Shalom everyone.  This is when I have to say goodbye.  It has been a great seven weeks and I thank all of the people who took the time to read this blog.  I lived through my TED talk, and I did it with only one hiccup.  That is a success.

Positive Stuff

I believe that my TED talk was pretty good.  I tried to speak as loud and as enthusiastically as I could.  I rehearsed my speech about ten times just last night.  I did have to read of my notes a few times, but I did not rely on them.  I think that it was polished and it flowed well.  I think my theme was obvious and explain well.  Not only did I show a video, I also spoke Hebrew live in front of everyone.  This proves that I actually learned something during this project.  The project seemed to end within the time constraints.  I was especially proud that I used specific examples when talking about ignorance and the different types.

Negative Stuff

My main complaint was the technical difficulty that I experienced while trying to play the video I had.  One of the plugs was not connected correctly.  I do not know computers at all, so I could not trouble shoot that well.  Also, I do not think I made anyone laugh.  I mean, that was not the purpose, but I could have made something kind of joke.  I did not speak of failures, which I probably should of.   

I would give myself a 27/30.  I was not the best presentation that I saw, but it was not the worst.  I was able not only to present the information, but I was able to answer all of the questions that were asked.  My main problem was the stupid plug that was not plugged in.  So, I say to all of my faithful friends for the last time.  SHALOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shalom everybody!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the last week of learning Hebrew for this project. I have come so far from knowing almost nothing to knowing quite a bit. Now, I am nowhere near fluent. My main problem is that I am never confident when learning languages.  In French class, I know how to say many things.  I just do not have the bravery to actually talk to people in French.  This is the same thing with Hebrew.  But I will give it a try.

 

Pictures (Just in case you missed it):

1. Ball- "Cadoor"
2. Pen/Pencil- "Et"
3. Bread- "Lechem"
4. Matzah- "Matzah"
5. Milk- "Halav"

P.S.  It is really hard to copy and paste Hebrew letters into a blog, because Hebrew is read from right to left.  These are just the phonetic pronunciations of the Hebrew.

So, I completed lesson two on Rosetta Stone.  I learned some more basic conversational skills.  I learned how to say “hello”, “what are you doing”, and “What is that”.

 

 Here are the greetings:

1. Hello!- "Shalom"
2. What are you doing?- "Ma at osah"
3. What is that?- "Ma zeh"

I am still studying from my book.  I have also created flashcards, which I study with my friend Maxx.  I have had trouble, because I kept mixing up the final nun with the vav. 

 


          Final nun                                                                                                                  Vav

So I am going to say goodbye to all. I wish all of you the best, so I hope that you will return the favor.  I will be doing my TED talk at Thursday at 10:10.  Wish me luck.  SHALOM!

 

Video Blog.  Enjoy my lovely voice.

Shalom everyone!!!!   This is week four already!  Can you believe it?  I have only three weeks left.  I am really glad to be learning Hebrew.  I was at Academy, Hebrew school for teenagers, and there was something written on the board.  I was quickly able to say in my head.  The word was pecach, the Hebrew word for Passover.  Pretty exciting stuff.

So this week, I did some research on Israel on the CIA Fact book.  Shout out to Noah G. for reminding me to research this.  Israel is the 100^th smallest country, but is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.  It is also not only a Jewish state, but an Arab state. Israel was created on May 14^th, 1948.  The day after, it was attacked by five nations surrounding it.  People from Israel are Israeli.  The parliament is called Knesset, and they have the second elected woman official in modern times.  Israel has religious freedom, universal suffrage over 18, and equal rights for women.  Israel also developed the cellphone, voicemail, and microsoft.  Sounds like fun, right.

Notice any similarity?

 

 

I also learned about Israeli culture on culturecrossing.net.  There were some very interesting notes that are very important.  Here they are.

1.      Israeli people are extremely blunt.  They do not hold back their feelings, and they tell you exactly how they feel.  They get straight to the point and never beat around the bush.  Do not take this as offence. 

2.      Israelis talk very loud and very fast.

3.      They stand about a foot away when talking.  Never back up from a person who you believe is too close.  This is extremely rude.

4.      When meeting or greeting someone, it is customary to shake hands with a person.  When shaking hands with a Muslim, always use your right hand.  Also, if they are very religious people, man may not shake hands with women.  That is a religious thing, not a law.

5.      Israelis are very hospitable.  They will invite you to dinner, and you must always accept.  They will give you way too much food, but that’s ok.  The food there is pretty good.  Finally, after the meal, compliment the chef.  This will avoid offending the family.

6.      The last note is on the taxi drivers.  If they see you are foreign, they will try to scam you into paying more then you need to.  Always ask directly “efshahr moneh?”  This is asking about how much the meter reads.

I am really beginning to learn the language.  I learned about family and friends.  I have also learned the verbs to stand, to sit, to run, to eat, to drink, and to sleep.  I am sorry I cannot write them in Hebrew, but it is near impossible to do so. Oh and I cannot believe I did not mention this before.  Hebrew is read from right to left, as opposed to English, which is read from left to right.  I hope this has been informative blog for you.  Ian, signing off.  Shalom.

