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)

[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)

[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)