Knowledge of the dialects is quickly fading in these immigrant communities and they have been widely supplanted by Modern Hebrew, especially among the younger generations, who are generally unable to speak the dialects at all. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects, therefore, are approaching extinction.

The contacts between the Arabic-speaking Jews and those whose vernacular was Aramaic resulted in a high degree of bilingualism. Many of the Arabic-speaking Jews of Arbel had Aramaic-speaking family relations in both the town and in the surrounding villages. They also had close professional contacts with the Aramaic-speaking Jews. On account of this, the Jews in Arbel whose first language was Arabic often spoke the local Aramaic dialect fluently. The Jews of Arbel and the surrounding area generally also spoke Kurdish.

The decline of Neo-Aramaic has been critically accelerated by the emigration of the Kurdistani Jews to Israel, where their Neo-Aramaic has been gradually replaced by Hebrew.

"The knowledge of Aramaic among the immigrant communities in Israel is quickly fading, especially among the younger generations, who generally are unable to speak the dialects at all. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects, therefore, are approaching extinction... Most of the Jews who were residents of the town of Arbel spoke Arabic as their first language."

Jewish Neo-Aramiac (JNA) is now--in most cases--being replaced by Israeli Hebrew in the younger generations. Of the J. Zakho dialect specifically, Y. Sabar notes that the young adults speak JNA only to their elders from there, and that the youngest generation (the grandchildren of those who originally moved there from Iraq) typically do not speak it at all.