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Linguaphone Modern Hebrew

  Tags: Linguaphone | Hebrew
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
28 messages over 4 pages: 1 24  Next >>
Penelope
Diglot
Senior Member
Greece
Joined 3629 days ago

110 posts - 155 votes 
Speaks: English, French
Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 17 of 28
28 May 2014 at 12:14pm | IP Logged 
This small thread and every single post has been terribly helpful :)

It is such a relief when people just offer their help, and even state their disagreements in a calm and educated way.
2 persons have voted this message useful



SnowManR1
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5248 days ago

53 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 18 of 28
28 May 2014 at 2:33pm | IP Logged 
Jpazzz: Yeah, I don’t know what’s the deal with HTLAL and my notifications. It could be a glitch on my end, but who knows. Either way I’m just glad you received the PDF and perhaps I’ll make a comment on 1 course per day and post it here for all to enjoy.

Shapd: You’re right about TeachMeHebrew.com as being a great resource and it probably has the potential to bring a novice to a strong A2, but I must admit that transliteration scares the crap out of me. I’ll explain more on that later.

However and to those reading, if you feel confident to approach Hebrew print (in the beginning) without Nikkud than I must say that TeachMeHebrew.com would do just fine for a starting off point and I think you could take a lot from the course.

I spoke to jpazzz awhile back and told him I would be happy to make some recommendations and or comments on some course material that I’ve either reviewed, been through or am currently going through at the moment. So for full disclosure I must provide a small warning to those who wish to continue reading:

1) Please keep in mind that everything I comment on or recommend is from the perspective of a native English speaker.

2) The majority of the materials mentioned will be using Nikkud unless specified otherwise.

3) I do not use or recommend transliteration and I personally consider it dangerous when learning an exotic language. Let’s face it folks, homographs can be a real problem: angle, bass, lead, wind, etc. I know transliteration isn’t exactly complete words, but the same principles can be applied. After I learned to read Hebrew I was shocked about how I “would” have pronounced something if I didn’t know the proper pronunciation, so to each his own.

4) In regards to details I will try to be as specific as possible, but I didn’t take notes as I went along, so I will do my best to present the information in a comprehensive and concise manner.

5) I will try to use a similar format for each entry and will hopefully post something each/every other day.

1 person has voted this message useful



SnowManR1
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5248 days ago

53 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 19 of 28
29 May 2014 at 6:36pm | IP Logged 
ISBN-13: 978-0-939144-50-1

Title: Teach Yourself to Read Hebrew: Book and CD Set

Rating: 9 out of 10

Range: Beginner

Vocabulary: N/A

Sentences: N/A

Positive/Overall: This was the first book that I purchased for learning to read the Hebrew language. It has ten lessons with about 5 hours of audio. At the end of each lesson you can practice the new letters combined with various vowel combinations, which focuses on pronunciation and helps get the rhythm of the language.

It doesn’t teach you the names of the letters (aleph, gimel, lamed, etc.), but rather the sound of the letter and its pronunciation when paired with a vowel. There’s a small lamination on the back that teaches the names of the letters and what the letter looks like in script (cursive).

Negative/Specifics:

1. Doesn’t teach you the names of the letters.

2. Teaches you to write in print, which is useless because everyone writes in script (cursive).

3. They use the Biblical pronunciation for the vowel tsere, which only pertains to liturgy. For Modern Hebrew the vowels tsere, segol, hataf segol are all pronounced the same, but it’s not a big deal.

To the viewers: I’m not mentioning everything in the positive section, because there’s usually too much to mention and I didn’t want these reviews to seem long winded, so with that in mind please infer from the “Rating” the overall quality of the product.

PS: Anyone can PM or E-mail me (SnowManR1@aol.com) anytime and for whatever reason.
5 persons have voted this message useful



SnowManR1
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5248 days ago

53 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 20 of 28
07 June 2014 at 6:06pm | IP Logged 
I’m sorry for my absence lately. I know it makes me seem like a space cadet, but my sister flew in from the Coast Guard and has been living with me ever since my last post. Let’s just say these people are nuts and we’ll just leave it at that.

