If you want to live in Israel or are going to visit it, then you cannot do without knowledge of Hebrew at least at the everyday level. And even more so if you like to feel like an independent person, and are also going to get a job in Israel. You understand that you need to learn Hebrew, but what is the best way to do it, where to start? Which way to choose? And is it too late to start?
Many people think that it is possible to learn a foreign language only in childhood or at a young age, since memory works well only at this age. This is an absolutely erroneous opinion. According to our many years of experience, people who start learning Hebrew at 20, and at 40 - 60, and even at 70 successfully study and reach high levels. So age does not matter, the most important thing is your desire to learn and willingness to practice.
Our main advice for those who are planning to move to live in Israel is to start learning Hebrew before leaving as early as possible. This is the most valuable baggage you can take with you. Many people hope to learn Hebrew in an ulpan upon arrival, but later on, most people are disappointed with this idea. Firstly, the state of Israel finances only the development of one of the six levels of Hebrew, and this is absolutely not enough for life in the country. And secondly, the teaching system and the intensity of studying Hebrew in ulpans is not suitable for everyone. Therefore, having mastered Hebrew at least at the Aleph level before coming to Israel, you will already have a language base and will be able to continue your studies at a higher level.
So how do you choose the right way to learn Hebrew? Consider the main ways of learning Hebrew, their advantages and disadvantages.
Learn Hebrew on your own.
There are many positives in this method: you can practice at any convenient time and in any convenient way. There are many free resources on the Internet for learning Hebrew on your own: textbooks, audio lessons, films. To help the self-taught, we also constantly publish useful materials and simulators on various topics. You study at your own time and at your own pace. And of course, self-study is free and will save significant amounts of money. But is this way of learning so perfect? Perhaps not everything is so simple, because with self-study there will be no one to correct your mistakes, and then it can be very difficult to relearn. Yes, and it often turns out to be difficult to motivate yourself to exercise regularly and fruitfully. Therefore, only if you are a truly purposeful person and are used to coping with all the difficulties yourself, your studies will be successful. However, we are often lazy and can not always force ourselves to do. The modern rhythm of life sometimes absorbs us so much that classes become irregular, and it’s simply difficult to competently build the learning process yourself. Agree that not each of us can motivate ourselves to work productively without a mentor who would constantly guide and control the process. Well, someone still needs the notorious spirit of rivalry that can be felt in a group, someone needs a competent teacher who will direct the learning process in the right direction. And yet, the main problem of self-taught people is that colloquial speech develops with difficulty - after all, without a company it is difficult to pronounce everything and use it in practice. And without the active application of knowledge, many remain passive. It is because of this that it is scary to start talking. And this is logical - a person feels confident in what he is used to doing, and if he does not speak and does not participate in the conversation in Hebrew during the study, then the well-known "language barrier" arises.
Learn Hebrew with a private tutor
Many consider this way of learning Hebrew one of the most effective. Here are its advantages: the teacher will take into account only your interests and pay all attention to you, you will be able to study at a pace convenient for you.
However, such pleasure is not the cheapest if you want to learn from an experienced and good teacher. And finding a truly qualified specialist is not so easy. Not all Hebrew teachers speak the language at a sufficiently high level and have good methodological training. You can meet a teacher who works according to an outdated methodology, devotes a lot of time in class to doing exercises from the textbook, which you can do yourself at home, so as not to waste valuable lesson time on this. It happens that even in individual lessons, students speak very little Hebrew, and mostly read texts and exercises. As a result, the effectiveness of such classes can be very low, despite the fact that the cost is high.
learn hebrewin a course group.
There are many courses and ulpans around the world. And until recently, this was perhaps the most popular way to learn Hebrew. There are such advantages in studying at the courses: the classes are held according to the developed program, and it is usually known in advance how long the course lasts. organize the learning process and discipline the student much better than individual lessons, and even more so self-study. Studying in a group, you will communicate a lot, and this will definitely help you to talk, as well as develop the skill of understanding Hebrew by ear. Of course, we are talking about small groups of 4-8 people. With such a composition, the teacher manages to devote a lot of time to each student. By the way, for many students, competition in a group is very useful, it encourages them to achieve better results and makes them try harder. And what is very nice - a lesson in a Hebrew group, even with a good one, is cheaper than individual lessons.
However, this way of learning Hebrew has its drawbacks: in big cities, travel time can be significant. Traveling by public transport isn't much fun either. As a result, it may happen that you have to study tired, hungry and overwhelmed, which of course does not contribute to the effective assimilation of the material.
learn hebrewonline in a group
Modern technologies allow you to learn Hebrew in an even more convenient way - in an online group, without leaving your home in a familiar and comfortable environment. This is a huge savings in time that we usually spend on the road. But it can be directed in a much more useful direction - to watch or have time to do homework. In an online lesson (in case you are studying on a modern platform), all the teacher's explanations are accompanied by diagrams and images that help to better visualize what is being studied. An online lesson takes place in the same way as a regular face-to-face lesson, and it is possible to view video clips and listen to audio recordings. A professional online platform allows the teacher to pair up students for dialogues in separate rooms and enter those rooms to help when needed. Another great advantage is that when traveling on a business trip or vacation, you can view the recorded lessons and work through everything on your own in order to keep up with the group. Thus, online Hebrew classes have even more opportunities and convenience for successful learning. Everyone who has tried it speaks of an extraordinary feeling of delight from the fact that after the lesson there is no need to go anywhere - just close the window with the online class on the computer and instantly “come back home”.
