chgurlsng Newbie United States Joined 4575 days ago 17 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French, Spanish, Biblical Hebrew
| Message 1 of 8 13 May 2013 at 7:35pm | IP Logged |
I will be going to Israel for 5 weeks at the end of June. While I'm there, I will be doing 4 hours of intense immersion per day, plus working on book two of Living Biblical Hebrew. The instructors have asked us to finish book one before we get to Tel Aviv. The program is supposed to be like The Learnables which is immersion without any grammar at first. I am on lesson 6 of 10. My comprehension is improving, but this is different than any other program I've tried. I've tried Pimsleur, Assimil, Rosetta Stone, FSI, and traditional classes in other languages I've worked on.
I've been memorizing the writing system and have made flash cards of each letter. I go to a synagogue where I've memorized several of the prayers and can read most of them, but I don't really know what each and every word means (the translations are not word for word). Since I feel a bit ahead on the reading, I don't want to study a program with transliteration. It would be a crutch to me at this point.
It's odd to not be practicing the normal "Hello, what is your name" phrases that I'm accustomed to with every other program I've tried. Supposedly, this program is a good springboard for any Hebrew dialect, and I would eventually like to reach a decent conversational level Modern Hebrew. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with The Learnables or Living Biblical Hebrew. Should I also pair it with something else like Pimsleur, or should I keep plugging away? What have you all had experience with?
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SnowManR1 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5480 days ago 53 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew
| Message 2 of 8 15 May 2013 at 1:11pm | IP Logged |
What are your overall goals within this time period?
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Golan Bilingual Triglot Newbie Israel Joined 4245 days ago 11 posts - 19 votes Speaks: Modern Hebrew*, Biblical Hebrew*, English Studies: Tigrinya
| Message 3 of 8 16 May 2013 at 12:23am | IP Logged |
Are you wondering about the effectiveness of learning the biblical language as opposed
to the everyday modern dialect? If so, It depends on what your purpose in learning the
language is.
While I am not familiar with any of the mentioned programs, and therefore can't comment
on either of them, I think any Hebrew program can be used as a springboard to further
learning of the language as long as you know the limitations and you know to
distinguish between the dialects. For example, If you'll use words from the prayers you
have learned for everyday conversations it will be understandable but probably odd.
The core rules of the grammar almost didn't change throughout its 3000 years of
existence, but forms that were commonly used in the bible and the later mishnaic and
rabbinical writings are now considered archaic or poetic. New rules have been
introduced, and of course the vocabulary changed a lot - old words are not in use
anymore and new words came to life.
I recommend to continue what you already started, but better if you won't try to speak
it before you learn the difference between the various dialects. I assume that during
your stay in Israel they will teach you what you have to know, and in a Hebrew speaking
environment it will be much easier.
And welcome to Israel! I wish you a very pleasant stay.
Edited by Golan on 16 May 2013 at 12:25am
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tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4699 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish
| Message 4 of 8 16 May 2013 at 8:22pm | IP Logged |
I don't know anything about Biblical Hebrew, but I believe many old words were reused. I
also believe they sort of reinterpreted the grammar but I am not sure.
I personally am studying Modern Hebrew right now (I have the Routledge Course here on my
desk while I am covering the preposition "etzel"), and what I do is combine my studies
with conversational practice on iTalki and other such websites. My Hebrew isn't very
good, but it's reached a sort of usable level after 6 months where I can do some things
in the language, like explain who I am and what I do, and other things. Not very good at
expressing emotions in Hebrew and such. Or giving longer, detailed accounts.
I love the language though!
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renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4350 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 5 of 8 16 May 2013 at 8:29pm | IP Logged |
Lucky you, going to Israel. Try not to miss out on colloquial conversations. I think you'll enjoy how easily you'll find yourself talking to people there (or so I've been told by very enthusiastic friends who have visited).
Edited by renaissancemedi on 16 May 2013 at 8:29pm
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AML Senior Member United States Joined 6817 days ago 323 posts - 426 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish
| Message 6 of 8 17 May 2013 at 5:16pm | IP Logged |
Hello,
Hebrew is a lot of fun to learn. I've been enjoying it a lot. Welcome to the club.
From my experience, the best two resources that I think are worth your time are:
Learn Hebrew Pod
This one costs money. There are over 60 lessons with increasing levels of complexity. Lots of explanation in English if you like that sort of thing.
and
Teach Me Hebrew
This one is free. There is a ton of good stuff - from grammar to songs to free Anki files. I follow this site regularly and it's updated often.
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renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4350 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 7 of 8 17 May 2013 at 7:55pm | IP Logged |
Nice links.
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chgurlsng Newbie United States Joined 4575 days ago 17 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French, Spanish, Biblical Hebrew
| Message 8 of 8 25 May 2013 at 3:29am | IP Logged |
Sorry I never replied to my own thread-- I had limited internet access. Thanks for your helpful posts, links, and advice. I have finished the first 10 lessons of the program I'm using. Now I have to go through and read all the cartoons with the transcript. It is a pretty rewarding process. I feel like I confidently know about 200 words. I'm pretty happy with my progress considering I've only been spending about one our per day on studying for about five weeks now. If I continue to enjoy this program, I am considering picking up Hebrew Learnables since there are only two levels for this particular course.
I have never used a Routledge course before. The thing I really like about the first level of this program is that there are no grammar studies in the beginning. There are some drills in the next level, but I don't think they will be too intense. I'm not a big grammar person. When I was learning and speaking German on a daily basis with people in Austria, I never did drills, and just learned through frequent repetition. It would have been useful for me to do more grammar, for sure, but I didn't have the time since I was always working.
I am actually interested in learning modern Hebrew, but I am going to Israel to finish some college credit, and Ancient Hebrew was the only way to do it with this particular trip.
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