Introduction![]() |
Hebrew, or 'Ivrit, is a member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is the language of the Hebrew Bible, and the Old Testament of the Christians. Its history is unique. It is thought that Hebrew gradually became extinct as a spoken language around Hebrew was revived as a spoken language during the late 19th and early 20th century as Modern Hebrew, replacing Arabic, Yiddish, Russian, and a variety of other languages spoken by Jews who emigrated to Israel. Hebrew is spoken by about 5 million people in Israel. In addition, it is spoken by several hundred thousand speakers in the Palestinian territories and expatriot Jewish communities around the world (Ethnologue). Hebrew began to die out as a spoken language after the Jews were defeated by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Spoken Hebrew was replaced by Aramaic, although it was preserved as the language of religion, learning, and literature. Hebrew became a spoken language again after the establishment of Jewish settlements, mostly from Russia. It became an official language of British Palestine in 1922. Today, it is the dominant official language of the State of Israel, along with Arabic and English, and remains the liturgical language of Jews worldwide. Hebrew is used for official, public and private purposes throughout Israel, with the exception of the Arab sector, where Arabic is used. Government schools teach in either Hebrew or Arabic, however Hebrew is a compulsory subject through the tenth grade in all schools, even the Arabic ones. Hebrew is the medium of instruction at the university level as well. It is the language of most newspapers, books, magazines, radio, and television. |
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Eliezer Ben-Yehuda The revival of Hebrew is intimately associated with the name of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda,who was born in Russia and who came to Palestine, then a province of the Ottoman empire, in 1881 with revival plans for the Hebrew language. Ben-Yehuda wanted the Jews in Palestine to speak Hebrew exclusively. He settled in Jerusalem, planning to use it as the base for spreading his revivalist ideas throughout Palestine and the Diaspora. His plan was to make Hebrew the language of the home and of education, and to expand the Hebrew vocabulary to meet the demands of the society. He understood that if children could learn Hebrew from a young age in school, they would become proficient in it when they grew up. In this way, Hebrew would become a living language. |
Dialects![]() |
There are two main dialects of Hebrew. The Europeanized dialect is spoken by Ashkenazi Jews of European descent. It is strongly influenced by Yiddish. The Oriental dialect is spoken by Sephardi Jews whose ancestors came to Israel from Middle Eastern countries. The name "Sephardic" comes from the Hebrew word Sefarad, 'Spain.' These Jews lived in Spain and Portugal from the Middle Ages until their persecution and mass expulsion from those countries in the last decades of the 15th century when they fled to the Middle East. Oriental Hebrew is strongly influenced by Arabic. Today, the Europeanized dialect enjoys greater social prestige and tends to be preferred by most young Israelis. Although the Academy of the Hebrew Language attempts to establish standards, native speakers of Hebrew who now constituting a majority, have now created a variety, Spoken Israeli Hebrew, that has yet to be systematically described and standardized. |
Structure
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Hebrew is unique in that it was resurrected from being a written language to becoming one that is spoken today as a first language by millions of people. Vowels Consonants
Modern Hebrew has the following consonants:
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Grammar
Noun phrase
Numerals
Verb phrase
Word order |
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Most of the basic vocabulary of Modern Hebrew comes from the Bible and the Talmud. Since Hebrew was not spoken for many centuries, it lacked many words needed to deal with the modern world, so many new words had to be added to the vocabulary. Some words were created from existing roots, the meaning of existing words was expanded to deal with new concepts, and a large number of words were borrowed from other languages, such as Arabic, German, Yiddish, Russian, and other European languages. Below are some basic phrases and words in Hebrew (in transcription)
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Writing
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When the Hebrews started using the Aramaic script for everyday use, reserving the Old Hebrew script for religious use only, the Aramaic script quickly became known as the Jewish script. Because of the shape of the letters, it was called the Square Script. The earliest preserved texts in the square script date back to the 5th century BC. Hebrew letters are not connected to each other, even in handwriting. They are written from right to left.
The Hebrew alphabet is a consonant-based syllabary. It consists of 22 consonants, five of which have a special word-final form. Vowels are generally not indicated. However, in some texts such as those for children, foreigners, prayer books, and Bibles, vowels can be represented by diacritics. Such texts are called vowelled or vocalized. Below are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (from Wikipedia).
Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Hebrew in a traditional format (without vowels) and in one with the vowels indicated by diacritics.
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Some Hebrew Words in English
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Resources![]() |
Click here to find out where Hebrew taught in the United States. Online resources for the study of Hebrew
Online Hebrew Tutorial Foundation Stone - Online Hebrew Lessons Wikipedia article on Hebrew Wikipedia article on Hebrew alphabet Alef-Bet on the Net Hebrew Resources Ethnologue report on Hebrew UCLA Language Profile - Hebrew Omniglot Hebrew Script Basic Biblical Hebrew Grammar Yamada Language Center Guide for Hebrew
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| How difficult is it to learn Hebrew? Hebrew is a Category II language in terms of difficulty for speakers of English. |