Learning Hebrew

[Alex H.]

Confession time: I've lost all my Hebrew from seminary, even the alphabet (I've stayed in distant contact with Greek). I'd like to pick it up again and was wondering if anyone can make any recommendations for self-guided learning - either in Accordance of (gasp) paper.

 

Note that I did some, what I guess you'd call 2nd year Hebrew exegetical units during my undergrad, so I'm hoping there's the equivalent of muscle-memory buried somewhere in my brain. But that was 15 years ago!

[Michael J. Bolesta]

Alex

 

Look at this thread: http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7517

 

Pratico-Vanpelt is said to be near release in Accordance.

[Alex H.]

Thank you. (I did try a forum search but couldn't find anything.)

[Mark Nigro]

Alex, I don't have Van Pelt/Pratico yet although I too am interested in adding it to my library!

 

But I thought I'd mention the value of referencing more than one source while studying Hebrew (or Greek). Even if you pick up Van Pelt/Pratico, the Scholar's package in Accordance is a great bundle if you don't already have it. Besides the obvious OL texts, the lexicons, grammars and other tools are great for both Hebrew and Greek. Ross's Hebrew grammar has been a little gem for me to consult, in conjunction with the Holmstedt/Cook Student Grammar I am using in paper (which would be great to have in Accordance).

 

Also available from Accordance on this site is the "Biblical Hebrew" CD by Yodea. It has a native Hebrew speaker giving pronunciation. One caveat is that it is a Power PC application and Rosetta no longer is supported in Lion, so you'd need a work around for that if you're using OSX.7. It's excellent though and worth the effort to make it work.

 

I've found it really helpful to consult multiple sources on foundational rules that aren't immediately clear to me in a single grammar. One source may be particularly easy to understand in one area, while another exceeds in a different one.

 

Just a thought...

Edited May 25, 2012 by Mark Nigro

[RobM]

The sources that are in Accordance (or soon will be) are definitely excellent. But something I've found, particularly if you're hoping for some 'muscle memory' to kick in, is you should use the same sources you used going through it the first time. When I first learned Hebrew we used Seow. As an OT major through seminary I have not found another grammar that I feel more comfortable with in looking up answers to basic grammar questions. I would compare it to using your favorite print Bible. You know where to find things on the page before you even notice the verse refences.

 

So I would recommend you try the grammar you first went through and see if 'muscle memory' kicks in.

[Alex H.]

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback.

[Nick Laurence]

Alex, I got into a similar position to yours (although perhaps not quite to the same extent) and have been re-learning. It seems to me that these days there are approaches to Hebrew grammars which can be split broadly into two camps - the "thorough" and the "pragmatic".

 

I'd place Ross in the "thorough" category. Advantages of it are that you can get it already on Accordance, it's modern and up-to-date and there is a great website which gives lectures based on Ross - www.animatedhebrew.com - fantastic for reinforcing the learning. On the downside, I know of no key to the exercises (perhaps someone else does), so until you get to the stage of translating biblical passages you're on your own; also the "thorough" category of Hebrew grammar can be dispiriting in terms of the length of time to get anywhere, as they fill in the last detail on every element of Hebrew before moving on.

 

What I would call "pragmatic" grammars don't go into this detail, and get you into the text much more quickly, but you run the risk of coming across something your grammar hasn't taught you. I did an internet course with Michael Heiser (who works for a competitor to Accordance) who uses Mark Futato's grammar. I don't think this grammar is available on Accordance, but it is on the other 2 main competitors. If you use it (and I think it's good) make sure you don't get the first printed edition, as it had rather a lot of mistakes which were corrected by the second run. It gives "bite-sized" chapters covering the main points (40 in all) and is very manageable. It has a key to all its exercises, so would be good for personal learning. It's also good for getting into the text at an early stage. But when you read the Hebrew bible and you come across a masculine singular imperative with paragogic-ה, for example (not overly common - 306 in the MT), don't go expecting to find an explanation of this form in Futato - you're on your own. It cries out for a follow-up book filling in the gaps, but you can fill them in yourself by hunting around a bit (combined with judicious use of Accordance).

 

I'm pleased to hear Van Pelt/Pratico is coming out on Accordance. I'm not familiar with the introductory grammar, although I understand it has little homilies from time to time, which won't be to everyone's taste unless they belong, perhaps, to the same religious tradition as the authors. I also understand it to be a "thorough" grammar. I do have their reader, which is a 2nd/3rd level book taking you through a wide variety of Hebrew texts with explanations of the difficult features and parsings of all the verbs complete with explanation of how to correctly deduce the most complex parsings. It's also homily-less. So the advantage of Van Pelt/Pratico is that you get a fuller set that will take you to higher levels. I don't know if the reader will be available on Accordance, though.

 

I'm not sure that I totally agree with Rob's comment that you should use the same grammar that you used the first time round. I guess it depends on the grammar. I used Lambdin first time round - there wasn't a lot of choice back in those days; generally you either used Lambdin or Weingreen. These days there is much more choice, and a lot of modern grammars are much more helpful for the learning process. I still have my copy of Lambdin, and on the odd occasion I have checked something out in it; but I now find it very difficult to reference anything in it, and its much criticised habit of transliterating everything in the first half of the book really grates with me now.

 

Whatever you choose, all the best with your endeavours.

 

Edit - corrected a couple of typos.

Edited May 27, 2012 by nicklaurence

[Steve King]

I have found a key to the exercises in Ross. I do not know Hebrew and have just begun to go through Ross so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the key.

 

biblicallanguages.wordpress.com/language-courses-i-teach/hebrew-grammar-i-first-year-course/answer-keys-to-ross-introducing-biblical-hebrew-ibh/

 

Now I know Van Pelt/Practico is coming to Accordance I am tempted to go for that.

 

On the 'using the same introductory grammar' question: for Greek I did a distance learning course with one grammar then after letting a fair bit of my knowledge lapse I went through Mounce myself about ten years later. I personally found Mounce much better, for me it seemed more logical and easier to remember the language.

[R. Mansfield]

Great news--Mark D. Futato's Beginning Biblical Hebrew is now available for Accordance!