Let's get started! 1

Let's Get Started! 1 

The Hebrew word for "father" is "abba". The "a" is pronounced like the "a" in "father"  אבא .
You can remember this word by thinking of the word "abbot", the father superior of a monastery. (Don't know much about monasteries? Surely you've heard of Westminster Abbey? an "abbey" is where the abbot is!)

The Hebrew word for "mother" is "eema". The "ee" is pronounced like the "ee" in "need", because
hey! a kid NEEDS his mommy! אמא . You can remember this word by thinking of it as a re-arrangement of the word "mama".

Linguists believe that babies' first syllables created the words for the things they needed first: their mommies and daddies. I don't know if that is true; but remembering the sound of a baby uttering his/her first sounds can help us here. Babies make the sounds ba, da, ma, pa and it plays itself out slightly differently in different languages. In Yiddish (and Russian) "baba" brings Granny, running excitedly, as fast as her old feet can move! "Bobbe" (or bubbe, or baba) is "Grandma" in Yiddish, but in Hebrew that kind of ba sound is for Daddy!

The da sound produced by a baby turns into the word "dod" דוד  which means "uncle" or "beloved person". The "o" in "dod" is pronounced like the "o" in "phone". (call your loved ones on the phone!)  You can remember this word by remembering the name David. "David" is spelled like דוד in Hebrew; it is pronounced "Dah-veed".  David is called that because he is Beloved by G-d.

The Hebrew for "Grandfather" is "Sa-ba" (again, the "a" is like in "father") סבא . Here we have the "ba" sound again, only this time it produces Grandpa!

The Hebrew for "Grandmother" is "Sav-ta" סבתא . My grandchildren, when they first learn to talk, first called me "ta-ta"; later "sa-ta"; and then moved on to the addition of the ב. In Savta, the letter "bet" ב is without a dot in the middle, which turns it into a "v" instead of a "b". (They teach that on the Hebrew reading site which I hope you are using)

Congratulations! You have just learned your first 5 words in Hebrew!

Oh! and the 6th, from my intro: "sandal" סנדל. One of them is "sandal"; more than one (and they DO come in pairs!) is :"sandalim" סנדלים That's how we form the plural of a masculine noun: by adding ים to the noun.

Now you can help your grandchildren put on their sandals! Enjoy!

 

Welcome! A little more explanation...

Welcome! A little more explanation...


I'm trying to make the study of Hebrew easy, fun, and free.

I was inspired by a book by Isaac Mozeson, The Word   the Dictionary That Reveals the Hebrew Source of English.   In this book, Mozeson defies conventional linguistic theory which teaches that this is no "original language"; that all languages evolved. Mozeson claims that there WAS an original language: Hebrew! If you're interested, you can look for his books on amazon.com. I studied linguistics once, a few generations ago, but not enough to know or care which theory is True. I said to myself, "I dunno if what this guy says is true or not; but it's a GREAT way to learn Hebrew! Or, if you're Israeli, to learn English!" I had the pleasure of actually meeting Mozeson in Jerusalem, and I told him this. He was kind enough to give me permission to use his book for my blog. If you know anybody who is interested in linguistics or serious language study, they would be interested in these books. You don't need them to use my blog.

Another book I am using to construct this blog is How the Hebrew Language Grew  by Edward Horowitz. This was printed in 1960 as a supplementary textbook for high school Hebrew classes. (It was a popular bar mitzva present in some circles) I did not secure permission from the author, who I assume is not available. (I hope I don't get sued!) The book, however, IS available on amazon.com. Horowitz includes a user-friendly intro to conventional linguistics, for those who are interested. I am finding it very useful; but here again, you don't need this book to use my blog!

What about that alphabet which everybody is so scared of? How important IS it to learn to read Hebrew, and how difficult is it to do so?
Let's just say that you can sorta get  along without it; but you shouldn't!
I'm going to transliterate words, meaning I'm going to write them in English letters, more-or-less as they sound to our Anglo ears. But I MUST write the words in Hebrew because SEEING the word in Hebrew gives us the key to using a big trick to simplify learning Hebrew: ROOTS!

"Practically all words in Hebrew go back to a root - and this root must have in it three consonants. You can do anything you want to the root: you can use it in any verb form or tense, you can turn it into any one of ten or twenty or more nouns. You can make it an adjective, adverb, preposition, or what you will... No matter what you do you will always see staring you in the face the three consonants of the root. You can never escape them."
Edward Horowitz, How the Hebrew Language Grew

You can only really SEE those roots if you know how to read Hebrew, at least minimally!

