Facts About Home Schooling

Eight Steps for the Beginning Hebrew Student

by Neal Walters

Learning to read and pronounce letters and vowels is the first step on the road to learning Hebrew. Learning the names of the letters is not quite as important as learning to pronounce them. While the Latin alphabet is based on the Hebrew and Greek originally, there are enough differences to make it challenging for westerners.

Believe it or not, students don't learn Hebrew for the same reasons, and you, too, should examine your goals. Is your goal to learn to read the Hebrew scriptures, or is it to talk to your cousin in Israel? Or maybe you are trying to learn to pray the traditional prayers in Hebrew.

To learn Biblical Hebrew, a great way to start is with the "Top 400 Words of the Hebrew Bible". These words are included with the "At Home with Hebrew" software tutorial, and are also sold on audio-CDs, so the student can learn in the car.

If you learn how to conjugate Hebrew verbs, it will help you with both Biblical and Modern Hebrew. Even though there are minor differences, the verb conjugation is basically the same. While many nouns overlap between the two, the subject matter is quite different.

Students should also beware homonyms. For example, the word "ATAH" can mean "you" or "now", depending on how it is spelled in Hebrew. One is spelled with an "AYIN" and the other with an "ALEPH"; both are letters are treated as silent letters to the beginner student. Our software tutorial shares some of the words that are mostly commonly confused by beginners.

Learning numbers is another challenge. Hebrew has both masculine and feminine numbers, so the student must learn to count to 10 two different ways! A good way to enforce numbers is telling time, or doing simple math problems in Hebrew.

Children can begin learning Hebrew as young as three years of age. Why not let them learn Hebrew at the same time they learn their English letters? Children enjoy using software programs that have interactive games.

Most students of modern Hebrew must also learn the cursive letters. This is almost like learning a second Hebrew alphabet, because they are quite different from their printed counterparts. The time-tested method of writing the letters over-and-over on lined paper works today as well as it did years ago.

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All the above features can be found in our software tutorial "At Home with Hebrew" at our Learn Hebrew Alphabet

	Hebrew From Scratch Textbook Part II List Price: $37.95 Sale Price: $33.95
	Hebrew From Scratch is also known as 'Ivrit min hathahala'. It's a comprehensive textbook, grammar and exercise book for the beginner adult student. Widely used by high school and university students. The instructions for the exercises as well as the translations of the vocabulary lists are in English...