So let's sum it up:
Independent study of Hebrew is the most time-consuming and slow process, it requires great willpower. Individual lessons with a teacher are very effective, but the cost of lessons from a good and experienced specialist is quite high.
The most effective and at the same time quite economical way is, and studying Hebrew in online courses allows you to save time on the road and enjoy the benefits of modern Internet technologies.
1. Find the right tools
If someone has already told you that Hebrew can only be learned in Israel, don't believe it. In the end, not every native speaker knows how to teach (although in the process of working on our textbook, we, of course, attracted Hebrew-speaking consultants, native speakers read educational texts and the editor was also Hebrew-speaking). There is such a thing - language specificity. For example, Russian-speaking students do not need to be explained what a grammatical gender is (you already know this very well), but they need to know what an article is and where to put it. In Hebrew, by the way, there is only one definite article, always in the same form - very nice of him, right?
2. Get yourself prescriptions
Often students are afraid of incomprehensible letters (and some even know that printed and handwritten Hebrew are two big differences). Don't worry! Firstly, there are relatively few letters in the language, and secondly, we first learn the most difficult - the handwritten font. So you can read what the waiter in the cafe wrote to you on a piece of paper when you asked for the bill, and leave a note for the neighbors, and make out the cute graffiti. Thirdly, we still start with writing and reading endless syllables and writing Russian words in Hebrew letters: we are specifically waiting for you to get so tired of doing meaningless nonsense that you yourself want normal words to begin.
3. Read everything you see
How to read words if they do not have vowels? It's very simple: in Hebrew there are rules about this; not that any vowel can be inserted anywhere. We first teach to write (and read) international, borrowed words without vowels, and then words from Hebrew. Do you know why? Because the most difficult thing that can be read in Hebrew without vowels is foreign borrowings. And suddenly bam - and you already know how. After such "native" words, which obey the internal language logic and are arranged according to understandable models, you will be able to click like nuts.
4. Listen to native speakers, learn to understand dialects and accents
Let's say you were told about various cunning Jewish sounds and even frightened by "ayn", a complex guttural sound - so don't be upset, Ashkenazim don't pronounce this good, and you don't need to either. And about the sounds denoted by the letters “hat”, “reish” and “hey”, the textbook describes in detail (and it’s not for nothing that we recorded an audio course with native speakers). By the way, remember this: unlike Russian, consonants in Hebrew are not stunned at the end of words, but are pronounced in all their glory.
By the way, we had a student who always tried to pronounce the sound [l] (“l”) firmly, although in Hebrew it is semi-soft. Israelis define this style as an American accent; This student spoke “American” because he had only one experience in learning a non-native language (just English), and he was convinced that in general it is necessary to speak in all foreign languages in this way.
5. Approach the same topic from different angles
In traditional textbooks, the text is usually given first, and after it, new words and rules that are introduced in this text. We do the opposite - first the words and rules (gently, one at a time), and then the text. Imagine: you have just started to learn the language, and suddenly you can read a two-page text and immediately understand everything there! Large texts in the textbook consist mainly of dialogues, and then we offer to read all the same in prose (by the way, an excellent exercise is reading for a while, with a stopwatch) and retell on behalf of different characters.
6. Don't be afraid to repeat the material, but turn it into a game
Much in the study of languages is based on the repetition of the same words and structures. Performing endless identical exercises, a person usually feels like an idiot and falls into some despondency (if you studied languages at school, you understand what we mean). In our textbook there is a trick against this: through heroes, some of which are shlimazels and bores. They keep doing the same things, repeating the same things, making mistakes and redoing them all over again. But the student, while reading all this, just has time to learn desired topic, - and at the same time he considers the hero to be an idiot, and not himself.
Hebrew has a conjugation of prepositions (for example, "from you", "from me", etc. - forms of conjugation of the preposition of the direction "from"). Instead of repeating endless conjugation tables, we propose to play out an old baroque play about a wandering hero, whose name is (suddenly!) Kolobok. The idea, we think, is clear.
7. Be aware of the difference in styles
You may have heard that there is a "high" and a "low" Hebrew. The story here is this: in Israel there is a Hebrew Language Academy, which publishes rules, regulates conjugations and officially introduces new words. There is also an idea of how the “correct” literary Hebrew should look like (such a language is spoken, for example, in the news). Official modern language inherits the biblical and talmudic - if there were no constructions there, they cannot be in literary Hebrew. The spoken language is very different from all this (including, for example, stresses - in the literary language they usually fall on the last syllable, and in the spoken language - on the penultimate or even the third from the end), but there is good news: you are with this and so you already come across every day, because colloquial Russian is also different from literary.
Our textbook is the very first level of learning Hebrew, so it's quite conversational (don't worry, you won't sound archaic). Of course, you will not be able to discuss philosophy or politics on the basis of his material, but for the first year of study, this is probably a small loss. But you can buy peaches and pomegranates in any shop on the corner and calmly, without nerves, get from Acre to Jerusalem (for some reason, stops in Israel are not announced in English). In addition, we are preparing for publication the second part of the textbook, where the phenomena characteristic of the official Hebrew will be considered.
