Why Learn Modern Hebrew?

If you have been keeping up with Jason’s updates here, or on the Patreon, you will notice that he and I have been doing Modern Hebrew together in the 3rd Hour. I thought it might be beneficial for other folks to hear what all we have done and why I started learning modern Hebrew. 

The “Why”s and the “Why Not”

First, let’s talk about why I started learning modern Hebrew. The reasons are fourfold.

1. 1. I wanted to know Biblical Hebrew better. I started learning Biblical Hebrew because of my Christian faith. When I started, I took the formal education route (which you can read more about HERE), but was ultimately dissatisfied with my ability. Through different avenues like Biblingo, The Hebrew Cafe YouTube channel, and a slew of other resources I finally made some headway in gaining fluency in Hebrew. Unfortunately, the community of people who are learning Biblical Hebrew with natural language-learning methods is small (but growing). I wanted to have more opportunity to practice, so it seemed natural to jump to the modern dialect of the language to broaden my community.
   2. It was an easy transition. I had laid all of this ground work learning Biblical Hebrew, and it seemed like an (relatively) easy step to close the gap between the ancient and modern dialects. Looking back from this vantage point, I don’t think I was wrong. I find that the modern dialect is actually easier in some ways. To be clear, the ancient and modern dialects do differ in some substantial ways and there is an initial knowledge gap that I had to bridge. I don’t feel like that bridging process took too long, nor was it too demanding with my Biblical Hebrew background. 
   3. It’s fun! I love learning languages! I have been studying Hebrew (Biblical and Modern), Greek (Ancient), Aramaic (Ancient), German, and most recently Latin. I get a sense of accomplishment from doing it. Plus, it allows me to step into new (or old) places and learn from those contexts. There is also something fun about being able to talk to a particular person or group that others can’t understand. It is like a secret code or an inside joke with your friends.

1. 1. Why not? When Jason expressed his desire to teach some modern Hebrew, I took him up on the opportunity. I had no reason not to try, and Jason (unprompted) bought me the first book to work through.

The “How”s

Now that you can see the reasons why I started learning lets talk about how I did it.

1. 1. First of all, I have to thank Jason. The best resource for learning any language is having an actual person to be able to clarify. You can use all the books you want, but the contextual and social queues are important. Jason has happily not just clarified my questions, he has (on several occasions) prepared extra resources for me to supplement my learning. He is also a great conversation partner, so I can practice speaking in Hebrew. 
   2. Lots of reading. I worked through both volumes of Hebrew from Scratch or עברית מן־ההתחלה and Rudi Yutovich’s Stories in Easy Hebrew. Currently, I am using the ReadLang website and working on reading through a Hebrew translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (60 pages, so far). While I love to practice speaking Hebrew, langauge input has to be the foundation of your learning.
   3. YouTube channels for practicing listening comprehension. Admittedly, listening is the skill I am the worst at  in langauge learning (and probably in life). So having some resources to practice this skill is really necesary for me. I particularily like Piece of Hebrew and Simply Talk Hebrew. They are great channels for listening comprehension while providing subtitles in both languages, and the latter also provides flash cards and full transcripts of the videos, as well. 

The “What”

Other than learning the langauge itself, I am noticing a few other things during this process. 

1. 1. The more contexts that I see a word in the better I am able to remember it. I have learned some vocabularly items for Modern Hebrew that I later realized I had encountered in the Herbew Bible as well, but failed to remmeber them. Now, I have more contexts to associate the word with which helps me remember the word.   
   2. Language chagnes quickly. Some of the books, even though they were published within the last 25 years, teach words (particularily slang) that have fallen out of use.
   3. Modern Hebrew was far easier to learn because I had a foundation in Biblical Hebrew. The languages aren’t the same, but they also aren’t that different. When Modern Hebrew was revived, it was based on the forms of Hebrew found throughout history, but especially Biblical Hebrew. It is only natural to be able to clearly see those resemblances in the language. 

Conclusion

These are just some thoughts and reflections I have had about this process, and I thought they might interest some others who are on the journey or might want to start it.