Introduction To Hebrew

 

 

Have you ever wanted to learn the Hebrew language? Maybe you want to read the Hebrew scriptures in their original language. Or maybe you plan to visit Israel and want to learn some basic conversational Hebrew. Well, now is the time to start! I have been learning Hebrew for a couple of years and there are so many resources available on the Internet. And many are free! This page will give you an introduction to the Hebrew language and provide resources, so you can learn to speak, read and write Hebrew.

Introduction to Hebrew

As you probably know, the Hebrew alphabet looks completely different than the English alphabet. Also, Hebrew is read from right to left. To help non-native Hebrew speakers learn Hebrew, most training programs use a ‘transliteration’ of the words. The transliteration will show how the Hebrew word is spoken, using English letters that match the sounds. This is also called  the ‘Romanized’ version of the Hebrew word. For example, almost everyone has heard the word ‘shalom‘, which means peace but is commonly used as a greeting in Hebrew. ‘Shalom’ is the transliteration of the Hebrew word  into English, so you can read and pronounce the Hebrew word. Most Hebrew language learning programs will display the conversation in the Hebrew language, but also show the transliteration and the meaning of the words. Another example is the word for ‘good’ , which is transliterated as ‘tov‘. With transliteration, if you can read English, you can learn to speak the Hebrew word. The transliteration helps you get a quick start in learning Hebrew before you even learn the alphabet.

The Hebrew language also has gender differences (masculine and feminine) for nouns, verbs and adjectives, similar to French and Spanish. Hebrew also has different endings for some words, based on the number (singular or plural). While this may be confusing at first, after a while, it becomes easy to use and understand. Also, the Hebrew alphabet (shown below) contains only consonants, which can be challenging to read for new students of Hebrew.

The destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD resulted in the dispersion of the Jews to countries throughout the world. Most Jews spoke the language of the culture where they lived. But Hebrew was spoken in the synagogues and by the religious teachers of Judaism. The ancient Hebrew scriptures were considered sacred and the words could not be changed to add vowels. So, the Jewish religious leaders decided to add ‘vowel markings’ to written Hebrew, to help document and teach the correct way to pronounce Hebrew words. The vowel markings helped to maintain a consistent spoken Hebrew regardless of where the Jewish people lived.

To watch a video with an introduction to Hebrew, click here.

To watch a video which explains the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, click here.

To watch a video about Hebrew Grammar, click here.

If you would like to purchase books to help you learn Hebrew, I recommend the author Joy Carroll.  Click here to access her website. Her books can also be found on Amazon.