Talk:Languages of Israel

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The original article had many errors, and it confused facts from different times in history. The controversy over whether Hebrew or Yiddish should be the national language of Jews took place mainly in Poland. Most Jews in Palestine where Zionist, and therefore preferred the Hebrew language ideologically. "The battle of languages" did take place in Palestine when new high-education schools for Jews opened, but it was rather short, and the idea to teach in Hebrew was accepted. Drork 12:03, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

While I doubt there were many factual errors, there probably were some. I verified some of the information, but as you probably realize, it's very difficult to verify everything and still have time to write a decent article - and I thought it was a great shame that no 'Languages of Israel' article existed at the time. By now however, many more experienced editors (with more time) have noticed this article and contributed to it. I think it's fairly factually correct now, but you are welcome to make any changes of course. -- Y Ynhockey || Talk Y 18:14, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Language concerns

How far can I go speaking just English in Israel? (Well, I've been studying Hebrew but I don't think I can get by with it alone just yet.)

Most people in Israel have a basic understanding of English, and there's a fair amount who are fluent. If you're a tourist and visit frequent tourist locations, there will always be people who speak English fluently. However, if you visit poor neighbourhoods which no one wants to go to, you'll probably have quite a bit of trouble. I think the Arab sector is less fluent in English, but am speaking strictly from my own experience and can't be sure at all, since there are some major Israeli Arab cities I've never been to. -- Y Ynhockey (Talk) Y 20:30, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
You won't have too much trouble getting around, since nearly all street signs are in English (as well as Hebrew and Arabic). It's been my experience that most Israelis speak enough English to get by, even in the lower income groups.

[edit] Yiddish "banned"?

What is "Yiddish was banned" actually supposed mean? I think that at the most, Yiddish did not receive active state support and recognition -- but there was no language police knocking on people's doors to make sure they didn't speak Yiddish. This should be rephrased to reflect the actual situation... AnonMoos 07:06, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

During the 50ies, the use of Yiddish in theatres, movies and other cultural activities was banned by law. There were some exceptions, for example, Yiddish performers from outside Israel were not banned, and sometimes mixed Yiddish-Hebrew performances were granted a special permit. I don't think anyone was arrested for breaking this law, but it was very hard to find venues for Yiddish performances, and local Yiddish performers often had to pay fines. There is an account about this in Haaretz, but it is entirely in Hebrew: [1] drork 13:40, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] German

I heard that there is German-speaking people, too. Also Yiddish, but not only! SimonMAYER.

There are hundreds of languages spoken in Israel, but they are not common. In fact, I object to the addition of Italian, etc. to the article, because they are not common either. We need a reliable source listing the approximate amount of speakers for each language. -- Ynhockey (Talk) 11:39, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
The Ethnologue is a very good source for that, and there is a link to its Israel report in the beginning of the article.


Made some slight alterations. I thought the fact that the Arab-speaking school system (which accommodates about 15% of the population) teaches kids Hebrew as a mandatory class while the reverse is not true was overemphasized, to a point where it looked judgmental. --Telecart 21:58, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Yiddish

Someone added a remark about Yiddish being spoken in Israel on informal occasions. This was true during the 50ies and to some extent in the 60ies. It is not true today except for certain groups of ultra-orthodox Jews (Hardeim). My grandparents used to speak Yiddish among themselves on informal occasions, though never with us, their grandchildren. My parents are more fluent in Hebrew than in Yiddish, and used to speak Yiddish almost only with their parents or other older relatives. I hardly speak Yiddish at all (I can handle a simple text due to some lessons my grandmother gave me). All this is true for Israeli Jews of Ashkenazi origin. There are many Israeli Jews who used to speak Arabic, Persian, Ladino and other languages alongside Hebrew. The new immigrants (Olim) who came to Israel in the last 20 years are either Russian-speakers or Amharic-speakers. Finding a Yiddish speaker among them is a rare occasion. drork 08:41, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Military

If an Arab Israeli chooses to join the military, is it just assumed that they will speak Hebrew? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.208.90.252 (talk) 03:08, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] History of languages in Israel

Is this article only for current use of languages in Israel, or can history of languages in Israel also be added?--mrg3105 (comms) ♠♥♦♣ 22:35, 8 April 2008 (UTC)