Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

  Yes, Randall. But let us return to BH, for an opposite
 example.

  H.N. Bialik was a recognized master of
 biblical Hebrew. In fact, a case can be made that this 
nineteenth-twentieth century author out-wrote some of
 the original biblical authors-editors in their own
 language. In fact, I make such an argument when it
 comes to "Aluf Baclut w'Aluf Shum" for example.
 (I wonder if you ever assign this comic masterpiece to
 some of your students?). 

   Now Bialik grew up in a Yiddish speaking world,
 and picked up Hebrew in some elementary learning situation
 like a Cheder.

  Interesting subject.

  Uri Hurwitz


 >I am talking about a person who knows not one word of English, who then
studies English for the sole purpose of reading Shakespeare. He has no
intention of speaking to a speaker of modern English. In such a scenario, he
would be better off not learning modern English.>

Sounds nice in theory, but if that person couldn't crank a sentence thru their
head after twenty years of schooling, then I would say that modern english
would have opened up a whole new world to them, including the Shakespearen
world. Modern English doesn't give them the definitive definitions but 
provides
the catalyst to make the shakespearean language a real language, fluent
in their head.
Randall