Beginning Biblical Hebrew
I want to study Biblical Hebrew. I’ve had two semesters with Miles van Pelt’s book but do not hardly understand the connections. I know the figures of speech and the alphabet and that’s pretty much it. What grammar would you all recommend?
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I would recommend staying with what you are already familiar with and simply going back through it. Add the video lectures for reinforcement.
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Have you studied it in a class setting, with assignments and feedback from a professor or TA? It can be really hard learning a language on your own without that kind of expectation and interaction.
I took a year of Hebrew in seminary and we used C. L. Seow's A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew. I liked it, but unfortunately it is not available for Logos. It is available from Amazon, and a digital (scanned) version is also available to borrow for free from the Internet Archive.
I think any grammar is going to give you the basics; it's what you do with it, and what your learning style is, and whether you have a teacher to explain things that are unclear -- those are going to make all the difference.
As with any language, if you don't use it, you lose it. So get right into working on translating the biblical text with whatever Hebrew you've got as you start learning it, and never stop. Do a little bit of translating every day. I did not keep up with it after I finished my one year of it, and I've forgotten most of what I learned, even though I got an A+ in both semesters.
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Personally learning about Quiescent letters in A Simplified Grammar of Biblical Hebrew
Keep Smiling [:)]
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I’ve found this course by Mark Futato easier to follow than the one by Miles V.
https://www.logos.com/product/56419/mobile-ed-hb101-introduction-to-biblical-hebrewI’m adjusting it by watching modern Hebrew pronunciation videos on YouTube so I can read my Hebrew OT. I have the audio Hebrew OT also (from Accordance) to help me practice. I’m studying just enough to get in trouble.
DAL
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Rosie Perera said:
Have you studied it in a class setting, with assignments and feedback from a professor or TA?
Yes. I took the classes in Winter of 2021 and Spring of 2022 but I did not like Van Pelt's manner of methodology and his extrinsic organization but we used the 2nd edition. We did 4 chapters a week in the winter 5 week session and 2 chapters a week in the spring 13 week session. He did his own workbook so we did not follow the workbook adjusted to the text. This book is quite dull and pedantic. Although I can see how it may be helpful as a textbook for colleges, I find it challenging to approach as fast paced class session. It presents you with all of the knowledge you may possibly need to know about a subject at once rather than advancing from basic to advanced. I am looking for a logical procession of material from basic then intermediate and to advanced. We did not do any translations in the winter class but translated the book of Ruth and Psalm 23 in the Spring class. My grade on translations were 75 and 81. I really want to sink deeper but do not know what the best procession is.
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Shalom. I don’t know if this will be seen but you cannot use modern Hebrew pronounciation for Biblical Hebrew. I live in Israel and I teach both. They are not the same.
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studying Hebrew on your own is difficult. You need to have assigments and also feedback on your pronounciation.
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