The Early Christianity blogosphere has been abuzz discussing which languages one needs in order to study The New Testament. I thought we should take a stab at raising the discussion with regards to Rabbinic literatures. Here’s my attempt, broken down into different sub-fields (DISCLAIMER: I am a student at the Hebrew University):

• Palestinian:
• Primary: JPA, Greek, Latin, Syriac
• Secondary: German
• Babylonian: 
• Primary: JBA (RBA), Greek, Middle Persian, Syriac, Latin
• Secondary: German, French
• Medieval:
• Primary: Arabic, Latin
• Secondary: German

Knowledge of Biblical, Rabbinic, and Modern Hebrew are taken for granted, although a deeper familiarity through coursework or grammars is also important.