learning hebrew 1 (resources)

when i started graduate social work school at the university of michigan, i applied for a dual degree program in judaic studies. the judaic studies degree required language proficiency in hebrew in order to complete research on primary texts.

while modern hebrew _is_ different than biblical hebrew, i thought that if i learned to be proficient in modern hebrew, i could learn the specific conventions of biblical hebrew alongside my research. in my study, i had to search around a bit to find programs and dictionaries and websites that could help me learn.

i certainly still make a lot of mistakes in my hebrew, but i do feel like all of the things below helped me in different ways. when i first got started, i searched so many websites, but it was difficult to find an easy to understand guide to learning hebrew. if you're interested in finding resources to help learn beginner and intermediate hebrew, i've listed my resources below.


I. online dictionaries

morfix

morfix is the best and most accurate online dictionary for actual words in conversation. it includes nikud (points) for all words, and it suggest all close alternatives if you've misspelled a word. morfix can also reverse a word search, and i often recycle the listed alternatives in hebrew to find a more precise meaning. morfix gives the traditional 3rd person past form as the definition for all verbs. unfortunately, morfix has a tough time with phrase or colloquial searches.

i crosscheck all searches with both lingvosoft and morfix. when i find consensus between the two dictionaries, i can feel confident this is the correct word to use.

lingvosoft

lingvosoft develops and sells language learning and language translation software for more than 30 languages. they also offer a free online dictionary that i use daily. while morfix is the best native dictionary for actual conversation, lingvosoft provides a wider range of words that includes more literary and biblical terms. lingvosoft also provides the full infinitive of each verb, as well as words connected by root or idiom.

babylon

when i need to look up an idiom or colloquial phrase that does not come up in lingvosoft or morfix, i use milon. it has almost always included obscure or challenging phrases the other dictionaries have not. milon is the online dictionary component of babylon software, used in ectaco pocket hebrew translators. however, milon does not use nikudim, which makes pronunciation a bit more difficult for a novice learner.

hebrew-verbs

hebrew-verbs.com is part of an online effort to support hebrew language learning for olim, or new immigrants. on the connected site, you can find structured vocabulary lists, as well as other hebrew language resources. it's very difficult to work through the dictionary, but i do use the verb list as a final resource on the most common verb to use. additionally, the website can list every form and tense for each verb listed. sometimes, i even just use the website as an online flashcard program. it's kind of like an online companion to 501 Hebrew Verbs.


II. language learning programs

ulpan

ulpan is the traditional israeli program to help any level hebrew learner. some students are frustrated because it includes too much conversation, and other students are frustrated because it has too much structure. for me, i thought that ulpan was the only and best way to start language learning, and it was the best way to make sure i kept moving forward in the right way. all of my individual study helped me learn more words, but only ulpan helped me understand how the language worked and how to learn new tenses or noun structures.

every ulpan teacher was always extraordinarily helpful, and i always took at least one major step forward in each level. the one drawback: they're expensive!

ulpan a: summer 2004 (conservative yeshiva - jerusalem)
ulpan a+: summer 2005 (jts - manhattan)
ulpan b: summer 2006 (jcc - manhattan)
ulpan c: fall 2007 (psjc - brooklyn)

pimsleur hebrew I and II

pimsleur and rosetta stone are the two most expensive language programs on the market. it's possible to find pimsleur's torrents online, but i felt badly so i purchased the software from an online store at a discount. i've found that as an intermediate learner i knew almost all of the vocabulary on the sets. however, i've still found the lessons incredibly helpful. the structure or repitition of the lessons really does work, and they gradually stretch you to use new phrases in longer sentences with more difficulty vocabulary over time.

pimsleur uses colloquial pronunciations which you can trust will be understood on the street. the tapes, though, are not designed to give you a comprehensive vocabulary. it is specifically designed to get you up and moving into conversation. it does not cover how or why the language works the way it does.

that said, i think it's the perfect compliment to the other programs i use to learn. it still helps to pracitice listening to the hebrew as well. i absolutely recommend pimsleur, and i'm disappointed to have to wait until at least december '08 for pimsleur hebrew III. (update: version III release date postponed until june.)

rosetta stone

rosetta stone was the first program i bought to help learn hebrew after i completed my first ulpans. it's amazing to help promote vocabulary. you learn to associate new hebrew words with pictures, so you can avoid translating the word back into english to understand. i've found that words learned in rosetta stone that have practical context have stuck really well; where there is little practical context for me to use, i have not kept the words as well.

there is an intense learning curve, though. i don't believe that an absolute beginner user would benefit from buying the program. but, if you have a general understanding of how the language is structured, the system really works. it continues to help me add new words and to help me correct pronunciations or conjugations of existing words. i absolutely strongly recommend the program, although it can get a bit "gamey". resist the urge to play the game to win. i try to guess each panel before they're said, and i also repeat each panel after the speaker announces the statement.

before you know it!

