Inhabited by both Jews and Arabs, you would be correct in assuming that Israel is an incredibly linguistically diverse. In fact, the languages of Israel are more diverse than any other country in the entire Middle East!
Whilst many of the languages spoken in Israel are among the most spoken languages in the world, many more are spoken by only a small segment of Israeli society, or by only a few thousand people in the entire world.
Disclaimer: I know that Israel is a contentious subject for many different reasons. This article is solely meant for educational purposes about the languages spoken in the country. Please, no political rhetoric.
Official Languages of Israel
According to the Israeli government, there is only official language of Israel, with a second acting as a semi-official language (albeit not peacefully I might add…)
Hebrew
As one of only two countries whose official religion is Judaism (alongside Iceland), it’s not surprising that Hebrew – the official language of the Jewish faith – is also the national language of Israel.
Whilst Biblical Hebrew, the form of Hebrew used in the Hebrew Bible is used for religious purposes, absolutely nobody uses it on a daily basis anymore.
Instead, they use what linguists call “Modern Hebrew” which is essentially Biblical Hebrew that’s been given thousands of brand new, Hebrew-sounding words, thus allowing Hebrew to be used in a modern setting (as Biblical Hebrew only had 8,000 words, which isn’t a lot).
Owing to its status as the official language of the country, Hebrew is the language used in business, education, healthcare, the workplace, media and so on so forth.
Although the Israeli government operates a “melting pot” policy when it comes to languages – you are free to speak whatever language you want, it heavily encourages its citizens to learn Hebrew, be it for religious purposes or just for day-to-day use.
To that end, 90% of Israel’s Jewish population speak Hebrew to a high level, whilst 60% of Israeli Arabs also speak Hebrew to a high level. All in all, experts estimate that there are roughly 4.5 million Hebrew speakers in Israel to date!
Arabic
Whilst not officially designated by the Israeli government as an official language, Arabic acts like an official language, with it being vital language for day-to-day use in the Palestinian parts of Israel, like the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Historically speaking, this was done for a reason. You see, when Israel was formed in 1948, it inherited a population of 156,000 Arabic-speaking Arabs, none of whom spoke Hebrew.
As if having their land taken from them (as they saw it anyway) wasn’t bad enough, the Palestinians now had a government whose leaders didn’t speak their language, and whose sole claim to the land was that their ancestors had lived there millennia prior.
To ease tensions, Arabic was given a special status under Israeli law. Whilst not an official language, it effectively is one.
Not only is it used in day-to-day life in the Palestinian areas of Israel such as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it’s also used partly in education, healthcare and business (to an extent) as well as on street signs across the country.
Having a population of 156,000 in 1948, the Arabic-speaking population in Israel has grown to an impressive 1.6 million native Arabic speakers, with a further 1.15 million Israeli Jews speaking Arabic too!
Foreign Languages of Israel
Whilst Hebrew is the official language of Israel, and Arabic is only quasi-official, there are also a number of other foreign languages that are spoken in Israel. These include…
English
Since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, Jews from English-speaking countries like Australia, the UK and US have been steadily increasing year-on-year, mostly thanks to Israel’s law to return.
Beyond the Jews that immigrated to Israel from English-speaking countries, English is also a major diplomatic and business language spoken in the country, especially so given that the UK and US are Israel’s largest allies.
Not surprisingly, English is one of the most popular foreign languages taught in Israeli schools, especially so in the Jewish-occupied zones of Israel, where it is the most common second language taught in schools.
According to the most recent Israeli government statistics, English is the native language of roughly 2% of Israel’s population (roughly 180,000 people), whilst being spoken as a second language by a further 62% of the population (5.58 million people).
Due to how widespread it is, many have claimed that English is Israel’s “third official language” given that it is used extensively in everyday life, being the third language present on all street signs in the country (alongside Arabic and Hebrew).
You can even request official documents in English too, all you have to do is ask!
Russian
In history class, you probably learned that most of Europe’s Jews ended up living in what’s now Germany, due to being expelled from almost every other European country. Whilst that’s true, Russia also had a fairly large Jewish population too…
Much like their German cousins, Russia’s Jews would similarly become quite prosperous business owners and bankers. Yet, when the Russian Revolution nationalized their businesses, most of Russia’s Jews stayed in the country (albeit reluctantly).
