To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: RE: reading hebrew
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 16:58:10 -0400
I'd like to reassure
people that it is possible to go
from a read-only
language to actually speaking.
I just got back from
12 days in Israel and was quite pleased
to realize that I
could get by with my 2500 year old vocabulary
and grammar (with
some English additions). Once tho I told
the waiter that I
wanted tay Ham taHat ha Soda (that I had
originally ordered).
He brought me both the tea and the soda. I
learned only later
that taHat does not mean "instead of" in
Modern
Hebrew.
I had a lot of fun
tho. People answered me in ENglish, but
I continued with my
BH.
Liz
-----Original Message----- From:
Bearpecs AT aol.com [mailto:Bearpecs AT aol.com] Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2001
11:23 AM To: Biblical Hebrew Subject: Re: reading
hebrew
In a message dated 6/10/01 10:00:23 AM
Eastern Daylight Time, kfleming AT wctel.net writes:
How do most of you all whose original language is not Hebrew
read the Hebrew?
I think this is an extremely important
question, and worth our discussing. I came to Biblical Hebrew after
beginning to learn Modern Hebrew, so I was already speaking and hearing
the language. That, however, also has its downside: First,
it's easy to mistakenly apply MH concepts to BH, such as thinking as if
the prefixed verb form indicates future tense (MH) versus imperfective
aspect (BH). Second, MH conflates sounds, so the distinction between
kaph and qof may be lost (unless your MH teacher is from an
Arabic-speaking Sephardic/Oriental community). (I had the advantage
of some prior linguistics study, so it was easier to understand the MH/BH
differences.)
I'm sure that mentally translating from the second
language into English is an inevitable step in language learning. (I
remember the first time someone spoke to me in Hebrew and I *didn't* need
to translate before answering.) But I imagine that it must be more
difficult to get beyond that if you are only reading and not speaking and
hearing the language. Do others agree? Is anyone familiar with
language-acquisition studies that would answer the question?
I do
have one small suggestion. Move as quickly as possible from using
vocabulary lists and textbook glossaries to real translations using BDB
and other lexicons. Also make use of multiple English translations,
including modern and classical, Jewish and Christian. (I think it's
a significant lacuna that many Christians studying bible don't use the New
JPS translation.) The danger, of course, is that "wayommer" does NOT
always mean "and ___ said". It could be "[then] he said", or "but he
will say", etc. Getting in the habit of translating it as "and ___
said" therefore leads to errors.
I admit I've never really
mastered a language that is only read, so I'm particularly interested in
hearing from others about that experience.
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