Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

The class I had used the Weinstein book, which I thought was sort of deadly.
So much emphasis on grammar, much of which was more idealized than actual.
But where I really learned Hebrew was from Davidson’s analytical lexicon.
Oh, I hear you teachers out there cringing and crying foul, but I made a
point of trying to recognizing the root at first, looking at the specific
form if I was stumped, which was often at first. But by the time it fell
apart, I had learned the forms well enough that I seldom was stumped. I had
used it to help me read the Tanakh through a couple of times or more.

The way I found that I best learn languages is to learn the basic grammar
pretty much at first, then just go out and speak, speak, speak. For Biblical
Hebrew, change that to read, read, read. One does not need to learn the
grammar exhaustively, especially at first, the finer details will come as
the person gets more familiar with the language. But a dictionary
is indispensable.

If I were to teach Hebrew, I may write my own materials. I would definitely
include an analytical lexicon—yeah, I know that most students will never
graduate from using it—but I’d rather that they are doing at least some
reading, than getting stumped and quitting in frustration. Most people I
have met who have studied Hebrew (required at seminary), have quit in
frustration. I think I would have the students reading in Tanakh by the end
of the first semester, if not earlier. By second semester, Tanakh would be
the main textbook—I want the students to be comfortable with and confident
that they can read Tanakh in Hebrew—after all, the whole purpose of learning
Hebrew is to study Tanakh—with supplemental materials to help with
understanding and to teach some of the finer points of grammar.

Just my 2¢.

Karl W. Randolph.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 2:34 PM, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>wrote:

> Hi all!
>
> In light of recent posts, I thought I'd put a few questions out there:
>
> (1) Which book did you use when you began to learn Hebrew?
>
> (2) If you are (or have been) an instructor, which book(s) do you use in
> the classroom? Any pro's and con's?
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
> www.moore.edu.au