Following WWII and the creation of Israel, the USSR prevented its Jews from leaving, fearing that it would destabilize the USSR’s fragile economy. As a result, when the USSR collapsed in 1991, a wave of Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants flooded Israel.
Over the course of the 1990’s and 2000’s, many more Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants would move from the former USSR to Israel, totally a little under 1.25 million, who soon became a major minority language in Israel.
Today, roughly 17% of Israel’s population (an estimated 1.5 million people) now speak Russian, 90% of whom speak it as a first language, with the rest having learned it as a second language.
Indeed, Russian is such a common language in Israel that you can find Israeli newspapers being published in Russian, not to mention Russian-language TV stations and radio stations too!
You may have heard of billionaire businessman and Russian Jewish oligarch, Roman Abramovich. He’s a Russian-speaking Israeli!
Yiddish
Over the centuries, most of Europe’s Jews would come to live in what was known as the Holy Roman Empire, which essentially made up modern-day Germany, Switzerland, and Austria as well parts of other countries.
Despite becoming prosperous business owners and money lenders, the Jews were often forced to live in ghettos, thus segregating them from the rest of society as a whole. As a result, they never quite integrated with the HRE’s society.
Yet, many of the HRE’s Jews soon recognized the limitations of using Biblical Hebrew as their language. Not wanting to defame their holy tongue, the HRE’s Jews would create a Germanic language with heavy Hebrew influences. This would be Yiddish.
Spoken for centuries, Yiddish would play a vital role in the early days of the state of Israel. However, it wouldn’t last. Instead, the Israeli government would begin to promote the use of Modern Hebrew over Yiddish.
As a part of this, the government would ban almost all use of Yiddish in daily life. Instead, it was to be replaced by Hebrew. And this worked… just a little too well, with Yiddish becoming endangered within only a few years.
Not wanting to lose a vital link to their ancestors, the Israeli government began enacting policies to revive Yiddish, which have worked incredibly well.
To date, roughly 180,000 people (2% of Israel’s population) can speak or understand a large amount of Yiddish.
German
Whilst most of the HRE’s Jews spoke Yiddish, many also learned German, so that they could communicate with the Germans who made up the largest ethnic and linguistic group in the country at the time.
Although most solely spoke it for business reasons, they would teach it to their kids, so that they could one day use their German to takeover the family business.
Even in spite of things like the Holocaust (which was carried out by people who spoke German), many Jews would remain fluent in German, passing it on to their children once they settled in Israel after the war, just as their parents had done to them.
Although 75 years have passed since the war’s end, many young Jews are still taught German as their ancestors had done for generations.
From a linguistics point of view, this is quite interesting, as besides using it with other German-speaking Jews, German isn’t used at all in Israel. Yet, it is still passed on from parent to child, as it has been for centuries.
Interestingly, there are roughly 100,000 Israelis who can speak German natively. Beyond that, there are also roughly 10,000 people currently learning German at the Goethe Institute in Tel Aviv, as well as several nearby universities.
Spanish
You may remember from history class that when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella passed the Alhambra Decree in March 1492, all Jews were expelled from Spain, with them never to return, thus making sure that Hebrew wasn’t spoken in Spain.
As such, you’d probably be surprised to hear that Spanish is quite well spoken in Israel.
Indeed, whilst a few of Israel’s Spanish speakers come from Spain (as Jews returned to Spain in the mid 19th century) the vast majority come from South America, namely Argentina.
A little known fact about history is that many Jews fled Europe for the New World, with most moving to Argentina (with others moving to Mexico and Venezuela too). When Israel was created, these Jews moved to Israel, bringing SPanish with them too.
Although not part of the Israeli national curriculum, many young Israelis have taken to learning Spanish at home regardless, often self-teaching themselves through apps like Babbel or Duolingo.
During the 1990’s, Spanish-language soap operas would also become extremely popular in Israel, with many becoming semi-proficient in the language through their continued immersion in the language.
Currently, the Israeli government estimates that there are anywhere from 70,000 to 90,000 Spanish speakers in the country, most of whom speak Argentine Spanish, although a few do speak Venezuelan, European and Mexican Spanish too.
Romanian
In 1989, the Romanian people would overthrow the Romanian Communist Party, instead replacing it with a democratic government, who soon gave the Romanian people the same rights as their western counterparts had.
