hebrew word for Spain, hence Sephardic.) The Sephardim mainly settled in the Ottoman empire, and their language contains many words from Turkish, Greek, French, Italian, and other languages, as well as Hebrew. The language has managed to survive, but is now severely endangered, as the majority of the mother tongue speakers are in their seventies or older, and because the language is rarely transmitted to the younger generations. Several initiatives to save the language do however exist.
In my project Teaching Ladino online – possibilities, difficulties and needs (Ensenyamiento dijital de ladino – posibilidades, difikultades i menesteres), financed by the Centre for Language and Literature Education (CSL) at Karlstad University, I have interviewed Ladino language revitalisation activists who teach Ladino. The project aimed to collect experiences of Ladino teachers and to clarify what needs they see for the future of the language and for the future of Ladino teaching. The results of the study are published in Meldar 2023 and can be viewed here.
I am currently working on a follow-up project – Challenges in Ladino Learning – where Ladino learners share their views on studying the language.