8. Use familiar cultural codes as a method of remembering rules and vocabulary
So that you won't be bored, we have added cultural codes to the textbook that are familiar to every Russian person. For example, the verb "to do" is illustrated by Chernyshevsky's book, and the preposition of the direction "to" is illustrated by Chekhov's three sisters ("To Moscow! To Moscow!"). There is also Venichka in the textbook, and the cat Behemoth with Margarita, and other sudden surprises.
9.Deal with difficult topics consistently
By the way, about verbs. We give the system of binyans (which you, probably, have already been scared too) at first without theory, we just ask you to remember the verbs. Then slowly and carefully add a handful of infinitives, then mix everything together and ask them to sort the verbs into groups. You do it like Cinderella with rice and lentils - and then we jump out of the bushes and say: “And this is such and such a binyan! And you already know him by sight!
10. Start watching movies and cartoons in Hebrew as early as possible
Let's be honest: after the textbook of the first stage, you still won't be able to read Meir Shalev in the original. But you can watch Israeli cinema and. And although this is a textbook for universities, and not a tutorial in its purest form, it is quite possible to study it on your own. Good luck!
Well, the most important thing. This textbook (as well as many other useful and interesting publications) can be purchased in the mobile application JKniga: for iPhone and iPad and for Android tablets.
This textbook is the first in the Kanevsky family publication series, but not the first in a series of books and teaching aids created at the Department of Judaic Studies of the ISAA Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov and published at the expense of the Kanevsky family. Among these books and teaching aids are the collection of essays "The Talmud, Plato and the Radiance of Glory" (2011) and the study guide "Hermeneutics of Jewish Texts" (2012).
Hebrew has not been used in colloquial speech for more than one and a half thousand years, but since the last century it has been revived, becoming the official language of Israel. Word formation in Hebrew is a fairly logical and understandable process, you just need to memorize the basic rules.
The language at first glance may seem complicated: learning letters of an unusual configuration and writing texts from right to left. But don't worry: the 22-letter Israeli alphabet can be mastered in a few lessons. ALL ONLINE COURSES has selected the best free online resources for learning Hebrew from scratch at home.
Free tutorial "Boaha Le Shalom". The resource offers the development of the alphabet, writing, the basics of grammar and colloquial speech. The course is divided into thematic blocks. Each lesson, in addition to explanatory material, includes repetition exercises, texts and dialogues using new words. The situations played out in reinforcing exercises reflect modern life realities. The "Alphabet", "Reading" and "Writing" sections contain textual and graphical information, and the lessons of the "Parts of Speech" block are supported by audio recordings that allow you to correctly pronounce Hebrew phrases. The only paid option on the resource is the help of a teacher and passing exams.
Tutorial based on the textbook. Relevant for an audience of beginners who decide to learn Hebrew without a teacher. There are headings "Primer", "Verbs", a thematic phrase book "Hebrew-Russian", a dictionary, exercises for memorizing words, an online translator. The site presents convenient schemes that give an understanding of grammar, the meaning of binyans, roots, etc. After completing the lessons in full, you can begin to read and navigate in a range of 2000 words.
A channel with a playlist of hundreds of videos. It is positioned as a helper for beginners. Several lessons are devoted to the study of the alphabet, a number of stories introduce Hebrew while walking around Tel Aviv, the topics “Family”, “Colors”, “Verbs”, “Parts of the Body”, “Shopping” are separately covered.
The material is intended for a Russian-speaking audience. The duration of the video lessons is different - there are short stories of 4-5 minutes, but at the same time, two classes "Hebrew for the Lazy" are also offered, lasting about an hour each.
Site with diverse content. The selection of audio lessons includes 23 conversational topics for every day and online Hebrew radio. The video block contains: serials, animated and feature films popular with Israelis; practical video course "Mishpakhat Gurevich"; lessons from youtube; Hebrew katan course original presentation; 30 thematic video lessons. In the section of text lessons - the alphabet, parts of speech, sentence construction, pronunciation features, learning to write and read, as well as 99 of the most popular questions in Hebrew. From articles in the "Useful" category, you can learn how to expand your vocabulary, congratulate in Hebrew, find an interlocutor, read unvoiced text.
Free resource with non-standard content. Designed for Russian-speaking users with different levels of Hebrew: elementary, intermediate and advanced. Class topics range from health, zoo visits and fairy tales to reading labels and jokes. A feature of the project is the presence of an online grammar simulator and a vocabulary video simulator. The possibility of interactive crossword puzzles is provided.
23 Hebrew lessons for beginners. The first 5 lessons are devoted to the study of letters, the rest give an idea of the features of the parts of speech. The basis of the lessons is the materials of Yaakov Eyal's self-study book. After completing this free course, you can get a sound understanding of the structure of the language, the ability to freely express your thoughts in Hebrew. Lessons are based on dialogues and situations often encountered in everyday life. Each lesson is supplemented with exercises on the topic covered, there are answers and tips, a link to download the course "Conversational Hebrew in Dialogues".
The author's experience of independent study of Hebrew. A blog about a step-by-step approach developed without the participation of teachers. It tells about the pros and cons of finding like-minded people in social networks and forums, mastering the alphabet in two weeks, selecting teaching aids, passing tests. There is a video that users with an intermediate level of Hebrew should be able to understand, and links to electronic materials.
An offer from the "50 language courses" series, no prior knowledge of Hebrew is required to complete the program. The project includes 100 free lessons with text content and mp3 audio files. Classes have diverse topics - from the features of building communication in the family, institutions, transport to familiarization with parts of speech. The materials are available online and as apps for iPhone and Android.