With this, many Romanian Jews, who’d seen the communists nationalize their profitable family businesses, hoped to see them returned. The new Romanian government, however, had other plans for these former state-owned enterprises.
Realizing that even if they took the government to court, they’d never get their businesses back, many Romanian Jews chose to move to Israel, a country that openly encouraged them to come.
Since migrating to the country, many of these Romanian Jews have since had children of their own. Much like their parents, these Israeli-Romanians have continued to speak Romanian like their parents before them.
Interestingly, there are also around 15,000 non-Jewish Romanian immigrants in Israel, most of whom have moved to the country in search of better wages and a higher standard of living.
To date, an estimated 2.4% of the Israeli population (roughly 215,000 people) can speak Romanian natively. Beyond this, several non-Romanian Jews have also taken to learning the language as a result too.
Amharic
In 70 AD, the Romans would conquer Judea (modern-day Israel) scattering the Jews that lived there in every direction. Whilst most went to Europe, some went to the horn of Africa, where they’d settle in the Kingdom of Ethiopia.
Although Ethiopia was a Christian kingdom, they treated their Jews well, with them soon becoming accomplished and highly respected members of Ethiopian society. Most would even adopt the national language of Ethiopia – Amharic.
Whilst they lived there for almost two millennia in relative peace, the late twentieth century would spell doom for Ethiopia’s Jewish population.
You see, in 1974, the Ethiopian Civil War would break out between the government and anti-government rebels. Caught in the crossfire would be Ethiopian citizens, and a disproportionate level of Ethiopian Jews.
Seeing their fellow Jews be slaughtered in what they viewed as a pointless war, the Israeli government organized Operation Moses, which saw Ethiopian Jews flee to Sudan as “Christian refugees” before moving on to Israel.
Whilst many Amharic-speaking Ethiopian Jews have subsequently been born in Israel, the current Israeli government statistics estimate that there are roughly 160,000 Amharic-speaking Ethiopian Jews in the country.
French
Although most Jews turned south when they got into Africa, some continued westward, eventually settling in the Maghreb Region of North Africa, primarily Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Living here in relative peace for centuries, most Maghrebi Jews would soon adopt the local languages. As a French colony for most of recent history (until the 1960’s anyway), most Maghrebi Jews would soon adopt French.
Upon Israel becoming an independent country, most of these French-speaking Maghrebi Jews would move to Israel, giving the newly independent nation-state a sizeable French-speaking minority.
Whilst most came from the Maghreb, other French-speaking Jews also came from France, a country whose Jewish population were instrumental in founding the state of Israel as we know it!
A small minority would also come from the French-speaking part of Canada (Quebec) too.
As of the time of writing, there are roughly 180,000 native French speakers in Israel (around 2% of the population), mostly first or second generation immigrants from France, Quebec or North Africa.
Owing to French being a large minority language, it is one of the most taught languages in Israeli schools, behind English of course. Interestingly, Tel Aviv University is actually one of the best paces to study French in the Middle East!
Persian
Whilst many of Judea’s Jews would choose Europe over Africa, many more would choose to to move to Persia (modern-day Iran) then one of Rome’s most powerful enemies, who promised to protect the Jews from Rome…
For centuries, the Jews would live there in peace, adopting many aspects of Persian life, including their language.
However, in the early 19th century, the Ottomans came, kicking most of the Jews out, many of whom fled to Mandate Palestine (the precursor to modern Israel).
Despite this, many would remain, living with even less rights than they had before.
Following the Islamic Iranian Revolution of 1979, most of Iran’s remaining Jews would flee to Israel, after having been persecuted by the Ayatollah’s regime simply due to their religion.
Arriving in Israel, both groups of Persian-speaking Jews would maintain their language, passing it on to their children, grandchild and even their great-grandchildren!
As of the time of writing, roughly 1.5% of the Israeli population (an estimated 135,000 people) can speak Persian, most of whom are Persian Jews, whose ancestors fled the Iranians and Ottomans centuries ago.
Sadly, Persian is dying out in Israel. Although a few younger Israelis have taken to learning Persian, most of Israel’s Persian speakers are over 65, with more and more dying out as time progresses.
Experts predict that the total number of Persian speakers in Israel will be zero in 50 years…
Which are your favorite languages of Israel? Do you speak any of them (except English of course)? Tell me in the comments!