Worldwide interest in Hebrew (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Worldwide interest in Hebrew
Tags: Language Importance \| Hebrew \| Usefulness
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

27 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

icing_death
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5863 days ago
296 posts - 302 votes

Speaks: English*

Message 25 of 27

28 April 2009 at 7:25am | IP Logged

JBI wrote:

I'm essentially a native speaker of Hebrew

That might explain why you feel Hebrew is so difficult. Many native speakers just can't comprehend how non-
natives perceive their language.

JBI wrote:

As to creating this account for the purpose of posting on this thread, well, that is more coincidental
than not, i'truth I am more interested in the Italian speaking thread, and registered so as to bypass the
adds.

I apologize for my mistake. I saw your only 4 posts all in this thread and jumped to conclusions.

JBI wrote:

As to not being welcome into a culture - depends how you see that. I know many Jews who would
agree, and say you aren't welcome, whereas I know many who would say, "Come right ahead, we have nothing
to hide."

So are you one who welcomes or not? Is the purpose of your posts not to keep people from entering your
group?

JBI wrote:

As for hidden message - well, I'm trying to state the facts.

And you did state some facts. Thanks for that. But here are some other things you said.

JBI wrote:

I will tell you, that it really isn't worth the effort.

JBI wrote:

I'm surprised people even bother. It seems a bit of a waste of time

JBI wrote:

unless you really are an authentic Yiddish speaker, real Yiddish words always seem to sound
fake.

These sound like discouraging opinions rather than facts.

JBI wrote:

Hebrew is a whole other mindset - it's like learning Arabic - you don't just need the language and
the script which is difficult enough, you need a whole new understanding of pragmatics and idiom.

This is true for many languages. And very few think Hebrew is as hard as Arabic.

JBI wrote:

That's what I'm trying to really get at, that with a language like this, one really needs to consider
why they are learning it.

You could say this about any language.

JBI wrote:

It's not like Italian, when you already speak Spanish and French, and think, might as well grab that
one too in a year of hard studying - it's way outside of that, and has very little in common with European
languages, and is spoken culturally in a mode very different from a European mindset.

If you are speaking from the point of view of a native English speaker, this is true. But you can say the
same for many languages. This isn't true for native Arabic speakers though.

JBI wrote:

I think it fitting to look into motivations, usefulness, and other pragmatic rationale

Detailed information about usefulness I can see. There are plenty of threads discussing things like motivation
for language learning in general. And if someone is specifically asking for advice, it might be a good idea to
discuss motivation. But I find it very strange to advise everyone who is interested in learning Hebrew, that they
need to examine their motivations, and that they better fall within your guidelines. I don't see this sort of
suggestion about other languages that are supposed to be the most difficult for English speakers, so I wouldn't
expect to see it for Hebrew.

cordelia0507 wrote:

I'd only recommend Hebrew to:
1)People who plan to live in Israel
2)Committed Jews
3)Serious biblical scholars

I think it's wrong to tell people what needs to be their motivation for learning a language. I say give them the
facts, without over-the-top warnings, and let them decide for themselves.

2 persons have voted this message useful

cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5840 days ago
1473 posts - 2176 votes

Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

Message 26 of 27

28 April 2009 at 11:13am | IP Logged

Icing - yeah, well that's why I said that I "RECOMMEND"!

As somebody who has lived in many different countries I have considerable experience of learning languages. In the case of Hebrew I happened to have relevant personal experience.

Check the definition of "forum" I think you'll find that it's a venue for people to exchange ideas and opinions. So much the better if the idea or opinion is based on personal experience.

Here's another RECOMMENDATION for you: Don't come at people so strongly next time! Remember that people come to a forum like this for a nice time and to help out.
1 person has voted this message useful

Hebe
Newbie
United States
Joined 5684 days ago
9 posts - 7 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew

Message 27 of 27

05 May 2009 at 8:44pm | IP Logged

I've been searching for Hebrew resources and found this current thread. It's very interesting, although it seems to be getting a bit off topic. :) Maybe I can help bring it back to it's original purpose.

In my search for language learning websites (I googled "SRS Hebrew") I stumbled upon this website. Has anyone else read it? "All Hebrew All The Time".
http://www.allhebrewallthetime.com/

Furthermore, I'd like to say thanks to Francois for creating his website. I've been following it for a while but never post anything. Thanks.

edit: And since it came up as to why people study Hebrew - I may move to Israel one day, and thus would possibly like to learn the language. Even though people speak good English over there, I can't imagine moving to another country and not learning their language! :)

Edited by Hebe on 05 May 2009 at 8:47pm

1 person has voted this message useful

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