 

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html

http://www.culturecrossing.net/basics_business_student_details.php?Id=10&CID=101

Shalom everyone!!!! This is my third blog post already. Can you believe it?  Well, just for the people jumping on the band wagon, this blog is about my journey learning Hebrew.  Well, now you are up to speed.  If you are still confused, then by all means, read the earlier posts.  I suggest it actually.  I have read some people’s blogs and was very confused.  If you experience a similar problem, do the hard thing and read the whole blog.    

So this week, I finished the lessons on the Hebrew letters on Ancient Hebrew.com.  It was very exciting.  I had already had an idea of what these letters were, due to about three years in Hebrew school.  Unfortunately, while I was going to Hebrew school, I was only there every other week.  Now, I have learned all letters.  During this week, I had an epiphany.  Why not write down the letters you just learned, and maybe some vocabulary? That way, you can go back to and study these.  Thus, the “Ian Wilenzik’s Book of Hebrew Practice” was born.

Isn't it glorious?

 

Using this book, I wrote down letters and vowels, and some vocab I would need.  I have some notes pertaining to the Hebrew language.  Also, my research on Israel and Israeli culture started this week.  I found some great sources, which I will share the fifth week.  Did you know that Israel had a female prime minister already?

This week I simply practiced.  I am getting close to mastering them.  Next week gets more interesting.  On Rosetta Stone, the next lesson is on greetings and conversation.  I will soon be able to complete a conversation with a Hebrew speaking person.

Cool fact for the day: In Hebrew, verbs are either masculine or feminine, but they are never neutral.  WHAT?!?!?!

So, with that note, I sign off.  Shalom!!!!!!

Shalom, people of the internet. So concludes my first week of intensive practice.  I have to say, I never thought it could be so exciting.  I am actually learning a language.  Can you believe that?  It amazes me that if I keep at it, I could be bilingual.  Hebrew has definitely been a challenge, but it has been entertaining.  It is fun to pick up an apple and think תפוח (that is pronounced tah-pooh-ach).  That is written sans-vowels.  In Hebrew, the vowels are not part of the alphabet, therefore are not needed.  It just makes things a whole lot easier.  In total, there are 22 Hebrew letters, and about 11 vowels.  Some vowels are pronounced, and some are not real vowels, such as “:”.  This is used to combine two sounds together.

This is how Rosetta Stone is structured when you are learning a language.

 

I ran into a few problems this week.  First, my timing was a bit off.  My Rosetta Stone software is installed on my dad’s computer.  I was supposed to beat my mom’s house, but that did not work out that way.  I was at my dad’s house this week, so I started with Rosetta Stone.  And boy did it work.  I completed the first lesson this week.  It was all the linguistic basics of the Hebrew.  I learned numbers, colors, basic verbs and their conjugation, and some vocab.  You may be thinking “That sounds like boring classes that I take in school.”  This is not true.  What happens is that they show you a picture, and give you a word.  They use no English, so they require you to figure out what the word means.  It is really effective for learning and remembering words and phrases.

These are the Hebrew letters.   Refer to this chart when I talk about the letters.

In school, since I cannot access Rosetta Stone on my school computer, I learned some letters.  I learned about 16 of them.  I used AncientHebrew.org, which is very helpful.  It has notes on the Hebrew language and how to pronounce and use the letters.  For example, the Hebrew language has no verb “to be”.  So, “I am happy” becomes “I happy”.  Very odd, right.  Also, some letters are attached as prefixes and suffixes to mean “and” and “for”.  The letter vav is attached to the front of words, which makes it mean “and”.  Also, some letters change if they are at the end of a word.  These letters include tsade, fey, nun, mem, and khaf. 

To help lock some vocab and letters permanently in my mind, I created a booklet to keep track of my letters and other assorted words.  I have also created some flash cards.  All these help me reach my end goal of learning Hebrew.  Speaking of goals, I am just where I wanted to be.  I wanted to be done with the first lesson by this Sunday.  I ended up finishing it on Thursday.  So, this week, I will study Israeli culture and finish learning the letters.  Ian Wilenzik, signing off. 

These are the links that I have followed and commented on

Week 1:
http://asladventures.blogspot.com/  Jenna F.   (There Jenna.  Are you happy now?)
http://oneill-luxem.blogspot.com/    O'Neil
http://susanyspanish.blogspot.com/  Susan

Week 2:
http://20watercolorproject.blogspot.com/ Sun
http://crochetnotcra-che-t.blogspot.com/ Becca H.
http://equestri-anne.blogspot.com Anne R.


Week 3:
http://brookesknitting.blogspot.com/ Brooke
http://jennamakesfood.blogspot.com/ Jenna R.
http://hawaiianminiguitar.blogspot.com/ Lukas

Week 4 (the infamous vlog week):
http://allraveledup.blogspot.com/ Jess S.
http://gnisaacw.blogspot.com/ Isaac
http://wissahickoncompliments.blogspot.com/ Chloe

Week 5:
http://20watercolorproject.blogspot.com/ Sun
http://teamcaine.blogspot.com/  Kylie
http://crochetnotcra-che-t.blogspot.com Becca H.