by Maya Mirsky La America, a Ladino paper from the U.S., published 1911. (Courtesy NIL) Ladino is a historical language of the Sephardic Jews, an amalgam of 15th-century Spanish and other Romance languages. Traditionally written in Hebrew characters, it is also influenced by Hebrew in vocabulary and structure. It was spoken by the Jews of Spain, who took it with them when they were expelled from the country.