Languages of Israel

Official status of languages

Several laws determine the official status of languages and language policy in Israel. This confusing situation has led to several appeals to the supreme court, whose rulings have enforced the current policies of national and local authorities.

Currently, the official languages in Israel are Hebrew and Arabic. The main law governing language policy is the 82nd paragraph of the "Palestine Order in Council" issued on 14 August 1922, for the British Mandate of Palestine, as amended in 1939:

"All Ordinances, official notices and official forms of the Government and all official notices of local authorities and municipalities in areas to be prescribed by order of the High Commissioner, shall be published in English, Arabic and Hebrew."

This law, like most other laws of the British Mandate, was adopted in the State of Israel, subject to certain amendments published by the provisional legislative branch on 19 May 1948. The amendment states that:

"Any provision in the law requiring the use of the English language is repealed."

Hebrew

The Palestine Mandate articles, issued by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922, and the 1922 Palestine Order in Council were the first in modern times to acknowledge Hebrew as an official language of a political entity. This was a significant achievement for the Zionist movement, which sought to establish Hebrew as the national language of the Jewish people and discouraged the use of other Jewish languages, particularly Yiddish, just like Aramaic replaced Hebrew in ancient times.

The movement for the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language was particularly popular among new Jewish Zionist immigrants who came to Palestine beginning in the 1880s. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (born in the Russian Empire) and his followers created the first Hebrew-speaking schools, newspapers, and other Hebrew-language institutions. As Max Weinreich notes in his book, "History of the Yiddish Language, Volume 1", the "very making of Hebrew into a spoken language derives from the will to separate from the Diaspora". After Ben Yehuda's immigration to Israel, and due to the impetus of the Second Aliyah (1905–1914), Hebrew prevailed as the single official and spoken language of the Jewish community of mandatory Palestine. When the State of Israel was formed in 1948, the government viewed Hebrew as the de facto official language and initiated a melting pot policy, where every immigrant was required to study Hebrew and often to adopt a Hebrew surname. Use of Yiddish, which was the main competitor prior to World War II, was discouraged, and the number of Yiddish speakers declined as the older generations died out. However, Yiddish is still often used in Ashkenazi haredi communities worldwide, and is sometimes the first language for the members of the Hasidic branches of such communities.

Today, Hebrew is the official language used in government, commerce, Knesset debates, court sessions, schools, and universities. Hebrew is a required subject in Arabic-speaking schools from the third grade onwards, and a Hebrew exam is an essential part of the matriculation exams for students of Israeli schools.

The state-affiliated Academy of the Hebrew Language, established in 1953 by a Knesset law, is tasked with researching the Hebrew language and offering standardized rules for the use of the language by the state. Although its decisions are supposed to be mandatory, their application varies from government bureau to bureau, while commercial adoption of the Academy’s rules (such as in the print media) is voluntary.

Arabic

Literary Arabic, along with Hebrew, is the second official language in Israel. Spoken Arabic dialects are spoken primarily by Arab citizens of Israel and Israeli Druze, as well as by some Mizrahi Jews (Yemenite Jews, Moroccan Jews, Tunisian Jews, Libyan Jews, Egyptian Jews, Syrian Jews, Algerian Jews, Iraqi Jews, and French Jews), particularly those of the older generation who immigrated from Arabic-speaking countries. In 1949, 156,000 Palestinian Arabs were left inside Israel’s armistice line, most of whom did not speak Hebrew. Today the majority of Arab Israelis, who constitute over a fifth of the Israeli population, speak Hebrew fluently, as a second language.

For many years the Israeli authorities were reluctant to use Arabic, except when explicitly ordered by law (for example, in warnings on dangerous chemicals), or when addressing the Arabic-speaking population. This has changed following a November 2000 supreme court ruling which ruled that although second to Hebrew, the use of Arabic should be much more extensive. Since then, all road signs, food labels, and messages published or posted by the government must also be translated into Literary Arabic, unless being issued by the local authority of an exclusively Hebrew-speaking community.

Arabic was always considered a legitimate language for use in the Knesset, but only rarely have Arabic-speaking Knesset members made use of this privilege. This situation can be easily explained: while all Arabic-speaking MKs are fluent in Hebrew, fewer Hebrew-speaking MKs can understand Arabic.

Arabic lessons are widespread in Hebrew-speaking schools from the seventh through ninth grades. Those who wish to do so may opt to continue their Arabic studies through the twelfth grade and take an Arabic matriculation exam.

In March 2007, the Knesset approved a new law calling for the establishment of an Arabic Language Academy similar to the Academy of the Hebrew Language. This institute was established in 2008, its center is in Haifa and it is currently headed by Prof. Mahmud Ghanayem.

In 2008, a group of Knesset members proposed a bill to remove Arabic's status as an official language, making it an "official secondary language". That bill did not pass.

