Language Research

Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages.

The official language of the Knesset and Courts is Hebrew, but Arab members may address the legislature in Arabic, with simultaneous translation provided.

The Jewish majority speaks a modernized derivate of the Hebrew language. Immigrants are given intensive instruction in Hebrew, but many continue to speak their native language at home.

Israeli Arabs speak the Arabic language. Both Hebrew and Arabic are taught in schools and used in legal affairs and in the legislature. Many Israelis speak English, Russian, or any of a number of other European languages. Some older Ashkenazi immigrants speak Yiddish, a Germanic language.

Jewish children attend either state secular or religious schools, both with instruction in Hebrew. Arab and Druze children attend separate schools emphasizing their history, religion, and culture, with instruction in Arabic. Some secondary schools specialize in technological, agricultural, military, or religious studies. There are also private religious schools affiliated with ultra-Orthodox groups and Christian denominations. Literacy rates are very high among youth in both communities and for both sexes.

Radio broadcasts, newspapers, and periodicals use several languages in addition to Hebrew and Arabic. Most daily newspapers were published in Hebrew, while others appeared in Arabic, English, Yiddish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, French, and German, with weeklies adding even more languages to the list.

Israel has developed a language instruction model known as “ulpan” which is designed to help newcomer's function in a Hebrew-speaking environment as quickly as possible. The Hebrew word ulpan translates as teaching, instruction and study. Ulpan is a Hebrew language school that rapidly teaches adults basic Hebrew skills speaking, writing and comprehension-along with the fundamentals of Israeli culture, history, geography and citizenship. The first ulpan, Ulpan Etzion, was opened in Jerusalem in 1949. Today there are 220 ulpanim nationwide- teaching 27,000 students at 350 sites in cities, kibbutzim, factories, hospitals, army bases, universities, community centers and government offices. Teaching the ulpan way is built around conversation. Students speak, practice and repeat, absorbing the rules of language as they go along. Vocabulary is acquired through demonstration, not translation and often in the form of idioms and expressions rather than single words. Grammar is assimilated through intensive daily practice of language structures, not by rote.

This strong cultural framework to language teaching has made the ulpan attractive to other nations attempting to revive the lost languages of their own cultures. Azerbaijan, Wales, Catalonia and New Zealand have all modeled their language instruction on the ulpan. The Welsh have even retained the name “ulpan” for their language schools.

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