Biblical Hebrew Forum

["David Baker" <DBAKER AT ashland.edu>]

There are seevral places where Bible texts are read in Hebrew. This one has 
torah and haftorah readings chanted, with a link to instructions on how to 
chant (http://bible.ort.org/intro1.asp?lang=1). Straight reading of the text, 
with a very clear pronunciation, can be found here by following the links 
through the drop-down 
menus(http://www.audioscripture.com/asi-web/mainframe/mainframe.htm).
    As regards learning Hebrew script, the process for most folk involves 
hours rather than days, which is so even for English characters of which 
there are 4 more than in Hebrew! Preschoolers learn English characters 
without pain through such things as 'Sesame Street', which also at least at 
one time had a Hebrew equivalent ('Rehov Sumsum'). The reason why many 
publishers produce transliteration rather than original characters for many 
languages is most probably economic rather than being driven by any 
well-reasoned philosophy: it is more difficult, and therefore more expensive, 
to set and proofread foreign fonts.
    My 2 shekels worth.  David Baker

David W. Baker, PhD
Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew
Ashland Theological Seminary
910 Center St.,
Ashland, OH 44805 USA
(419)28905177 (o);  (419)289-5969 (fax)
dbaker AT ashland.edu
www.ashland.edu/~dbaker/home.html

>>> c stirling bartholomew <cc.constantine AT worldnet.att.net> 01/20/03 01:51PM 
>>> >>>
Peter,

My comments about learning the script being much easier than learning than
transliteration simply reflect my personal experience. It didn't take me
more than a few weeks to learn the script and after 15 years of dabbling in
Hebrew (I am only a dabbler) I am now just getting to the point where I can
read transliteration.

You are correct, reading Hebrew silently isn't the best way to learn. But
Hebrew isn't spoken in my neighborhood. My Macintosh speaks Hebrew with a
terrible digital accent. I have used a tape of Genesis made at Multnomah
Bible College back in the stone age and I have used the state department
language course package on Modern Hebrew. But aside from that I never hear
the language. This is not good. I totally agree. If someone can point me to
some web page with MP3 files of biblical Hebrew reading I would appreciate
it. Can't afford to buy R.Buth's package.

Like I said before, transliteration has a useful place where comparison of
different languages is being done. It is useful in reference books for
linguists who do not know the script. Linguists who work in a dozen
languages have a good excuse for not knowing the script.

Thanks for your comments,

greetings, clay


--  
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062


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