SO! If you don't read Hebrew yet, or if you feel the need for a review, go to a lovely, free site:

www.cartoonhebrew.com/

You can start using my program before you know the whole Hebrew alphabet perfectly. But you do 
have to work on it! There are other programs, but this one was so attractive to me that I'm not bothering 
to look further. If you like something else better, by all means, use it!

I'm gonna keep the lessons short, and, I hope, fun.
I'll improve my graphics etc. as my computer skills improve.
Feel free to tell me how I can improve this blog.

Welcome!

Welcome to You Already Know Some Hebrew

Who am I? What qualifies me as a Hebrew teacher? Why am I writing this blog? Who is my audience?

Who am I?
I'm a veteran  "immigrant" to Israel, who came from the US right after high school, in 1971. I attended a Conservative Hebrew School for 4 years and "succeeded" in mastering 30 words which I could read, haltingly. What DID "take" in Hebrew School was their Zionist orientation; by 1967,  I was convinced that the ONLY proper response to the Holocaust was for Jews to make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. (My late father was a Holocaust survivor) I waited till I "grew up"... correction... I am STILL waiting to grow up .... anyway, I came right after high school!

What qualifies me as a Hebrew teacher?
The fact that even I actually succeeded in learning enough Hebrew to live in Israel! It wasn't easy! I didn't realize that I was dyslexic until I was in Israel for about 30 years; repeated Advanced Beginners' Ulpan Hebrew class 3 times without passing; had dropped out of 3 institutions of higher learning; borne 8 children, bringing their kindergarten notes to my husband to read and interpret for me; but YAY! ALWAYS felt at home in Israel, happy to be here, and able to communicate with my Hebrew-speaking neighbors enough to be functional and friendly.
With the help of a book called The Gift of Dyslexia by Ron Davis I learned to read Hebrew. (BTW I recommend this book for anyone who is dyslexic or has a family member who is!)  I was happy! I started to appreciate not only the beauty of Israel, but the beauty of the Hebrew language! I still did not become a Hebrew expert; that privilege was left for my daughter, who has a degree in Hebrew Language and literary editing. When I read Davis's book, I realized why I had previously had so much trouble learning Hebrew: the effort of reading Hebrew triggered my dyslexia symptoms, so that the more I studied, the worse I got! When I gave up on reading Hebrew, I was able to learn Hebrew pretty well "by ear".

Why am I writing this blog?
For one thing, I am excited about having "discovered" the Hebrew language after decades of living in Israel, and I want to share the fun with my friends and family! Secondly, I STILL think that the proper response to the Holocaust is for Jews to come to Israel; I know that many Jews are intimidated by the Hebrew language. That's why I'm writing this blog: to help my fellow Jews overcome the feeling of intimidation of learning a "foreign" language with a different alphabet.

Who is my audience?
Jews who don't know Hebrew, of all ages and religious background. Some Jews went to Hebrew School and learned to read, but don't understand anything that they are reading. The 95%, of Jews who didn't even get that much "Jewish education". Jews who have kids who already live in Israel, and grandchildren who are native Hebrew speakers. People planning a trip to Israel. Jews who would like to move to Israel, or at least come for a long visit, but feel bad about not knowing any Hebrew. I hope this blog can also be helpful to non-Jews who are thinking of converting to Judaism, or who are in the process of converting. There are also Christians who want to study the Jewish roots of their faith; they are also welcome to use this blog.

A cute background story:
In 1970, I was on a summer tour of Israel run by the Jewish Agency, for high school kids: "Summer in Kibbutz". Most of the kids on my tour treated this as a summer of freedom, away from the eyes of their parents. (which it was!) I had a different agenda: to figure out HOW I could succeed at doing what everybody told me was impossible: to make aliya (immigrate to Israel) when you grew up in rich, spoiled America. "How can I DO it?!"... I wondered... "I was the only kid in my Hebrew School class who could NOT read Hebrew!" One evening, swimming at "Quiet Beach Discotheque" in Tiberias (which was anything BUT quiet!) it was time leave, but I could not find one of my sandals. I NEEDED my sandal! I frantically searched for the missing footwear, imploring some Israeli teenagers to help me look by holding up the remaining sandal, making a distressed face and saying one of the 30 Hebrew words I know: "ay-fo?, (where?)" The Israeli kids understood, and yelled to each other in Hebrew: "anybody see a sandal? she's lookin' for a sandal!" (People in Israel like to help each other and they like to yell, and besides, we had to yell to be heard over the music) HEY! I realized... they're yelling "sahn-dahl"! It's the SAME WORD! slightly different pronunciation, but the SAME WORD!
You Already Know Some Hebrew was "born" that night, when I realized that I, the Hebrew School Failure, knew SOME Hebrew!
Somebody found my sandal. As I ran off to my waiting bus, I yelled one of the other 30 words I knew from Hebrew School: "todah!" "thank you!"