Jewish Languages - Alphabets

Alphabets

The Hebrew alphabet has also been used to transcribe a number of languages including Arabic, English, French, Spanish (as opposed to Ladino), German (as distinct from Yiddish) and Greek. While not common, such practice has occurred intermittently over the last two thousand years, and probably was part of the basis of such languages as Ladino and Yiddish.

Conversely, Ladino, formerly written in Rashi script, since the 1920 is usually written in Turkey in the Latin alphabet with a spelling similar to that of Turkish, and has been occasionally printed in the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets. Soviet authorities tried to promote the Cyrillic alphabet for Yiddish in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

Also, some Yiddish-speakers have adopted the use of the Latin alphabet, in place of the Hebrew alphabet. This is predominantly to enable communications over the internet, without the need for special Hebrew keyboards.