In 2009, Israel Katz, the transport minister, suggested that signs on all major roads in Israel, East Jerusalem and possibly parts of the West Bank would be amended, replacing English and Arabic place names with straight transliterations of the Hebrew name. Currently most road signs are in all three languages. Nazareth, for example, would become "Natzeret". The Transport Ministry said signs would be replaced gradually as necessary due to wear and tear. This has been criticized as an attempt to erase the Arabic language and Palestinian heritage in Israel. Israel's governmental names' committee unanimously rejected that suggestion in 2011.

English

In 1999, the High Court of Justice ruled that English, Arabic and Hebrew were inherited as official languages by Israel, but that English had been removed by the Law and Administration Ordinance of 1948. The Ordinance said:

"Any provision in the law requiring the use of the English language is repealed."

In practice the use of English decreased dramatically during the state's early years. At first, French was used as a diplomatic language, even though most state officials and civil servants were more fluent in English. During the late 1960s, the Israeli-French alliance was undermined, giving way to a stronger Israeli-United States alliance and paving the way for the English language to regain much of its lost status. Today, English is the primary language for international relations and foreign exchange, but it is not sanctioned for use in Knesset debates or in drafting legislation. Some British Mandate laws are still formulated in English, and the process of their translation into Hebrew has been gradual. English is required as a second language in schools and universities, for both Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking students. Despite the country's history of British mandatory rule, written English in Israel today uses primarily American spelling and grammar.

The usage of the language is influenced by factors related to the birthplace of the speaker or the speaker's ancestors: those who are born to American-descended parentages are more likely to speak American English as their preferred dialect of the language, Western Continental European descendants are more likely to speak with accents heavily influenced by languages such as French, German and Yiddish, and so on. A distinctively Israeli dialect of the language has been slow in development due to continued migration to Israel, large established communities of persistent speakers of languages and dialects from outside of Israel, and the state's focus upon education in Hebrew; the development of English in Israel may depend upon the future of assimilation and integration of generations of native-born Israeli citizens as well as the status of Israel's relations with English-speaking countries including the United States.

In general, most Israelis can converse in English on at least a basic level. Cultural exposure to American culture has been massive in Israel since the early 1990s, and as a result, most Israelis born from the 1980s onward have acquired English skills superior to those of their parents and grandparents. Secular Israelis who are of a higher social and economic status usually possess greater capabilities in English than those that are of a lower social and economic status (this is mostly due to differing levels of state-sponsored education, as well as variation in cultural exposure to the language). Proper usage of the English language is considered a mark of good education among Israelis. In the past, several politicians, including David Levy and Amir Peretz, were mocked openly in the media and in public for their poor English skills.

Russian

Russian is by far the most widely spoken non-official language in Israel. Over 20% of Israelis are fluent in Russian after mass Jewish immigration from the USSR (Russian Jews in Israel) and its successor states in the 1970s, 1990s, and 2000s. The government and businesses often provide both written and verbal information in Russian. There is also a native Israeli television broadcast channel in Russian.

Policy towards immigrants' languages

The melting pot policy, which governed the Israel language policy in its early days, was gradually neglected during the late 1970s. While in the 1950s Israeli law banned Yiddish-language theaters and forced civil servants to adopt Hebrew surnames, the new policy allowed immigrants to communicate with the authorities in their language of origin and encouraged them to keep their original language and culture. This new practice has become evident since the early 1990s with massive immigration from the former Soviet Union and the additional immigration from Ethiopia (Ethiopian Jews in Israel). Israeli authorities began to use Russian and Amharic extensively when communicating with these new immigrants. During the 1991 Gulf War, warnings and instructions were issued in at least seven languages. In 1991, a new radio station was erected, called "REKA", which is a Hebrew acronym for "Aliyah Absorption Network". At first, it broadcast exclusively in Russian, also containing programming aimed at teaching Hebrew, which included veteran Israel radio broadcasters recapping news in "easy Hebrew"; some years later, Amharic and Tigrinya time slots were introduced. Just as news in Arabic existed on Aruze 1, news programmes appeared in Russian, Amharic and Tigrinya. Several newspapers and magazines were published in Russian and easy Hebrew with Niqqud. In the beginning of the twenty-first century, the first Russian-language TV channel was created.

Unofficial languages

Because Israel is a multicultural society, many other languages are used by large sectors of the population. The main ones, after English and Russian (covered above), are as follows:

Romanian: It is estimated that 82,300 first generation and at least 126,200 second generation Romanian Jews lived in Israel by 2012. Additionally, it is estimated that 14,700 Romanians nationals worked in Israel as of 2010 (with or without a work permit). These figures do not include Moldovan-born Jews and Moldovan migrants, which in turn are listed as former Soviet. While these numbers do not account for actual language speakers but mere nationality, there is no recent data on the number of Roumanophones living in Israel.

Yiddish: The language of Ashkenazi Jews in the diaspora and the second most widely spoken Jewish language, Yiddish is a Germanic language, but incorporates elements of Hebrew. Banned in theatres, movies and other cultural activities during Israel's early statehood, Yiddish has undergone a cultural revival in recent years. Furthermore, Yiddish has always and is still regularly used in some haredi Ashkenazi communities. However, despite state-sponsored initiatives for preserving Yiddish culture, the number of Yiddish-speaking Israelis is in decline as older generations of Ashkenazi Jews pass away.

