Ladino (djudeo-espanyol/ג'ודיאו-איספאנייול)

Ladino, Judezmo or Judeo-Spanish is a language derived from medieval Castilian Spanish. It is spoken by the descendants of the Sefardim or Sephardim, Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492. There are currently about 100,000 speakers of Ladino in Israel, 8,000 in Turkey, 1,000 in Greece, and several hundred in the USA.

Ladino is also written with the Latin alphabet.

Notable features

Usually writen with the Rashi version of the Hebrew alphabet. When handwritten, a cursive version of the Hebrew script known as Solitreo is used.
Written from right to left in horizontal lines.
Vowels are indicated in all words, except those borrowed from Hebrew. Aleph and sometimes aleph heh is used ah; yod for eh or ee; and vav for o or oo; aleph and yod for the spanish sound ey. Additionally, the vowels yod and vav are never shown alone and are preceded by aleph in the word i ('and') - aleph yod - and in the word o ('or') - aleph vav.

Hebrew script for Ladino

Sample text in Ladino

Kada benadam i benadam nase forro i igual en dinyidad i en derechos. Todos son baale razon i konsiensia i deven komportarsen los unos verso los otros kon fraternidad.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Longer sample text (Tower of Babel)