Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Polycarp66 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 1/26/2003 12:23:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
spyrcon AT otenet.gr writes:

> Finally, as I mentioned in my previous email,  for English speaking people,
> there used to be  a wonderful introducing Biblical Hebrew Grammar book and 
> a
> second one for advanced Hebrew learning people of MENAHEM MANSOOR - BAKER
> PUBLISHING HOUSE - USA. A great variety of exercises, reviews, 
> vocabularies,
> a great grammatical and syntactical analysis of the first chapters of
> GENESIS. I have found both of the books very interesting years ago although
> I am not an English speaking person. I do not know if they are out of 
> stock,
> neither.
> 

This would appear to still be available

    Biblical Hebrew Step by Step cassette tape 1    
    by Mansoor, Menahem
CASSETTE; ISBN: 0-8010-6074-5; ($12.99 - list price) $9.74 (new) 

    Biblical Hebrew Step by Step, v. 1, 2d ed.  
    by Mansoor, Menahem
PAPERBACK; ISBN: 0-8010-6041-9; ($24.99 - list price) $18.74 (new) 

    Biblical Hebrew Step by Step, v. 2, 3d ed.: Readings from the Book of 
Genesis 
    by Mansoor, Menahem
PAPERBACK; ISBN: 0-8010-6151-2; ($23.99 - list price) $17.99 (new) 

      Key to Biblical Hebrew Step by Step, v.1  
    by Mansoor, Menahem
PAPERBACK; ISBN: 0-8010-6100-8; ($10.99 - list price) $8.24 (new) 

Their website is <A 
HREF="http://www.bakerbookretail.com/default.asp";>http://www.bakerbookretail.com/default.asp</A>

gfsomsel
>From dukerk AT appstate.edu  Sun Jan 26 14:54:55 2003
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Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 14:53:39 -0500
From: "Rodney K. Duke" <dukerk AT appstate.edu>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
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Subject: [b-hebrew] Re: Grammar Texts Question
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>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Rob Matlack" <united_by_truth AT myrealbox.com>
>To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
>Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 12:25 PM
>Subject: [b-hebrew] Grammar Texts Question
>
>
>Could someone compare and comment on Allen Ross' "Introducing Biblical
>  
>
>Hebrew" and an inductive grammar by Bryan Rocine which, I have been told, 
>uses the
>  
>
>approach of discourse analysis. I think it may be published by Smyth and 
>Helwys, but I
>  
>
>do not have a title. I am somewhat familiar with Ross, but not Rocine. Which 
>would be
>  
>
>best for a high level high school or college course? Why?
>
>Thanks for any help or comments.
>
>Rob Matlack      united_by_truth AT myrealbox.com
>Minneapolis, KS
>
Dear Rob,

Both could be used for high level high school or college in terms of the 
degree of difficulty.  The main differences are in their approaches to 
teaching Hebrew.

I have not used the new Ross textbook, but I did use a prototype that he 
had produced and I did preview some off prints of the new text before it 
was released.  When I used Ross' prototype, it was my favorite Hebrew 
introductory text: well laid out, clearly explained, good amount of 
exercises, etc.  Since I got tired of waiting for the "real" version of 
Ross' forthcoming textbook, I switched to Page Kelley.  Both use a 
deductive approach.  Later I entered into dialogue with Bryan Rocine and 
started using his prototype.  I am now "spoiled" by Rocine's grammar and 
decided not to go to Ross when his came out.  (I actually think the 
Ross' prototype had a better teaching format.)

I have a couple of  main reasons for sticking with Rocine:  1) His 
approach is not purely  inductive, but is much more inductive than Ross 
and Kelley and gets students into reading the Hebrew text from the 
beginning, not just translating stilted exercises.   This generates a 
sense of excitement and accomplishment.  2) He gets the students right 
into the verb forms that occur frequently (wayyiqtols), unlike most 
deductive approaches that start with qatals.  3) I think that the 
discourse approach, which looks at verb patterns in types of discourse, 
gives the students a better feel for the language, than a deductive 
description of how a "perfect" may be translated X number of ways and an 
"imperfect" Y numbers of ways.  

Drawbacks to Rocine: 1) Although his book can be used independently by a 
highly self-motivated student, it works better with an instructor to 
provide guidance.  2)  A lot of material is spread out inductively in 
Rocine and is somewhat difficult for the student to retrieve and review, 
so that it is helpful to have a deductive reference aids on the side. 
 3) Rocine's approach is to provide the "sense" of the Hebrew and not 
smooth translations into English.  I actually think that is a strength, 
but some students get a little frustrated and find it helpful to be 
prompted to reflect on how to render the sense in to smooth English 
idiom.  They learn about the problems of translating and the need for 
commentary.  4) If your students are going to be conversant with other 
Hebrew tools and studies, they will still need to understand something 
about the various debates about the Hebrew verbal system -- of course 
they usually do not get this in other introductory Hebrew textbooks either.

Rodney

-- 
Dr. Rodney K. Duke
Dept. of Phil. & Rel., Appalachian State Univ., Boone, NC 28608  
(O) 828-262-3091, (FAX) 828-262-6619, dukerk AT appstate.edu