I had the great honour – and pleasure – to be invited to talk about my experiences with Ladino and about the KAU Ladino project in the excellent series of interviews featured in the Ladino21 YouTube channel. I share the interview (in two parts) below. I would also like to recommend watching the other Ladino21 interviews, each one of them highly interesting!
Tuvi la grande onor – i el plazer – de ser kumbidado a avlar de mis eksperiensyas kon la lingua djudeo-espanyola i del proyektode KAU Ladino en la ekselente seria de intervius de Ladino21 en Youtube. Partajo los filmikos aki abasho i akonsejo a los lektores de esta pajina ke miresh tambyen las otras entrevistas de Ladino21, todas muy enteresantes!
Ainda es posivle partisipar en el estudio, si sos una persona ke ensenya la lingua djudeo-espanyola. El proyekto se esta desvelopando, i pishin sera posivle partisipar tambyen komo elevo de ladino.
Si te interesa partisipar, entra en esta pajina i desha ayi tu nombre i adreso de posta elektronika.
The project is still in its initial stages, but the first interviews with Ladino teachers are being held this week and the following weeks. We have, thus, reached the exciting stage of data collection! Further updates will come as the project evolves.
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.