Review material for those who are afraid to take up the study of Hebrew. Easy presentation of information about the difficulties that traditionally cause fear in beginners, and about ways to overcome fear.
A block of small video lessons from the teacher Veronica Mendel, the author of the "Successful Hebrew" methodology. Several videos are devoted to the study of language norms: abbreviations and abbreviations, pronunciation of prepositions, vocalization. The rest of the plots are designed to expand vocabulary in certain situations: in the forest, on the beach, in training, while driving.
A convenient translator for those who have just started learning Hebrew. Works online on any device, it does not need to be downloaded and installed. Among the advantages of the resource - support for vowels, the ability to read the correct pronunciation and decide on the setting of stress. When translating, the meanings and some synonyms of the entered word are additionally displayed. The relative disadvantage of the site is that it does not support the translation of phrases and sentences, but only processes single words.
Audio dictionary-phrasebook of 100 parts. The duration of each part is 3-4 minutes. The basis is words and phrases repeated twice by a native Hebrew speaker. The dictionary can be used online or by downloading it for free in mp3 format.
Updated: 01/08/2020
At first, when the topic of Israel only arose in my life, and with it the need to study Hebrew, I was sure that it was impossible to learn this language on my own. The alphabet does not look like either Latin or Cyrillic, words are written and read from right to left, vowels are not written at all, but “guessed” ... Let's add to this the pronunciation as if from the worlds of Lovecraft, strange grammar and some crazy word formation ... oh, everything) ))
Social networks and forums did not add optimism - as if in confirmation of the first impression (hello, the law of synchronization), they came across entirely statements in the spirit of “even if you are fluent in other languages, Hebrew will not come easily to you”, “the language is difficult, requires classes with a teacher from the very beginning, otherwise you won’t learn to read, ”etc. I believed all these horror stories and mentally prepared to find a good (and probably not cheap) Hebrew teacher. So that from the very beginning! So that everything is as it should!))
Not really believing in the possibility of an independent study of Hebrew, I nevertheless felt a sincere interest in it. I liked the incomprehensible and unusual-sounding language, it really fascinated me. I wanted to learn how to understand it, and I was just curious "how it works." Also, Hebrew was for me a kind of “piece of Israel”, an opportunity to “stay in touch” with the Country without being physically in it - because of this, I especially wanted to know the language at least at a basic level.
Ok, I thought, maybe you can’t learn Hebrew on your own ... but you can try)) So I mastered the printed and written alphabet, slowly began to read and write simple words, I went through the first and second lessons from the textbook with all the exercises ... and after a couple of weeks it turned out that I’m completely learning Hebrew on my own, and I even get something.
In this article I will tell you how I did it and what result I came up with. Perhaps my experience will be interesting and encourage those who are at the beginning of the path and do not believe that it is possible to start learning Hebrew without a teacher)
How to start learning Hebrew
As I already said, at first I learned the alphabet, vowels and learned to write in Hebrew.
- Textbook "Sheat Hebrew" part 1.
- Basic Hebrew audio course in 3 parts "Pimsleur Hebrew 1-3"
There is also a good Hebrew course from scratch on the ivrit.info website - if for some reason the Sheat Hebrew textbook did not fit, I recommend mastering the basics of reading and grammar using it.
In addition to textbooks, mobile applications for learning Hebrew helped me a lot - the IRIS dictionary and Anki virtual cards for writing words.
Textbook "Sheat Hebrew" for independent study of Hebrew
I was lucky to study with the rare “Sheat Ivrit” of the first edition of 1990. The textbook, along with pamphlets about Herzl, Jabotinsky, and other founding fathers of Israel, was given to me by my father, who sorted through my grandfather's papers after his death. Most likely, this textbook was issued in Hebrew courses at one of the first Jewish communities that appeared in our city in the 90s. When I began to leaf through the yellow pages, a leaflet fell out of the book with exercises and words written in familiar handwriting ....
It seemed to me right and in some ways even magical that I would learn Hebrew for moving to Israel using this little book, once printed in a Tel Aviv printing house, brought by Sokhnut to Russia in the 90s and gathering dust on a distant shelf for 15-20 years. I just couldn’t put such an artifact on the table - I love symbolic coincidences and strange interweaving of times) In addition, I’m an oldfag and it’s more convenient for me to study with a paper textbook than with an electronic course.
I read mixed reviews about this Hebrew textbook online. Someone praises "Sheat Ivrit", and someone criticizes - they say that outdated realities are described in the texts, and the grammar is illogically built ... What can I say? I haven't done any other tutorials, so I don't really have anything to compare it to. As for outdated realities, firstly, it’s quite interesting, and secondly, they are not so outdated)
The first part of "She'at Hebrew" consists of 20 lessons. Each lesson includes:
- dictionary;
- text for reading with vocabulary from the lesson;
- text exercises (answers to questions, written retelling);
- grammar block - verb conjugation, other rules;
- grammar exercises, short texts and answers to questions on them;
- assignment for translation from Russian into Hebrew.
At the end of the textbook there are keys with answers to all tasks. The keys are numbered in accordance with the numbers and points of the exercises and are divided into lessons.
At the beginning of the textbook, an analysis of the alphabet and exercises for practicing writing are given. The same section explains the rules for reading letters and vowels.
What, in my opinion, this textbook is good for self-study:
- The rules of reading are explained, the alphabet and spelling of letters are analyzed in detail.
- Tasks for exercises and grammar rules are given in Russian.
