Sunday, January 6, 2008

Hebrew

So, I'm taking Biblical Hebrew this J-term. Now, you can read a lot about the language by following that link, but I'm going to tell you everything you need to know right now. (That is, unless you actually need to know Hebrew).

Hebrew is a language without vowels, so to speak, so people had to invent them in order for it to be read by people like me. That is, idiots. So, these "points" were added, but it's still confusing.So, in order to read pointed Hebrew, one has to memorize the little dots. For example, the first vowel on the list, a patach, looks like an underscore _ under the bet, but it is really a pointed vowel. Full-blown Hebrew has no _'s in it and one needs to be smart enough to know which is which. So make matters worse, look at the last vowel, a kamatz, this is a T under the bet. It makes the same sound, or similar enough that I'm not supposed to learn the difference. Oi! I guess I'll just learn Hebrew and be done with it.

By the way, it is a fun language to learn. I do recommend it.

2 comments:

~moe~ said...

I LOVE HEBREW!!!!

Are you taking this with Diane or Rolf or Mark? I LOVE HEBREW!!!

The little points are annoying, especially on photocopied pages when they get smudged and you don't know which point it is.

I LOVE HEBREW!!! Have fun!

~moe~ said...

Hey sweetie,
So who is teaching you this J-Term? I'm curious because my pastor here was toying with me teaching Hebrew as an adult ed course...just the simple basics, but I need a few resources from one of the fabulous people there. :)