Sing the Hebrew Alef-Bet
I’ve started toying with the idea of studying Hebrew. It looks like I will be finished with my Greek exegesis responsibilities for the Nyungwe translation as of September, so I might be able to set aside that language and take on another one. Peter Kirk started studying Hebrew at age 40 so why shouldn’t I?
I’m not sure I can bear to crack Menahem Mansoor’s Biblical Hebrew Step-By-Step. Being left-handed, I naturally read the end of books first and the end of Mansoor’s book only promises to teach me things like “You have eaten from the fruit of the tree in the garden.” Plus, my primary interest is in reading the Psalms aloud. I do have John H. Dobson’s Learn Biblical Hebrew that comes with a CD and Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Poetry. But my best resource is my gang of crazy blogger friends like Iyov, John and Bob who would be only too happy for the chance to reform a Gentile barbarian like Lingamish in their own image.
My polymathic partner knows a Hebrew alphabet song so I can ask her to teach me that for starters. I’ve also come across a couple of interesting alphabetic resources in Hebrew:
Bob: Alef-Bet prayer in Siddur
DailyHebrew.com: Origin and Order of the Hebrew Alphabet
Any other resources you would recommend? Suzanne is studying ancient Hebrew so she might be able to help me out.
For Greek check out these posts:
David, if you read a Hebrew book from what you think is the end that is actually the beginning! So Hebrew should be easy for you.
If you too are going to start learning at age 40 I recommend the same teacher as I had. Sadly John Dobson has gone to be with the Lord, but his course remains with us and you even have a copy.
Singing Hebrew is easy to get into. Psalm 118:26 is still a popular song in Israel, as it was in Jesus’ time (Matthew 21:9).
i’ve not used it with a class (I haven’t taught Hebrew for years, though I used to) but Dobson looks good to me. For vocabulary learning do try our דָּבָר Biblical Hebrew Vocabularies (http://cfdl.auckland.ac.nz/hebrew/) if you create a login you can select the words for a particular session, and output them as a multimedia (well, sound and sometimes vision) learning tool, and also a nifty printable sheet that you can fold to make like flashcards (but wasting less paper
. If you try it do blog about how it works (or doesn’t) for you…
Thx2u2 Another friend sent some great recommendations by email.
Have you seen http://hebrew4christians.com? It’s a great website, with resources that looked good and quite a bit that you can learn just from the website.
I decided to start learning Hebrew, and I’ve now learned 4 letters. Whooo boy…. long ways to go!
~Anne
Suggest you give Mansoor’s book a chance!
I am learning Hebrew through an independent study course through the University of Wisconsin and the text is Biblical Hebrew Step-by-Step!
It is a wonderful book and easy to both read and learn. Of course you do have to study.
All the best,
Mark