- There is an audio application (Google and torrents to help)
- At the end of the textbook, you can find the correct answers to the self-test exercises.
Where to get the textbook
In electronic form, the book and audio files can be downloaded online.
If, like me, you prefer paper books, (the store is checked, I ordered the second part of Sheat Hebrew for myself).
Learning Hebrew Conversation Using the Pimsleur Method
Pimsleur has a Hebrew audio course for English speakers only. It is suitable for those who know English at least Pre-Intermediate level.
The Pimsler method is based on learning by spaced repetition (words and phrases are remembered better if you repeat what has been passed through at certain intervals). The course is good because it encourages you to speak, that is, from a passive vocabulary to translate new words into an active one. You start speaking in the first lesson. As you learn new words and expressions, the speaker constantly asks you to build phrases or answer questions with words from the current and past lessons.
For example: in lesson 1 we learned the word "Hebrew", in lesson 2 we learn the word "speak". After the new word is memorized, the announcer asks to remember the word from lesson 1, and then compose a phrase from two new words - “speak Hebrew”. Thus, already learned words are constantly repeated, and the total vocabulary is constantly increasing. Throughout the course, the student is gaining vocabulary and, most importantly, is practicing the language, building phrases and sentences from a relatively small set of words. Of course, a course is not enough for fluency in the language, but as a base or a tourist minimum, that’s it.
If you study in parallel with the course and the textbook, they seem to complement each other, increasing the effectiveness of learning. The audio course is easier to follow if you know how the words actually sound and are spelled (the speaker does not always pronounce the words clearly). Using a textbook, along with an audio course, is also easier to study - you see a word in Hebrew and its translation in Russian and you know how to read it, because from the Pimsleur course you remember by ear how it is pronounced.
How I built independent Hebrew lessons
I decided to approach independent learning from the point of view of developing four skills at the core of language proficiency - reading, writing, listening and speaking. I will list what I did to develop each of them.
Reading:
- learned the alphabet and vowels;
- read texts from the textbook and Hebrew info course;
- watched films with subtitles in Hebrew;
- read jokes on Instagram in Hebrew (seriously, it works))
Letter:
- learned the written alphabet;
- wrote copybooks in Hebrew (2 pages for each letter) and words for the study of each letter;
- transcribed Hebrew texts by hand;
- did all the written exercises from the textbook;
- took short notes in Hebrew like “thinking out loud”
- made a shopping list in Hebrew;
- I installed a Hebrew alphabet layout on my phone and laptop and occasionally typed in Hebrew.
Hebrew listening comprehension:
- downloaded the audio application for the textbook and listened to all the texts;
- took Pimsleur speaking course;
- listened to the radio in Hebrew;
- watched series and films in Hebrew;
- listened to and analyzed Israeli songs with translation;
- I watched short funny scenes in Hebrew on Instagram and YouTube.
Conversational skills
- read texts aloud, repeating after the speaker;
- talking to herself, describing her day, any topic that came to mind;
- she picked and sang her favorite songs in Hebrew;
- recorded audio and video on the phone in Hebrew - chatterboxes on arbitrary topics.
Lexicon
I started by compiling my own minilex - a list of about 500 of the most useful and frequently used words of the language in everyday life. You can search for a typical Hebrew minilex on the net, or you can, as I did, assemble your own, guided only by common sense. My minilex includes numbers, commonly used words and phrases, time, months, days of the week, vocabulary related to family, food, clothes, shopping, home, transportation, directions and travel-travel.
Also, to expand my vocabulary, I:
- I wrote out new words in the dictionary for the lesson in a notebook - 1-2 lines each;
- Hearing a new word in a movie or seeing it in a text on social networks, I looked up the meaning in the dictionary and entered it into Anki. At leisure she shuffled cards in Anki;
- Completed assignments for retelling from the textbook;
- Rewriting texts and writing exercises also help memorize words;
- She immediately included a new word in her active vocabulary - she built sentences with it, looked for objects or phenomena in real life that correlated with the word and repeated to herself, looking at the object.
Grammar
In principle, the basics of grammar will be given by any textbook for beginners - the same "Sheat Hebrew" or an online course on ivrit.info
I also really like it - I recommend it! — how the basic principles of Hebrew grammar are explained on the site Speak-hebrew.ru — here you can find general information about binyans, roots and patterns.
My Hebrew level after a year of learning from scratch
Self-study of Hebrew to the initial level from scratch took about a year. From this time, I studied for six months according to the textbook and courses, and for the second six months I watched more films, listened to songs, wrote down and memorized new words through Anki, and everything else that I described above.
Testing your level of Hebrew is not easy. I came across either very simple tests, where you are diagnosed with “knowledge of the language at the native level” for a level like “I know the alphabet, I can read the question without vowels”, or tests that are too serious for a beginner - for example, the official Yael test or paid level testing from teachers (at "Ivriki" it costs about 6K rubles).
I have been looking for sane Hebrew tests for quite a long time, as a result I found only two options.
First, it is a distribution test for knowledge of Hebrew in the Tel Aviv Ulpan. Each Aleph, Bet, Gimel test contains 20 questions. In fact, this, of course, is only grammar and vocabulary without listening skills and without composing, but the test itself is the most adequate of all that I have seen.
