Ladino, or known as Judaeo-Spanish, is a native language of Sephardic Jewish. Ladino is linguistically categorized as a Romance language which was derived from Old Spanish. It was first used by Jewish in Spain, but after the Alhambra Decree (The Edict of Expulsion), Jewish living in Spain were expelled and most of them moved to the area of then Ottoman Empire, as well as nearby European countries.
After the foundering of the Republic of Israel in 1947, Sephardic Jewish have immigrated into the country and gradually made it the main source of Ladino speakers with the time being. More than 50000 speakers are still using it as a mother tongue, according to the data of 2018.
Today, Ladino is official recognized as a minority language in Israel, France and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country just survived a severe civil war in 1990s after its independence from Former Jugoslavia.
From Fall 2023, Ladino could be learned remotely at IU, through BTAA course sharing system, from Univeristy of Michigan. Current instructor is Dr. Gabriel Morduch.