Biblical Hebrew:
I’m an Orthodox Jew, and I became religious as an adult. As a result, I haven’t studied Biblical Hebrew in a methodical way. I say the daily prayers in Hebrew and know a lot of random words through exposure. I’d like to get organized and start intentionally building my vocabulary. Eventually, I’d also like to work on grammar. I’m only interested in reading skills for Biblical Hebrew.
Materials:
- The Guide to Lashon Hakodesh: Mastering the Basics
- The Guide to Lashon Hakodesh: Mastering Hebrew Verbs
- Random assorted children’s workbooks from my MIL (she’s a Hebrew teacher)
- The weekly parsha (Torah portion)
Modern Hebrew:
My husband is originally from Israel. I’ve always wanted to learn Modern Hebrew but I’ve struggled to make time for it. Now that we have a young baby, I’m feeling a burst of motivation. It’s really important to us that he speak Hebrew fluently. My husband (mostly) speaks to him in Hebrew, and I want to understand everything! My fantasy is that some day I would be at a level where we could exclusively speak Hebrew in the home. Right now my level is very low. I have a vocab boost from my exposure to Biblical Hebrew in religious contexts and my knowledge of Arabic (see below).
Materials:
- Fluent Forever pronunciation trainer (Anki)
- Fluent Forever Hebrew word list
- Pimsleur levels 1-3
- Hebrewpod101
Arabic:
I studied MSA in college and spent a year living in Morocco during grad school. By the time I left, I felt very comfortable getting around in Moroccan Darija. That was in 2016, however, and I have barely used Arabic since. I would really like to get into the habit of doing a little something in Arabic on a regular basis so that I can retain whatever is left. In the future, when I have more time, I’d love to bring my level back up to what it once was. Since I’ll likely be spending significant time in Israel in the next couple of years, Levantine Arabic would be useful to learn.
Materials:
- Arabic textbooks from college (Al-Kitaab 2 and 3.. can’t find the first volume)
- Various vocabulary books (Media Arabic, Security Arabic, etc.)