Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 12:10 PM, James Christian
<jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> with regard to the differences and similarities and their effect on the
> learner I'm not sure you are justified in making such a broad generalisation
> Randall.

The similarities and differences between modern and biblical Hebrew are
not a direct issue for the question of language learning and internalization.
We're not talking about the same things.

> There are different types of learners with different types of
> pyschological qualities.

Yes, this is a different question and valid. One could rephrase
how does one best learn language X?

> There are a number of psychological qualities which
> are conducive to learning a language and a number which present a barrier.
> One of the fundamental qualities in the way the learner chooses to put focus
> on similarities or differences and how the learner typically treats them.
> Those who focus on similarities tend to learn quicker. Those who focus
> negatively on the differences do not learn well. And so in this case it all
> depends on the individual learner type and introspection based on our own
> learner type is not always a good indicator for giving advice. That's why I
> asked about learning experiences.

I'm not sure that either one of these options would lead to internalization
since it focuses on analytical skills of 'same/different' between two 
dialects.
That is a valid study but looking at those will not lead to the
internalization of
either dialect.
A person must use a language to learn/acquire a language.

A different, more difficult question is how one would go about internalizing
1/3 of a language? That is the real problem with BH and one reason why
the field should require its specialist to be fluent in a related dialect. The
latter is achievable.

Randall


>> programs of Hebrew literature should require that students are fluent in
>> Hebrew and capable of academic discussion in the language. That is a
>> minority opinion in the 'academy' but is not among those who speak
>> Hebrew. If implemented, it would 'raise the bar' in the field and future
>> generations would not likely consider going back.
>>
>>
>> >This is the kind of problem that exists with the
>> relationship between modern Greek and koine Greek. I don't know about
>> modern Hebrew because I don't speak it yet but I assume that a similar
>> problem will exist.>
>>
>>
>> It is good to get advice on these questions from people who control the
>> parameters, in this case, who speak modern Greek and at least read
>> ancient, and who speak modern Hebrew and read ancient. It is somewhat
>> like students who ask about learning a language. They may get advice from
>> everyone, often conflicting. I recommend that they especially value the
>> language learning advice from those who have successfully learned the
>> language. Even in disagreement there will be threads that link the advice
>> from successful learners together.
>> (PS: I agree with James' recommendation of immersion
>> techniques, but in principle, if he hadn't recommended them, then you
>> might need to ask advice from those who have successfully jumped the
>> hurdle.)
>>
>> Also, those who control both Greek and Hebrew may question whether
>> Greek and Hebrew are a helpful comparison. Modern Greek morphology
>> and ancient Gk morphology are different. modern Hebrew morphology
>> maps onto ancient/biblical morphology 100%. (Allowing, of course,
>> for high register modern "matsiti" 'I found' to map onto mishnaic Hebrew,
>> while standard modern "matsati" does fit biblical "matsati". If exceptions
>> like
>> this are disallowed, then you can use 99+% as the comparison figure.)
>>
>> braxot
>> Randall
>>
>> --
>> Randall Buth, PhD
>> www.biblicalulpan.org
>> randallbuth AT gmail.com
>> Biblical Language Center
>> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
>> _______________________________________________
>> b-hebrew mailing list
>> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>
>



-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life