Gifts of Language: Multilingualism and Turkish-Sephardic Culture

Bension Varon is a Sephardic Jewa descendant of Jews expelled from Spain under the threat of conversion in 1492. He was born and grew up in Istanbul, Turkey, where he had two mother tongues: Turkish and Judeo-Spanish, the language of his ancestors. He became familiar with Hebrew and Greek and acquired fluency in French and English through both education and professional work, including in international organizations. Varon has lived as a multilingual most of his adult life, in harmony with ...