[b-hebrew] Recommended Dictionary
Mary Thompson
maryethomp2005 at mac.com
Thu Dec 11 09:01:06 EST 2008
Thanks Karl, for saying these things. I tend to jump into the deep
end enough on my own. ;-)
I am new at Hebrew - and haven't even attempted reading the Hebrew
version alone from cover to cover (although I have read it in English
several times). I don't mind a learning curve (actually it's my
favorite part of any endeavor), and now that I've found you guys to
answer my questions, I know it will be less of a struggle. And I
have a lot of greenhorn questions.
One thing I've learned over the years of being a writer and an
autodidact and learning about various languages is that no dictionary
is perfect, even 'the best' English dictionaries have shortcomings
and can disagree with each other. I no longer expect perfection or
absolute answers. No language really works that way, anyway. Living
languages are dynamic, and dead languages were dynamic, and it's not
possible to capture all the nuances of either.
For a good overview of linguistics, check out _The Power of Babel: A
Natural History of Language_ by John McWhorter.
My thanks, also, to everyone who helped answer my questions. I'll
probably get the BDB soon. If anyone can recommend a beginner
grammar, I'll add it to my list. And I'll get my greenhorn questions
together, so be ready.
Peace,
Mary.
_____________
Mary Thompson
maryethomp2005 at mac.com
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn
how to do it."
-- Pablo Picasso
On Dec 10, 2008, at 1:37 PM, K Randolph wrote:
With self-study, one does not have the companionship of teachers and
fellow
students to catch all the times one does not understand which source
each
form has, and when we have made mistakes. This is why I recommend an
analytical lexicon. The analytical lexicon will also help her learn the
grammar.
She should not expect to be a scholar after the first time reading
Tanakh
through, nor even after the second or third time. But after a while,
after
several cover to cover readings of Tanakh, she should get there.
Karl W. Randolph.
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