Here is what they told me based on the test result:
Test result for Hebrew level "Alef"
The result of the test for the level "Bet"
I also passed a distributive test in Hebrew on the website of teacher Vladimir Sapiro for 150 questions. Result: 25 out of 25 correct answers to Aleph, 17 out of 25 Aleph Plus, 14 out of 25 Bet, then, of course, it’s already quite difficult, and I scored very few points (in total, I got 80 correct answers out of 150 for the entire test, but from -for ignorance of the words in Bet Plus and Gimel, I just randomly clicked places).
Now I rate my level as "alef". According to the official definition, knowledge of Hebrew at the Aleph level corresponds to the following skills:
- listening comprehension of short stories, dialogues;
- maintaining conversations on simple everyday topics;
- reading simple short dialogues and simple texts in Hebrew without vowels;
- the ability to write or verbally voice a short story about yourself or on a given topic (shopping, food, family, etc.)
In fact, I have these skills. Yes, I write with mistakes, I am not very confident in using the future tense - but it seems that this is normal for many graduates of Alef ulpans in Israel as well. In fact, of course, I have uneven knowledge: as the tests showed, I may not know something from the aleph, but at the same time it’s good to answer some questions of the “bet” level.
Oral speech:
With the available vocabulary, I can quite communicate on everyday topics, get to know and tell about myself, clarify how to get somewhere. I know the numbers and designations of time in Hebrew, I use and recognize in the text and by ear the past tense of verbs known to me. Familiar with jargon and set expressions (this is already picked up more from the movie). I don’t know the future tense enough and sometimes I get confused in the plural. Listening to the radio, I still don’t understand everything that is being said, but I can often understand what it is all about.
Listening comprehension:
Here is an instructional video for continuing (without subtitles) - I understand 95% percent minus individual words:
Of course, video conversations are easier to understand, as the picture suggests the meaning of what is happening.
To test pure listening, I went through the first 6 lessons included in this beta-level audio course - in principle, all the stories are clear to me, minus some words.
Conclusion
From my own experience, I was convinced that learning Hebrew at a basic level on my own is quite feasible. However, for the sake of objectivity, I consider it necessary to clarify with what kind of input data I managed to do this.
Age: 30+
Other languages: English B1
Experience of self-study of languages up to Hebrew: There is
Attitude towards Hebrew: the language is interesting and pleasant to the ear
Language skills: There is
Leading channel of perception: auditory
Need for guidance and support: not needed, I normally work alone.
I will not draw any conclusions, let everyone make their own. I want to note only two important nuances for understanding:
- For self-study, there should be a minimum sympathy and interest in the language and in Israel. If I didn’t like Hebrew, I would either not study it at all, or structure my classes in some other way.
- My example does not mean that you can learn Hebrew on your own only with knowledge of English and a pumped auditory canal. It only shows that you need to build classes based on individual characteristics and rely on your strengths.
That's all, I'll be glad to talk and answer questions about self-learning the language in the comments.
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Globally, Hebrew is a secondary language to learn. But take into account the fact that in 1880 not a single person in the world spoke Hebrew as a native language, learned from childhood at home, and today there are 7 million native speakers in Israel and another half a million former Israelis. Thus, Modern Hebrew is considered the fastest growing language in the world. Of course, much of how you will perceive his comprehension depends on personal motivation. Luckily, Hebrew for Beginners offers many good reasons to learn. From fantasy history to understanding religious texts, knowing Hebrew opens up a whole new world.
Is it difficult to learn Hebrew Russian - difficulties for Russian speakers
Many still equate Hebrew with its rabbinic counterpart, bar mitzvah competence, and prayer in the synagogue. In fact, the story is quite different. Modern Hebrew, although originally a Semitic language, has been converted to the Indo-European language format. In the 1880s, early Zionist ideologues sought to adopt a modernized version of the biblical language. Although most thought it was impossible to do, Hebrew is the most successful language revitalization project in history. The de facto language that is used in all walks of life in Israel.
From the history of modern Hebrew
The word Hebrew (Jewish) comes from the book of the prophet Jonah; when the sailors ask Jonah who he is and where he comes from, he replies: “ Ivri anochi": I am Jewish. This term is closely related to the name of the language, the development of culture in general, and differs from what used to be a means of orientation in Jewish reality - Yiddish. Already before the 1880s there were attempts to make Hebrew the national language.
At the end of the 19th century, this path was led by one man to combine the change of language with the adoption of a new sense of statehood in Palestine - Eliezer Ben-Yehuda - the father of modern Hebrew. He gathered a group of like-minded people who began an epic modernization of the language. Of course, there were objections from the ultra-Orthodox, who considered Hebrew sacred and inviolable in order to use it as a secular language. But in 1913, the technical college in Haifa, the Technion, replaced Yiddish with Hebrew. This was the first step that will make the world realize and accept Hebrew as a language for all purposes. In 1920, the Hebrew University was opened, and there were no longer any disputes about the language in which education would be conducted in all areas.
The language had to change radically. The vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew is about 7,000 words, of which about 1,000 are completely incomprehensible. For the end of the 18th century, they were already unsuitable, not to mention the 20th century. An educated Israeli has at least 10 times the vocabulary. There are significant differences in structure and grammar. For example, in Biblical Hebrew, tenses are completely unrelated. In a stylistic context, both past and future tenses can stand. Today there is no confusion about tenses: there is past, present and future tense. In addition, modern Hebrew has established a standard pronunciation that did not exist before.
Arik Einstein - a symbol of modern Israeli culture: « Ani ve-ata" ("Me and you")
Is it difficult to learn Hebrew Russian?
