Speak Hebrew
Hebrew (עִבְרִית) is the official language of Modern Israel and both the liturgical and intellectual language of Jews and Judaism.
Learning at least the basics of Hebrew will give insight into the words, faith, and culture of a people and place with several thousands of years of rich history. Learning Hebrew will open your doors to other modern and ancient Semitic languages, namely Arabic, Maltese, Aramaic, Syriac, and Amharic as well as languages that borrow tremendously from Hebrew language and culture such as Yiddish and Ladino.
The following is a list of guidelines on how to start your journey into the world of Hebrew.
Contents
Steps
- Take a Hebrew class or an immersion program. Whether it's at school, a local Jewish community center, or even a personal tutor, doing this will make you much more committed to learning the language as well as understanding it better. If you live in Israel, you can enroll in multi-level immersion programs called "ulpan" or "ulpanim", where you live and breathe nothing but Hebrew.
- Surround yourself with Hebrew and Israeli culture. Instead of listening to your regular radio station, listen to Israeli radio (perhaps on line), buy/download music in Hebrew, read easy books, etc.
- Buy or borrow Hebrew children's books. Disney has many books in Hebrew translation, such as Aladdin, Cinderella and Hercules. There are also many well known Israeli writers of children's literature to choose from such as Leah Goldberg.
- You can purchase books at many locations throughout Israel. One convenient location is the book shop located in Jerusalem's Central Station, you see the store when going up the escalators.
- Jewish Community Centres also often have libraries filled with Modern and Classical Hebrew books for children and adults of all ages.
- Learn how to do a throaty r, and a khet like in the German "bach". These two sounds are very important to Modern Hebrew's inherent sound system and are foreign to that of English.
- Apply masculine and feminine gender to nouns and verbs. Hebrew, like other Semitic languages, are similar to many European languages (i.e. German, French, Italian, Spanish) in that they use gender for subjects and objects. Masculine words often have no special ending, while feminine words end with "it", "ot", or "ah".
- Learn simple words and phrases, such as follow (Note that 'kh' and 'ch' are both transliterations of the throaty h sound, as the English soft-ch sound does not exist in Hebrew):
- Yom Huledet Sameach - Happy Birthday
- Chaim - Life
- Beseder - Fine
- Sebaba - Cool - Awesome
- Tov/tova - Good
- Boker tov - Good morning
- Yom tov - Good day
- Mazal tov - Congratulations
- Ima - Mother
- Abba/av - Father
- Ma shlomech? How are you? (towards a female)
- Ma shlomcha? How are you? (towards a male)
- Shalom - Hello/goodbye/peace
- Ma nishma - What's up? (male/female)
- Korim li ___ - My name is (literally, "they call me")
- Ani ben (number) - I'm (number years) old (if you're male)
- Ani bat (number) - I'm (number years) old (if you're female)
- Ha Ivrit sheli lo kol kakh tova - My Hebrew isn't very good.
- Ani meh ___ - I'm from ___
- Todah (rabah) - Thank you (very much)
- Bevakasha - Please/you're welcome
- Eich korim lekha/lakh? - What's your name? (speaking to male/female)
- Eifo ata gar?/ Eifo at garah? - where do you live? (male/female)
- Eich omrim (word you are trying to say) beh'Ivrit? - How do you say (word) in Hebrew?
- Learn the correct use of plural and singular. The plural for male usually ends with "im" and the plural for female ends with "ot". In verbs, the plurals end with "oo". There are a number of irregular verbs, however, and there is no pattern to them. You just have to memorize them.
- Use the male and female forms of numbers:
- ekhad(male), akhat(female)
- shnayim(male), shtayim(female) ['ay' pronounced like in 'buy']
- shlosha(male), shalosh(female)
- arba'ah(male), arbah(female)
- khamisha(male), khamesh(female)
- shisha(male), shesh(female)
- shiv'ah(male), sheva(female)
- shmon'ah(male), shmonay(female)
- tish'ah(male), tesha(female)
- asarah(male), eser(female)
- Understand that Hebrew is a complex Language: In English, verbs do not change very much for tense and person, gender or plural gender: I ate, you ate, he ate, she ate, we ate, they ate. However, in Hebrew, almost every form of the verb is different based on gender and who is being talked about and the tense. Take, for example, the word "Ochel", meaning eat:
- (I) ate: achalti
- (You singular for male): achalta
- (You singular for female): achalt
- (He): achal
- (She): achla
- (You plural for a group including even one male): achaltem
- (You plural for a group of all females): achalten
- (They): achlu
- Take care to conjugate properly. Use a special dictionary of conjugation to help yourself, and don't worry. This is the part of Hebrew in which most people struggle and make mistakes, so you are in good company.
Tips
- There are many great resources for learning Hebrew on the internet. Look for what works for you.
- Acquire a Hebrew-English dictionary to help you. The Oxford Hebrew-English dictionary is a good choice.
- Get help from a friend or find a pen-pal that can help you.
- Get a good Hebrew verb dictionary. You need it. A very large percentage of the people who manage to learn Hebrew until they are able to converse in it will need to use a verb dictionary. After referring to it many times, these verbs will sink into your mind. Also, the book gives example sentences which are very helpful for helping you to understand how to use the verb.
- Watch Israeli movies in Hebrew and listen to Israeli music for more practice.
- You can't learn a language in one week. It takes motivation and commitment that takes a while, but can be achieved if you really try; it's all about practice and persistency.
Warnings
- Do not confuse Hebrew with Yiddish. Yiddish is a collection of European Jewish dialects based on High German. Still, Yiddish borrows extensively from Hebrew and Aramaic but is not closely related to either language.
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