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.
Ian,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're really having a fun time with your language adventure. Admittedly, when we were in hebrew school, I didn't have much fun. I also didn't really think that they were teaching us much about the language. However, I've heard that Rosetta Stone actually works pretty, well, and I'd like to hear about how well it worked for you in the end. I mean, we can't actually trust the companies themselves to advertise honestly, now can we? I wish you the best of luck in keeping your enthusiasm up, as well as in learning more of the language! Have fun, good sir! :)
Ian! I remember seeing you intently staring at this computer, and scribbling Hebrew letters. And a few seconds after you'd go, "Ah! Now I understand!" I could sense that you were, indeed, learning something and is having fun with it. :) I think it's a long journey you have set your feet into, but I think that in the end, they will all pay off! I mean, like you already have said, it's a little boring for a Jewish boy to go to Israel, and not be able to communicate with the people there. Imagine how impressed people would be if you could just speak Hebrew, as if you have lived there your whole life! Furthermore, I think it's incredible interesting that Hebrew doesn't have "to be". Would you say, "I Sun", instead of "I am Sun?" Good work so far, Ian! I'm excited to see how much you'll improve in the next few weeks!
ReplyDeleteIt's really obvious that you're getting somewhere with your hebrew, which is a good thing. Hebrew itself seems like an incredibly difficult language to learn, with not having the vowels written out and using a completely different alphabet. The fact you can still learn stuff despite these difficulties really shows how well you're doing. I can also see that you have reason for learning hebrew. I'm curious, though, considering that vowels are optional, when would you use vowels and when would you not?
ReplyDeleteOverall, keep up the good work.