We Don’t Practice Ladino, We USE It: New Methods for Judeo-Spanish Revitalization

• In Event: Linguistic Interpretations

Abstract

Traditional second-language teaching methods focus on language practice, where a learner rehearses vocabulary and structures in a classroom for eventual real-life situations. In endangered language contexts, however, language revitalization workers are increasingly prioritizing LANGUAGE USE over PRACTICE, supporting learners to use the language right away in real-life situations as they study it (Zahir 2018). This perspective shift, I argue, is pressingly relevant for Ladino, whose revitalization movement is fighting against the clock as fluent speakers enter old age. Methods that prioritize everyday language use also re-valorize the language and resist language ideologies that relegate Ladino to the past or deny the feasibility of a vital diasporic language community.

This presentation introduces and reflects on two emerging Ladino revitalization projects that strive to address this need. The first is an at-home language nesting project, drawing on the work of Sallabank (2011) and Zahir (2018), to support Ladino learners to designate an area of their home as a “nest” where they regularly use Ladino in their daily lives. Coordinated by the author and Nesi Altaras (Stanford University) beginning in 2023 with fieldwork in Istanbul, it was piloted by UC Berkeley’s first Ladino class in Spring 2024. The second project is a conversation-based Ladino learning program which will run during the Fall 2024 semester as an informal working group UC Berkeley, coordinated by the author.

This talk will reflect on the strengths and challenges we encounter early in the implementation of these language use-focused methodologies, with particular attention to their effectiveness at supporting learners to incorporate Ladino language use into their daily lives. Ultimately, we will discuss the ways in which these methods might fit into our broader toolbox of Ladino and other Jewish diaspora language revitalization strategies.

Author

• Julia Peck, UC Berkeley