page_title: Israelis
section_title: Languages
hierarchical_section_title: Israelis / Languages
caption_attribution_description: Highway sign pointing to entrance of Masada. Photo taken by Bantosh (myself).
context_page_description: Israelis are the citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel, a multiethnic state populated by people of different ethnic backgrounds. The largest ethnic groups in Israel are Jews, followed by Arabs and other minorities. Among the Israeli Jewish population, hundreds of thousands of Jews born in Israel are descended from Ashkenazi Jew, Mizrahi Jews, Sephardi Jews, Ethiopian Jews, and an array of groups from all the Jewish ethnic divisions, though over 50% of Israel's Jewish population is of at least partial Mizrahi descent.
  Large-scale Jewish immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Jewish diaspora communities in Europe and the Middle East and more recent large-scale immigration from North Africa, Western Asia, North America, South America, the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia introduced many new cultural elements and have had profound impact on the Israeli culture.
  Israelis and people of Israeli descent live across the world: in the United States, Russia, India, Canada, the United Kingdom, throughout Europe, and elsewhere. Almost 10% of the general population of Israel is estimated to be living abroad.
context_section_description: Due to its immigrant nature, Israel is one of the most multicultural and multilingual societies in the world. Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages in the country, while English and Russian are the two most widely spoken non-official languages. Yiddish (2%) and French (2%) are also spoken. A certain degree of English is spoken widely, and is the language of choice for many Israeli businesses. Courses of Hebrew and English are mandatory in the Israeli matriculation exams (bagrut), and most schools also offer one or more out of Arabic, Spanish, German or French. The Israeli government also offers free intensive Hebrew-language courses, known as ulpanim (singular ulpan), for new Jewish immigrants, to try to help them integrate into Israeli society.
caption: Trilingual road sign in Israel
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