by joedraco on February 7th, 2008

joedraco

Question

Help answer this question below.

Would you learn to speak a dead language? (Like yiddish, esperanto, ladino etc.)

  • Like
  • Report

Answers. 4 helpful answers below.

  • by iwnit on February 7th, 2008

    iwnit

    1) I learned Latin and Old Greek, which are considered dead languages (although they were used widely for the Catholic mass until the end of the 20th century.
    None of the languages you mentioned is a dead language.
    I think Yiddish is not so difficult to learn if you know German. I could eventually learn it.


    2) "Yiddish is written and spoken as a living language in many Orthodox Jewish communities around the world. It is most notably used as a first language in most Hasidic communities, where it is the first language learned in childhood and used in home, schooling and many social settings."
    "Total speakers: 3 million"
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish


    3) "Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language"
    "Total speakers: Native: 200 to 2000 (1996, est.);
    Fluent speakers: est. 100,000 to 2 million "
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto


    4) "Ladino is a Romance language with a vocabulary derived mainly from Old Castilian, Hebrew, Turkish and some French and Greek. Speakers are currently almost exclusively Sephardi Jews, for example, in (or from) Thessaloniki, Istanbul and Izmir."
    "Total speakers: 100,000 in Israel
    8,000 in Turkey
    1,000 in Greece
    300 in the United States
    150 in the Bosnia and Herzegovina
    unknown numbers elsewhere, steady decline in all those places "
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladino_language

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by Anonymous on February 7th, 2008

    Anonymous

    Well none of those that you mentioned are dead languages, but I would love to learn Latin.

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by Tinkerbell on February 7th, 2008

    Tinkerbell

    I didn't think Yiddish was dead, nor Esperanto (not widely used but it is the most widely used "artificial" language).

    I like Latin and Ancient Greek. I despised languages in school but for some reason I like Greek and Latin. I am always threatening to learn Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic language but never have the time... Being Welsh everyone asks if I know that which I don't as no-one in my family ever spoke it. Welsh was a dead language that has been resurrected for political goals which I fail to see the point of. :)

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by neil_nachum on January 5th, 2010

    neil_nachum

    Since I speak both Esperanto and Yiddish I had to briefly comment: Both languages have given me particular joy. The two languages have an intimate connection. 1. The birthplace of Esperanto is the partial deathplace of Yiddish--Bialystok, Poland- at the time Esperanto came to being--was about 65 pecent Jewish and largely Yiddish speaking. Unfortunately-in the infinite cruelty of Nazi Germany--the majority of this population was annihilated--including two thousand Jews shoved into the Great Synogogue of Bialystok to be burnt alive. (The metal remains of this synogogue are a popular tourist point in my recent visit to Bialystok.) 2. Zamenhof, the initiator of Esperanto--wrote a grammar book on Yiddish, the manuscipt of which lies in an Israeli University in Jerusalem.

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading Would you learn to speak a dead language? (Like yiddish, esperanto, ladino etc.)

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

ANSWERBAG BUZZ

Learning dead languages
Learn a dead language
How to speak dead languages
How to learn a dead language
Learn dead language
Learning a dead language
Welsh dead language
Learn ladino
Why learn dead languages
Non use value
Learn to speak a dead language
Dead languages learn
Is yiddish a dead language
Yiddish esperanto
Dead languages to learn
Is yiddish difficult to learn and speak
Esperanto against yiddish
Learn how to speak yiddish
Where can one learn to speak ladino
Learn to speak ladino