Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, is the language of the descendants of the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492. It is a variation on Old Spanish that has been preserved in the lands where the Jewish refugees fled after Spanish Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Edict of Expulsion which gave them only four months to convert to Catholicism, flee or face death.
The Edict of Expulsion was formally revoked only quite recently— in 1968. In 2014 the Spanish government granted the right to Spanish Citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain under the Edict.
The Holocaust nearly wiped out Ladino. But now,... there are new efforts to preserve it.
... the Cervantes Institute, the government agency that promotes Spanish abroad, is setting up a special department to help preserve Ladino. Jorge Urrutia, a director of the institute, says Judeo Espanol, as it's formally known, is a link back to the Spanish that was spoken in medieval times.
Following are links to more information on Ladino and Sephardic Jews.
