The endangered language of Ladino—a Hebrew dialect heavily influenced by Spanish—has been preserved in a vast online library of books, letters, and newspapers. One of the largest collections of these Ladino documents is housed at the University of Washington. Devin Naar, Chair of the Sephardic Studies Program at UW and faculty member since 2011, first learned how to read and speak Ladino in the process of translating letters left behind by a great-uncle, a skill which directly led to his efforts in creating the collection. Sephardic Jews trace their ancestry back to Spain, from where they were expelled in 1492.
Read all about it here, courtesy of The Seattle Times, and if you want to dive in, check out the database here.
