Robert Alfandary describes the foods he ate as a Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jew before World War II.

What started out as just a class turned into the beginning of a new passion for Lara Sassounian.Sassounian, a sophomore art history major at USC, was trying to find a course to fulfill her GE (general education) requirement last semester. The only one available, she said, was Religion 359, Culture in Diaspora: The Jews of Spain, taught by Professor Jessica Marglin. Sassounian said she had no idea what that meant, but she signed up.

The fifth annual ucLADINO symposium at UCLA will include a panel featuring USC students who have utilized testimony in their research on the Ladino language.