German is spoken natively by around 100,000 Israelis. In Palestine during Ottoman rule and the mandate period, as well as during the first decades of Israeli statehood, German was one of the primary languages of Jews living there. In 1979 a Goethe Institute branch opened in Tel Aviv. By 2006 increasing numbers of Israelis were studying German, and at the time four Israeli schools offered German as an elective course.

Amharic: Spoken by most of Israel's 130,000 Ethiopian Jews, most of whom arrived in two massive operations transporting tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia to Israel in 1984 and 1991, Amharic is often used in government announcements and publications.

Georgian/Judaeo-Georgian: Although most Georgian Jewish immigrants speak Russian, they converse among themselves in Georgian.

Ladino: The Sephardi Jewish language and the third most widely spoken Jewish language, Ladino is a variant of medieval Spanish, intermixed with Hebrew. It is spoken by many Sephardi Jews. Today there is a state-supported authority for preserving the Ladino culture.

Polish: Polish was spoken by the large number of immigrants from Poland. Today, it is somewhat common in Polish moshavei ovdim (workers' settlements) created during the 1940s and 1950s. There are also several thousand Polish Jews living in Israel who immigrated after the 1968 Polish political crisis; most were born and raised in Poland, speak the language fluently amongst themselves, and have made attempts to impart the language to their children.

Ukrainian: While most Ukrainian Jews speak Russian, there is still a segment of Ukrainian speakers.

Spanish: Spanish is spoken by Jews from Argentina and other olim from other Spanish-speaking countries, as well as by some Sephardi groups. Spanish is not restricted to Sephardim, as most Argentine Jews are actually Ashkenazim. Spanish has never been part of the curriculum in Israel. Only English, French, Arabic, Russian and Italian are taught, in addition to Hebrew, and Spanish is only taught as a foreign language in universities and Instituto Cervantes. However, the popularity of soap operas from Argentina and Venezuela, broadcast in Spanish with Hebrew subtitles by Viva in the 1990s, has extended a passive understanding of the language to some of the TV viewers.

French: Spoken by many Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian Jews, either as a native or second language of these francized Maghrebi Jews, French is also spoken by the increasing number of new immigrants from France and other French-speaking countries, as well as by foreign workers from French speaking Africa. For many years French had been the diplomatic language of Israel, and it is still taught in many Israeli schools. The French embassy's Institut Français supports French studies in Israeli schools. Israel has tried to join La Francophonie, but has been rebuffed by its Arab members. Tel Aviv University is a member of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF).

Italian/Judaeo-Italian: In addition to being spoken by Italian Jews, Italian is also spoken by many Jews from Libya (a former Italian colony) and immigrants from other former Italian colonies (Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia) as a primary or second language. As a result of growing demand, Italian may be taken as an optional subject in some schools.

Hungarian: Hungarian is spoken by approximately 70,000 Hungarian Jews in Israel.

Kurdish: Kurdish is spoken by some of the 150,000 Kurdish Jews, who immigrated from Kurdistan region, it was a second language of Jews who lived in the mountains of the Kurdish region while most of them are speaking Jewish Neo-Aramaic.

Turkish: Turkish is spoken by some of the 77,000 Turkish Jews and their families, who immigrated from Turkey in the second half of the 20th century and also by foreign workers. Many of the Turkish speakers in Israel also speak Ladino.

Persian: Persian is spoken by some of the 135,000 Iranian Jews who immigrated from Iran and their children.

Kayla and Qwara: These languages are spoken by Ethiopian Jews in addition to Amharic. Kayla appears to be extinct.

Chinese, Tagalog, and Thai: While spoken by a negligible number of Israeli Jews, Chinese, Tagalog, and Thai have made inroads in Israeli society in recent years due to an influx of non-Jewish immigrants from China, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is estimated that there are 180,000 such illegal immigrants. Many (though mostly Vietnamese) legally entered the country when Israel opened their doors to "boat people" from war-torn Southeast Asia in the 1970s.

Marathi: Marathi is the language of Bene Israel – Indian Jews from the Konkan coast of India. They migrated to Israel beginning in 1948, when the State of Israel was established. In 1977 they numbered about 20,000. Concentrations of Marathi speakers are found in the towns of Dimona and Beersheba.

Malayalam: Judeo-Malayalam is the traditional language of the Cochin Jews (also called Malabar Jews), from Kerala, in southern India.

Bukhori: Bukhori is spoken by the Bukharian Jews who immigrated from Central Asia.

Israeli Sign Language is the main language amongst deaf Israelis. It comes from Jewish educators of the Deaf from Germany who relocated to start the first school for the deaf in Israel.

Ghardaia Sign Language

Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language

Jewish Neo-Aramaic: Jewish Neo-Aramaic language is the native language spoken by Kurdish Jews that immigrated to Israel from Iraq, Turkey, and Iran during the 1940s and 1950s.

Greek: Greek is spoken by Greek-Orthodox church and by a number of Greek Jews.

Adyghe language: spoken by the Adyghe people in two villages in the north of Israel.