An alphabet other than Cyrillic is often seen as an obstacle. In fact, there are not many letters in Hebrew to learn, and the complexity of the Hebrew alphabet pales in comparison to some other writing systems, such as Chinese with its thousands of characters.
How to teach Hebrew to Russian speakers? As with most Semitic languages, there are certain sounds that will be unfamiliar and difficult to pronounce at first if it is a Russian speaker. They are mainly created in the lower part of the larynx (pharyngeal consonants). For example, in the word חבר [haver], friend, sound (of the first syllable "ha") - hat
root system
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ – In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
The morphology (formation, structure, relationship of words in the language) of modern Hebrew demonstrates to a large extent biblical inflectional morphology. New words are formed by classical Semitic techniques of triconsonant roots with word-formation patterns (there are also two-letter and four-letter roots), mishkals for nouns and adjectives, and binyans for verbs.
The vast majority of Hebrew words can be reduced to a three-consonant base word (Shoresh in Hebrew). A root is a combination of letters that contains the essence of a word. New words are formed from roots by changing vowels and adding prefixes and suffixes to that root. Prefixes can be prepositions, articles, particles. Suffixes - pronouns, possessive pronouns, can indicate gender and number.
For example, the first book of the Torah, "be-reshet" בְּרֵאשִׁית, "in the beginning" The root is שאר (Resh-Aleph-Shin), which means "head" or "beginning". Same root as in רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה (Rosh Hashanah, Hebrew New Year, literally "head of the year"). We add the prefix ב, the preposition (in), and the definite article ה, which is written together with the word, by default.
Hebrew roots can be used as a verb or noun. In Hebrew, a verb is a word for the action of a person, place or thing, a noun is a word for a person, place or thing in action. For example, the root ךלמ (mem-lamed-haf) can mean the word king, monarch as a noun מֶּלֶךְ me-lekh (transcription: me-lekh) and ךלמ ma-lah (ma-lakh) to reign (like a king). Other words are formed by adding certain letters: מַלְכָּה – ה (he), added to the end of the root turns a masculine word into a feminine word – queen, the noun מַלְכוּת (kingdom, kingdom) is formed by adding the letters תו.
- The most common form for a noun is to use a two or three letter root. Complementary nouns are formed by adding certain letters at certain places in the root. For example, the root חתפ is the noun חתַפֶּ opening (door, entrance). The derivative word חתפמ (key) is formed by adding the letter מ at the beginning of the root. The most common derived nouns are formed with מ (m) or ת (t) before the root, or י (u, y) or ו (v, o or y) inside the root.
- Feminine nouns are formed by adding ה ґ(h), ת t (t) or תו from (ot) at the end of the root.
- Masculine plural nouns add the suffix םי йм (iym).
- Nouns can be used in a sentence as adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and so on. For example, the word בקע (heel, heel, footprint) acts as an adjective (stained or full of traces), union (due to).
Verbs and conjugations
Since Hebrew is action oriented, it has many verbs. They identify person, number, gender, tense, valence, pledge. Understanding the various aspects of the verb is helpful in learning to read and translate Hebrew texts.
Each verb forms by reducing a three-letter or four-letter root to one of the seven derived stems or verb breeds called "binyanim" (translated as structure or construction). More than one verb can be formed from the root, which means that different verbs are usually related in meaning, but differ in voice, valency, semantic intensity, aspect (aspect), or a combination of these features.
Each binyan has a specific conjugation pattern and the verbs (in this binyan) are conjugated in the same way. The conjugations change depending on certain phonological features of the verb root. Binyans are compared to a menorah with seven candles, where on one side of the candelabra are active aspects, on the other - passive ones.
- The first binyan Pa'al: this is a form that conveys the simple aspect of Shoresh: for example, he wrote a book, he wrote down his phone number, she taught. Verbs are transitive, intransitive.
- The second binyan Pi'el: a more intense aspect of Shoresh (he wrote with a stone): transitive and intransitive verbs.
- The third binyan Khif'il: denotes the causative aspect of the root. That is, the person himself does not perform the action, but forces someone to do as "he dictated." Passes the meaning "take control".
- The next three binyans are equivalent to the first three, but in the passive voice: the seventh - to the first, is called Nif'al, the sixth - to the second, Huf'al, the fifth - to the third, Pu'al.
- The fourth binyan Hitpa'el is both passive and active, called reflexive / joint (in the active voice "he wrote letters" and in the passive voice he received letters that were written to him).
It should be noted that most Shoreshim do not use all of the binyanim available. Many Shoreshim can stand or correspond to only two or three binyanim, and have no meaning if placed in another binyan. On average, Shoresh can fit into four or five of the binyanim.
The traditional Hebrew pronunciation, which has been passed down for a long time in most Jewish communities, falls into two main categories: used when reading the Bible (voiced); used in reading post-biblical literature and above all the Mishnah (according to the oral tradition of each community). In modern Israel, the traditional pronunciation, one might say, has no relevance and quickly disappears as a result of constant influences on the language.
Three letters, bet (vet), kaf (haf) and pe (fe), have two pronunciations, they can be fricatives and explosives, depending on the position in the word. So, if the word begins with the letter ב, then it is pronounced as b, and as in - at the end of the word.
