Is Hebrew a hard language to learn?
Unlike a lot of countries in the Middle East finding someone that speaks English in Israel is not hard at all
However if you really want to immerse yourself in Israeli/Jewish culture learning Hebrew is going to make your time there a whole lot better.
A lot of people get very excited about learning a new language as it certainly opens up new experiences and opportunities and makes travelling a whole lot more interesting and easier.
But when it comes down to it learning any language can become difficult after awhile as there is a lot more to it than meets the eye and of course some hard work involved.
10 things that I found about why Hebrew is hard to learn
1) Hebrew is written in a different script than English
Hebrew is written in a different script than English so in order for you to pronounce any word it needs to be transliterated first. Transliterated means the words are written using the English alphabet but have the Hebrew pronunciation.
Example – Todah means “thank you” in Hebrew. This is transliterated so English speakers can understand how to say “thank you” in Hebrew but it is not how it is written in Hebrew – Todah in Hebrew
2) The words are in different order than English
The words are not in the same order as in English so you need to flip words around for them to form a correct Hebrew sentence.
Example – in English we say “I am going to buy a black car” however in Hebrew you would say “I am going to buy a car black”
The word black is an adjective and it comes after the word car.
Making this switch when you are new to the language can be difficult making Hebrew Hard to Learn
3) There is masculine and feminine in Hebrew
There is masculine and feminine in Hebrew words. This is like French but in English we don’t have this.
Example – the word for ‘Season’ in Hebrew is feminine. Its a pretty random word and how would you know? “Ona” is season and when you say Seasons in the plural you say Onot which is the feminine plural of the word.
Example – the word for Teacher in English is the same whether it is for a man or a woman but in Hebrew if the teacher is a man the Hebrew is ‘Moreh’ and if the teacher is a woman the Hebrew is ‘Morah’
This can be confusing for beginners!!! which can make Hebrew Hard to Learn
4) There are sounds that we don’t have in English
There are letters in Hebrew that have sounds that we don’t have in English. The letter “Ch” is an example. If you listen to native Hebrew speakers this letter sounds as if it originates from the back of the throat, however when an English speaker pronounces this letter sounds much different as we simply are not used to saying it and most Israelis will smile when you attempt to and know immediately that English is your first language.
5) Verbs have a root
All verbs have a ‘root’ which changes depending on whether you are talking about the past/present or future. It also changes depending on whether you are masculine or feminine.
Example the verb “olech” is go and this forms the base of all the “go” verbs. English however can be more complicated as the root of “go” changes in the past for example – we say “went”
6) Hebrew in books is vastly different than hand written Hebrew
Written Hebrew in a book looks different than hand written Hebrew. The written Hebrew in a book has a vowel as a dot under the letters whereas the hand written Hebrew doesn’t. So if you learn to read from a book you will almost need to learn again when you read someones hand writing as it looks completely different! See below
7) Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew are different
Like English Hebrew has evolved and Israelis speak Modern Hebrew. This is different than the Hebrew in the bible. So if you are converting to Judaism you will learn how to read biblical Hebrew but spoken Modern Hebrew is quite different.
8) Hebrew is not widely spoken
Unless you are exposed to Hebrew regularly it will be hard to learn spoken Hebrew. This is the same when learning any language you are best off to spend as much time as possible around Hebrew speakers. Finding Hebrew speakers out of Israel can be hard but I did find them on Facebook groups of course. There are also Jewish Communities around the world. Its not like finding someone who speaks Mandarin or Spanish to practice on.
9) Hebrew grammar is simpler than English
This is of course my opinion! Whereas English has grammar structures such has ” I have been working on/ or ” By Sunday I will have had” Hebrew doesn’t have this.
In English its called Present Perfect/Past Perfect/Past perfect progressive
Hebrew has past/present and future tenses. – Simple
10) You need a good teacher to learn Hebrew
Hebrew can be Hard to Learn if you don’t have the right teachers, materials and motivation
I highly recommend learning Hebrew
It would have been much quicker, easier and cheaper. I ended up spending hundreds on books, tapes and tutors.
exactly how to speak the Hebrew that is spoken in Israel so you will be understood!
Check out his amazing course below!
LEARN HEBREW NOW!
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