The Language Learning Specialists
uTalk Sunday 12th January marks International Ladino Day, a celebration of the Ladino (or Juedo-Spanish) language through story and song. Music is a thread woven through the history of Sephardic Jews and is one way in which the community is trying to preserve and promote the language, with prominent figures such as Karen Gerson Sarhon and … Read more
If you’re trying to learn more about Ladino, you might have come across the various names the language has been given over the years: Judeo-Spanish, Judezmo, Yahudice, Españolit… Ladino also should not be confused with Ladin, a different romance language spoken in Italy. So, why has the term Ladino been the one to pass into … Read more
Ladino was recently the 144th language to be added to the uTalk app, but, with only around 50,000 speakers scattered around the world, it’s not one that many people have heard of. In this blog post, we’ll give you a quick run-down on Ladino so you’ll have some idea what to expect when you try … Read more
For every language uTalk adds to the app, we recruit two native speakers to come to our office in London and record. In this post, learn more about Benni Aguado, a Ladino speaker who put his job as a Court Translator and Interpreter on hold to fly over and help us record the language. Benni … Read more
We’ve all heard of Yiddish, right? But have you heard of another Jewish language, Ladino? It’s the language historically spoken by Jews whose ancestors once lived in Spain and Portugal and is classified as endangered by UNESCO. It was also our most recent addition to the uTalk app, with the help of digital archive Ladino … Read more
After months of hard work, we’ve just added our 144th language to the uTalk app—Ladino! In this blog post, we share how we go about adding new languages, as well as the unique issues that arise when it comes to adding languages that are endangered. Way back at the beginning of 2019, two individuals met … Read more
In our ongoing series, we’re busting all kinds of myths that prevent people from learning a new language. We’ve previously looked at whether you need a special gene or talent for languages (you don’t) or if you’re too old to learn a language once you’re past a certain age (you’re not) but today’s myth is … Read more
For a landlocked country, Slovakia has a very nautical way of saying hello. Pronounced ‘Ahoy’ and spelled ‘Ahoj’ in Slovak, the term harks back to the English greeting for people on boats or ships. Experts say the term was originally adopted from English by young people in the 1930s who used it for canoeing and … Read more
Anyone with a passing interest in rugby will probably have heard someone shouting the Welsh motto, “Cymru am byth,”—“Wales forever!”—at some point. It is also, for many, likely to be their first contact with the Welsh language, which is spoken by around 875,000 people and is classified by UNESCO as endangered. Considering its history and … Read more
Greetings are so important that every language on Earth has a different way to say hello. Have you ever wondered what hello actually means and why we greet people with it? What are some more colourful ways to say hello in other languages around the world? Are there languages where greetings don’t exist? Brian Loo … Read more