Four letters aleph, heh, vav, yod are duplicated as vowels. So, the letter aleph as a consonant sound - formed in the glottis explosive, as a vowel will be pronounced "ah" or "eh". Heh as a vowel is pronounced "eh", vav - o or y, yod - and.
There are two types of syllables in Hebrew: open and closed. Closed is a consonant-vowel-consonant combination, while open vowel-consonant. The vowel can be one of four consonant/vowel letters, usually "o(y)" or "i" or an implied vowel (in most cases "a" or "e"). The last syllable in large cases is closed.
Like any other language, Hebrew has a unique "rhythm". The stress usually falls on the last syllable of a word, with some exceptions.
Different accents are normal in the Hebrew language. Israel is inhabited by immigrants from different countries who speak Hebrew perfectly, while maintaining their native accent.
You can learn and memorize basic Hebrew phrases, gradually moving on to common expressions. But the most important lesson for beginners who are going to learn Hebrew on their own from scratch is to memorize the alphabet. Conversational practice involves recording and reproducing one's voice. Of course, everyone will have a different experience in order to learn to speak Hebrew, for some it is difficult, for others it is easier. Thus, it is easier for young people to pick up the nuances of accents because they do not have a strong attachment to people who speak in a certain way.
Contact with native speakers is absolutely essential for mastering any language, but only after you have already mastered the basics. The better you know grammar, replenished your vocabulary, the more useful communication is and the easier it is to speak.
Hebrew and Yiddish - what's the difference?
Yiddish and Hebrew - different languages. Linguistically, Yiddish is a mixture of languages, but uses the Hebrew alphabet. Yiddish is spoken by Jews in many regions of the world, Germany, Russia, Canada, USA, Brazil and Argentina, not excluding Israel. Originally a dialect from the group of High German languages (High German dialects), it developed among the Ashkenazi Jews living in central and eastern Europe. The earliest known written source in Yiddish appears in a Jewish prayer book from 1272.
In general, Yiddish is a language that reflects the situation of the Jews for 2000 years. In essence, it is the language of the exile, which was invented by Jews in different countries and in different eras since the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC. Prior to this event, Jews spoke Biblical Hebrew, which then came to be considered sacred for everyday use. Wherever the Jews lived, they adapted the local language for internal use, according to their needs, constantly seasoning it with Hebrew. Even in those distant times, during the period of the first exile, those who returned from Babylonia learned to mix Hebrew with Aramaic. Similarly, the Jews of Persia spoke Judeo-Persian, and from that time there appeared Hebrew-Arabic, Hebrew-French, Sephardic languages (Jewish-Spanish, also known as Ladino, Judeco). But Yiddish is certainly considered the most important of all the Jewish local languages. It is the only language spoken by Jews on all continents, and it also has an extensive literature.
Combining about 80% German, 20% Hebrew, Yiddish includes Romance and Slavic languages. The Ashkenazi region originally included what is now southern France and Germany, and bordered the Sephardic Jewish region in the Iberian Peninsula. Hebrew loanwords for terms related to Jewish culture that do not have an equivalent in the High German languages, such as "synagogue". With the spread of Ashkenazi culture in Eastern Europe, Slavic terms began to be included in Yiddish.
Useful resources for language learning
The 100 Basic Hebrew Phrases give you an idea of what Hebrew sounds like and are common phrases you will hear or perhaps want to say when you come to Israel. The 500 basic Hebrew words (flashcards) are a source of general vocabulary and will be needed when you start learning Hebrew. Finally, 100 basic Hebrew verbs will complete the vocabulary.
Mobile applications
Searching the App Store or Google Play will bring up a huge number of apps, many of which are offered for free and teach Hebrew reading and conversational skills.
Popular apps for learning Hebrew:
- is a free resource with many lessons, games and other learning activities. Can be used on computer, iOS or Android mobile devices.
- Jewish Podcasts: 10-15 minutes long, each Hebrew lesson is based on short dialogues on different topics. Designed for all skill levels, the technology works flawlessly, and all audio lessons are free to use, but downloads and access to support materials (transcripts, flashcards, games, and quizzes) require a subscription.
- Memrise - the program is adapted to personal learning style, allows you to create individual flash cards and other materials, join study groups (even create them).
- Shalom Hebrew - Learn the language with a digital primer available on computers and mobile devices.
- Mondly - The site uses the spaced repetition technique and promises not only to master Hebrew effectively and quickly, but also to learn it forever.
The applications that the internet offers can be fun and useful for introducing and expanding vocabulary, although they lack "real interaction". It is not always easy for learners to move from intermediate to advanced and be able to use the language in real situations.
Games to help you learn Hebrew
- Memory Game - the user and the computer turn over the cards with Hebrew letters, trying to find a matching pair.
Cartoons and films
- Cartoons by the Israeli studio NirveGali(Nir and Gali): in Russian voice acting - Lost cat (אבד חתול), B-B-Q (על האש)
- DisneyHebrewSongs, including History of toys
- Yuval Binder channel, including 101 dalmatians
- סדרת הילדים הטובים ביותר, including Alice in Wonderland
- wonderful country(Eretz Nehederet) is a satirical Israeli television show that references the current events of the past week through parodies.
- Such is Sodom ( Zohi Sdom) is a comedy feature film created by the Eretz Nehederet team.
- Jews are coming HaYehudim Baim- comedy series (example - episode Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream)
Hebrew books
- Hebrew Books : 40000+ classic Hebrew books for free
- Mechon Mamre (Tanakh, Talmud, other free Jewish sources)