Also I added where I got my materials to the general format. The first one didn’t include this, so I’ll just say it was www.ekspublishing.com.
1 person has voted this message useful



SnowManR1
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5248 days ago

53 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 21 of 28
07 June 2014 at 6:08pm | IP Logged 
ISBN-13: 0004100022900

Purchased: www.myhebrewbooks.com

Title: Hebrew with Pleasure: Book and CD Set

Rating: 10 out of 10

Range: Beginner - Intermediate

Vocabulary: 800

Sentences: 1,200

Positive/Overall: This book is probably one of the first books I bought when I first started learning Hebrew. It is perfectly balanced with each chapter introducing just the right amount of vocabulary and grammar without overwhelming the learner. Plus as the chapter introduces the vocabulary and grammar it provides the learner with example sentences, which is always helpful.

I also liked its slow approach towards verbs, which it introduces only after the learner starts to feel comfortable in the language. Plus there’s a dialogue at the end of each lesson, which is comprised of all the new things learned in that lesson and accompanied with material learned from previous lessons.

Negative/Specifics:

1. The audio can be a difficult to follow at times. What I mean is that it sometimes jumps a page over, but doesn’t formally announce it. I’m not saying it jumps chapters, but when it’s done with Lesson 2 of chapter 4, it doesn’t say “Now Lesson 3 of chapter 4”. It’s not a big deal, but in chapter 1 it can throw you off a bit if you don’t already know how to read Hebrew.
3 persons have voted this message useful



SnowManR1
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5248 days ago

53 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 22 of 28
08 June 2014 at 8:32pm | IP Logged 
ISBN-13: N/A

Purchased: iTunes

Title: Vocabulearn I & II

Rating: 3 out of 10

Range: Beginner

Vocabulary: 3,000

Sentences: N/A

Positive/Overall: This audio based course is available in only 2 levels, which was a little disappointing since the more “popular” languages have 3 levels, but I digress. I also enjoyed the organization of the audio, which would present for example adjectives and only adjectives for a certain period of time and would then switch to nouns, verbs, etc.

The course is also relatively inexpensive and was easily attainable, which was nice because I heard a rumor Penton Overseas went out of business. However I absolutely hated the background audio. Please see below.

Negative/Specifics:

1. I disliked this course, because while the words and expressions are being presented they play classical music in the background. It’s just low enough to barely hear the words and loud enough to drive you insane. I would have loved to listen to this passively while I worked, but the music was just too overpowering.

2. Only available in 2 levels instead of 3.

3. I’m not 100% positive, but I’m fairly certain there is no accompanying PDF’s, which would have given the learner something to view while listening.

Extra: I tried isolating the background music from the main audio, but it seemed intertwined and alas I was unable to separate the two. I’m not a sound engineer and refused to waste too much time, but if anyone wants to take it on as a side project I’d be curious to see how it was done. Caution, I wouldn’t waste too much time considering what the course is and how far it could only take you.
2 persons have voted this message useful



SnowManR1
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5248 days ago

53 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 23 of 28
10 June 2014 at 6:08pm | IP Logged 
ISBN-13: 978-0764137488

Purchased: www.barronseduc.com

Title: Barron’s 501 Hebrew Verbs

Rating: 8 out of 10

Range: Beginner - Advanced

Vocabulary: N/A

Sentences: N/A

Positive/Overall: I’ve had exposure to the “501 Series” from past experiences with other languages, so I was extremely hopeful for the Hebrew version and thankfully it did not disappoint. It’s organized extremely well and in my opinion far better than the first revision.

The verb is provided in the infinitive and conjugated fully in the past, present and future tenses, while also providing less commonly used forms as well. It also gives 4-5 sentences below the verb using the infinitive and a few other conjugated forms. Sadly only the word itself uses nikkud, while the rest of the sentence is without vowel points, but it does provide a translation of the example sentence.

Negative/Specifics:

1. Some of the other languages come with a CD with sentence completion exercises, etc., but unfortunately the Hebrew version doesn’t.

2. This book would have been rated a 10 if only the example sentences contained nikkud, but with immense sadness only the word that is conjugated from the verb is given with vowel points. I should write Barron’s, because if the whole sentence had nikkud this would be a major resource that would provide endless dividends…at least for me anyways.

3 persons have voted this message useful



jpazzz
Groupie
United States
Joined 4805 days ago

54 posts - 76 votes 
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 24 of 28
11 June 2014 at 2:04am | IP Logged 
Hello Snowman,

I'm enjoying your commentaries. Please keep them up!

Cheers,
John


2 persons have voted this message useful



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