BYKI begins as a free download program to help you build first vocabulary. the deluxe program includes full lists organized by categories, and it also allows you to develop, adapt, or edit your own lists using hebrew letters. BYKI uses a special algorithm to help you learn and memorize new vocabulary words. for example, when you miss a word early on, the program remembers to bring that word back at different intervals to help you acquire its meaning.

i don't think that memorization is the best way to learn a new language, but it absolutely helped me get a memory of new words that i could then try and use. because i speak out loud consistently, i was then able to practice those words and the words made their way into my working vocabulary. as of now, i've worked up to about 400 verbs, 300 adjectives, and more than 500 other words. yay! (update: 700 verbs, 400 adjectives, and more than 1000 other words.) (update 2: they have released a version 4. version 4 allows export to excel and word which helps building words lists for online/iphone flash applications.)


III. online learning programs (text based)

milingua
milingua is a pay site that includes beginner, intermediate, and advanced units. the package also includes verb tables, a hebrew dictionary, and easy short texts. i'm not sure the fee was completely worth it. that said, there's been some really good tips and words and phrases that i've brought into my conversation, and i think they've really helped.

foundation stone

i didn't review the former version of foundation stone because i found it way too confusing and not very helpful. recently, they released a revamped 4.0 version, and it includes much more helpful word lists and super cool audio files for learners. the interface is still a little complicated to use and the word lists are not as expansive as i'd like. however, i believe that you can add to them as you like. more to come here. . .

iFlipr

i recently bought the new iphone, and i have been dying for a native iphone hebrew flashcard application. it's not quite here yet, although byki has released a spanish and french version. (they've limited the add on feature, so it's impossible to use with hebrew.) also, many of the free and open flashcard programs do not support hebrew language. the iphone often reverses the order of the letter and mixes up the nikud.

iflipr does work well. the only problem is that you have to take a few steps to transport the lists you have on your computer to on online database to your iphone. it's great once you get it loaded, though.

1) create list in desktop flashcard program (such as byki)

2) export list to microsoft excel (or other database program: csv or tsv)

3) copy list, create list, or edit list on iflip website

4) click download in iflipr iphone appliction

5) sync decks from your online account to your iphone


IV. online learning programs (audio)

iTunes

there are a good deal of israeli musicians on itunes, now, including classic and traditional artists. a good way to sample a wide variety of music is to test track on user created mixes. there are also two new podcasts listed on itunes to help study and learn hebrew on your digital music players:

learn hebrewpod and
hebrew podcasts

both programs are free downloads from the itunes music store, and both programs offer paid subscriptions to additional online content. i believe both websites include additional activities on the core lesson, although i have not used their online lessons. the hebrew podcasts actually started quite recently, so i had moved a good deal ahead of where both lessons begin. at the same time, the podcasts are always getting a bit more advanced and all past lessons are easily retrievable when you subscribe to the programs.

each program starts each lesson with a partner dialogue and then breaks down the dialogue in both hebrew and english afterwards. each program then repeats the complete dialogue again at the end to help reinforce your learning. i feel like learn hebrew now! is a little bit more advanced than hebrewpod. in the end, i found pimsleur much much more helpful for my language learning, and i often found myself hoping that they would just use the pimsleur method. at the same time, pimsleur is also quite a good deal more expensive - these are pretty good options for free!

vocabulearn

i purchased vocabulearn as a digital audiobook from itunes. (i linked it, here, to amazon, only because it's easier for me to figure out how to do that.) vocabulearn presents a long series of words to help build et otzar ha-milim (your vocabulary!). the program is a bit awkward because it is really just a long list of words in a line, but it is helpful to discover new words. in addition, it gives both the masculine and the feminine version of adjectives, as well as the verb infinitive. i find the verb infinitive much more useful that the shoresh, or verb root. the language is organized by the verb roots, but it was a bit more complicated for me to figure out the root system until later. vocabulearn was quite cheap, and i still listen to it from time to time to even help review words i know.

IV. learning language texts

ivrit min ha-hatchala

hebrew from scratch is the most used textbook in current ulpan classes for new learners, including new olim to israel. and it is an excellent textbook for guided study in class. lessons include a variety of angles, such as grammar, conversation, and slang around common themes you will need in real life, like food, family, and vacations.

the books are primarily written in hebrew, so it is helpful to immerse yourself in the language. in addition, the series also offers a helpful series of audio cd's to help improve your listening skills. however, i found these books to be really really hard to learn from without a learning group or ulpan class.

ivrit shalav

i started this series on level gimmel, or level 3, so i cannot speak to the first two books. this book is designed specifically for american students. that means, that exercises and activities are most like the way we learned second languages in school. there are dialogues and crosswords and passages. it also means that the directions are largely written in english. i thought this book was awesome to use for self study, picking up and putting down and picking up again a bit later to help practice. there are three books in the full series, as well as a fourth book, a modern hebrew reader, which is great for more advanced but still leveled reading.


