In 1990, I was planning a trip to Israel, but it got postponed due to Desert Storm and the Gulf War. I finally go on a tour trip of Israel in 1996. But in the late 80s, in Oklahoma, before the internet, how does one begin to learn Hebrew?
That was in the dark ages before internet. Audio Forum had a language catalog, and I learned about the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) courses. These courses were created by the US government, and used to teach either military or diplomats.
Although the FSI course came with about 24 tapes, I still have never completed it. The type-style is ugly, and the course was clearly not made for self-study, but instead was made to be taught in a classroom environment.
I remember being "wowed" by a huge Borders book store on a business trip to Indianapolis. Back then, the stores were all huge, typically two stories, and they had a wide selection of books - meaning a few book on Hebrew. I found a primer or "reader" that taught the Hebrew alphabet in a very step by step fashion, with lots of practice exercises.
I began learning more and more prayer book Hebrew by attending synagogue. Each week, certain tunes would stick in my mind, and I would go home and try to learn the words to go with the tune. Music and singing definitely helps with the memorization.
Mansoor's book "Biblical Hebrew: Step by Step" was a good introduction to the Hebrew of the scriptures. Later, a group of us studied Weingreen's "Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew", which took us about two years doing one or two lessons per week.
For Modern Hebrew, I remember using "Hugo Language Course: Hebrew in Three Months" and also Eliezar Tirkel's "Every Hebrew". Both came with a book and 3 or 4 cassettes. I like the Hugo course slightly better.
In 2005, I registered for Hebrew IV and V via an online course offered by Hebrew College in Boston. It used the text "Hebrew From Scratch - Part II" (with 5 CDs available). Even though I audited the course, it was required to submit homework weekly, and meet with our teacher online for about 45 minutes per week. Later, I went on to take other classes, which include an introduction to Aramaic via the Talmud, and classes that required reading Medieval Hebrew (such as aggadic literature).
I still feel that I have just scraped the surface of learning the beautiful Hebrew language. By creating courses and teaching classes for others, I have continue to learn more each and every day. - 15784
That was in the dark ages before internet. Audio Forum had a language catalog, and I learned about the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) courses. These courses were created by the US government, and used to teach either military or diplomats.
Although the FSI course came with about 24 tapes, I still have never completed it. The type-style is ugly, and the course was clearly not made for self-study, but instead was made to be taught in a classroom environment.
I remember being "wowed" by a huge Borders book store on a business trip to Indianapolis. Back then, the stores were all huge, typically two stories, and they had a wide selection of books - meaning a few book on Hebrew. I found a primer or "reader" that taught the Hebrew alphabet in a very step by step fashion, with lots of practice exercises.
I began learning more and more prayer book Hebrew by attending synagogue. Each week, certain tunes would stick in my mind, and I would go home and try to learn the words to go with the tune. Music and singing definitely helps with the memorization.
Mansoor's book "Biblical Hebrew: Step by Step" was a good introduction to the Hebrew of the scriptures. Later, a group of us studied Weingreen's "Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew", which took us about two years doing one or two lessons per week.
For Modern Hebrew, I remember using "Hugo Language Course: Hebrew in Three Months" and also Eliezar Tirkel's "Every Hebrew". Both came with a book and 3 or 4 cassettes. I like the Hugo course slightly better.
In 2005, I registered for Hebrew IV and V via an online course offered by Hebrew College in Boston. It used the text "Hebrew From Scratch - Part II" (with 5 CDs available). Even though I audited the course, it was required to submit homework weekly, and meet with our teacher online for about 45 minutes per week. Later, I went on to take other classes, which include an introduction to Aramaic via the Talmud, and classes that required reading Medieval Hebrew (such as aggadic literature).
I still feel that I have just scraped the surface of learning the beautiful Hebrew language. By creating courses and teaching classes for others, I have continue to learn more each and every day. - 15784
About the Author:
Neal Walters started creating his own interactive Hebrew tutorials to make learning Hebrew faster and easier. You can see video demos of his courses at http://HebrewResources.com.