501 hebrew verbs

this book is a very popular book for ehinning and intermediate hebrew students. it provides a comprehensive verb table for most common hebrew verbs. this means the book lists past, present, and future tenses for the individual verbs. the book also gives the governing preposition, connected phrases, and sample sentences that show the verbs in context. you can search for words by the english verb or by the hebrew root.

Hebrew Verb Tables

hebrew verb tables has a more comprehensive list of verbs that 501 hebrew verbs; however, verbs are linked to groups or families of verbs with similar patterns. as you become familiar with hebrew, you will start to see that there are patterns and systems that govern grammar and conjugation. it can be helpful to see words in common groups, , but it can also be challenging to figure out the exact conjugation. my general rule is that if a word isn't listed in this book, it probably isn't used colloquially.

easy hebrew newspapers

there are three easy hebrew newspapers with current news and events: sha'ar la-matchil, yanshuf, and bereshit. bereshit is advanced beginner level, yanshuf is intermediate level, and shaar l'matchil is advanced intermediate to beginner advanced level. each newspaper has the option to purchase the newspaper with or without supplemental audio. i felt that the articles and audio were interesting because they identified current events and ideas that made it easy to connect, too. at the same time, i cancelled my subscription to bereshit/yanshuf because it was just too expensive for the content. while it was helpful to read and listen and practice, much of this kind of content can be also found in other books and program for far less money.

it's important to note that sha'ar recently expanded their options to include a far cheaper digital version of their newspaper. the newspaper includes audio supplements for only $6 per month or $60 for the whole year. this is a much more reasonable and sensible idea. they only allow you to store 4 issues at a time; however, you can also save the papers as a .pdf document forever, and you can record the audio to store on your ipod. i highly recommend this program. the real challenge, though, is that it's quite advanced even for an intermediate learner.

children's books

picture books were incredibly helpful for me. the books tell simple stories that readers can follow in context of illustrations. i was lucky to be able to buy books from an israeli based bookstore here in brooklyn (sifrutake), but you can also find a range of sites online, including steimatsky, orly's, blue white direct, and even צומת, the largest israeli bookstore.

here's a bunch of books aviyah and i loved:

tiras cham
barakevet yoshevet arnevet
ma'aseh b'chamishah balonim
mitz petel
dondon ha-abir
chanan ha-ganan
tuq tuq tuq
ain arayot k'aleh
ata k'var gadol
olivia
sidra dora
sidra kor'im im dora
sidra yuli
sidra or shoelet. . .

to disney children's books. . . (available only in israel, published by ידיעות אחרונות)

to young adult literature. . .

Hugo Cabaret
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
The Alchemist
Twilight
Harry Potter
Eragon


V. online video

heveinu shalom aleichem

the stanford hebrew language webpage hosts a variety of resources, including student produced films. the most valuable link is to "heveinu shalom aleichem", a series of instructional videos to help olim learn modern spoken hebrew. the series is seriously dated, the acting is corny, and the storylines are awful. that said, it was incredibly helpful for me because it helped me practice hebrew listening. i speak hebrew everyday out loud. however, because my daughter is young, i rarely get consistent practice listening to hebrew. so, my spoken hebrew is far more advanced than my listening. "heveinu" helps me adjust to hebrew pace and cadence and helps me practice my accent listening to native israeli speakers.

youtube

youtube has a great selection of hebrew videos, including uploaded rehov sumsum (sesame street) clips and disney videos translated and dubbed into hebrew. my daughter can't get over watching clips from melekh ha-aryot (lion king)! you can also find all major songs from any disney film, including beauty and the beast, the little mermaid, and aladdin. it's been very helpful to search for and print out the lyrics to translate back into english. the words in the disney films can sometimes be literary, but i've definitely learned key words from hakuna matata. in fact, i'm pretty sure that aviyah thinks hakuna matata is a (wonderful) hebrew phrase.

online television

there are also a host of israel television and radio broadcasts you can access online. these are the real deal websites that israelis use to access news stories, music clips, and television clips. caution: they're native speakers speaking hebrew for native speakers so it's fast and complicated. one big help: subtitles on the mabat link!

• mabat
• iba
• knesset
• muzika 24
• mako
• reshet
• yes!
• hop! (tin tv)

disney movies
dora the explorer

after i started speaking more fluently, i purchased single dvd's in hebrew. i purchased online steimatskyusa.com and also from tzomet sfarim in israel. there is a large selection of israeli television shows that children love, but it was easier for me to connect with american shows and movies. i have linked to a few clips from the dora television series, and you can also find some nice hebrew dubbed torrents online. if you download a bit torrent application, you can visit any of a series of torrent websites that offer around 7-10 disney and pixar movies. the torrents should be helpful for you to review movies before you decide to purchase them. however, i recommend purchasing the original movies. (the originals include english and hebrew subtitles, which are extremely helpful for me.)