Hebrew Hebrew Heres My Story And Why I Want To Learn Hebrew

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Phrasebase Archive

Chillee Saturday 10th of June 2006 02:58:43 AM
Hebrew - OKAY...

I just got back from summer camp, by our Christian Church, and I learned there (call me stupid) that Hebrew has no vowles.

God\'s name in Hebrew is Y H W H wich is Pronounced YAWA, so what I am wondering is, how do you get vowl-like sounds into a language with no vowles?

I have grew interest in Hebrew for a few reasons,
1. A LONG time ago my parents bought me a little kids language CD-ROM, with like german, spanish, etc. this also included hebrew.

My first language I chose on there was hebrew, because I was interested in the different letters.

2. BiblicalStuff, I have grew more interested in the Boble, and want to learn hebrew to better understand the Bible.

3. It j ust sounds cool, well it does..

4. I hear it\'s really cool in Isreal. My friend went there once and came back saying \"wow\" so it\'d be cool if I could go one day.

and finally,

5. It\'s a different Language. Hey? what are these forums for? I have been interested in languages since before i could remember. A few weeks ago I found some of my journals all the way back from pre-school, and had written in them that I wanted to learn Spanish. (I could write since befoure I could remember too.)

So if anybody could explain the question above, it would be most helpful.

Also, what do the letters transate to in English? like Aleph is ..?

thanks in advace,

Mathieu

roeeh Sunday 11th of June 2006 12:07:51 AM
- Hi Chillee!

As a native Hebrew speaker I\'m happy that my language is considered \'cool\'. I never thought about it as such... :)
If you want to start learning the language there are some very good links and lessons in this forum to help you start.

About your question: Hebrew does have vowels, basicly we have 5 of them. The thing is that Hebrew uses a diferent kind of writing which is very diffrent from the Latin script used for most European languages. In Hebrew the letters you write indicates only the consonants (with some exeptions) and the vowels are indicated with \"punctuation marks\". Thses are some small dots and lines which are writen under, above or inside the letters.
Usually Hebrew speakers don\'t write the punctuation marks but only the letters because they know the words and how they should be pronounced (and because it\'s REALLY annoyiong to write them).
So theoretically, the senraince \"I heard Hebrew has no vowels\" will be written in Hebrew something like \"I hrd Hbrw hs no vwls\" but will be pronounced exactly the same as in English.
The punctuation marks are writen only if there is a hard word that the writer isn\'t sure if the readers will be able to pronounce correctly (like forign names, extra-long words, professional words etc.)
This is why many people think Hebrew has no vowel when actually we are just too lazy to write them... :)

As for the name of God, It\'s actually pronounced like \"Jehova\" with the J pronounced like Y and the stress on the last syllable, but Jews are not allowed to pronounce this name or to write it, so I won\'t write the exact thing... forgive me.

Anyway, welcome and don\'t be shy to ask questions.
good luck with your Hebrew.

roee

chillee Sunday 11th of June 2006 10:14:37 AM
- hey thanks :)

I found a website, kinda hard to understand, but i found one.

Also, I just got from my friends Bar Mitzvah and he said he would be glad to help me on what he knows in hebrew.

Phrasebase Archive
	Chillee	Saturday 10th of June 2006 02:58:43 AM
	Hebrew - OKAY... I just got back from summer camp, by our Christian Church, and I learned there (call me stupid) that Hebrew has no vowles. God\'s name in Hebrew is Y H W H wich is Pronounced YAWA, so what I am wondering is, how do you get vowl-like sounds into a language with no vowles? I have grew interest in Hebrew for a few reasons, 1. A LONG time ago my parents bought me a little kids language CD-ROM, with like german, spanish, etc. this also included hebrew. My first language I chose on there was hebrew, because I was interested in the different letters. 2. BiblicalStuff, I have grew more interested in the Boble, and want to learn hebrew to better understand the Bible. 3. It j ust sounds cool, well it does.. 4. I hear it\'s really cool in Isreal. My friend went there once and came back saying \"wow\" so it\'d be cool if I could go one day. and finally, 5. It\'s a different Language. Hey? what are these forums for? I have been interested in languages since before i could remember. A few weeks ago I found some of my journals all the way back from pre-school, and had written in them that I wanted to learn Spanish. (I could write since befoure I could remember too.) So if anybody could explain the question above, it would be most helpful. Also, what do the letters transate to in English? like Aleph is ..? thanks in advace, Mathieu
	roeeh	Sunday 11th of June 2006 12:07:51 AM
	- Hi Chillee! As a native Hebrew speaker I\'m happy that my language is considered \'cool\'. I never thought about it as such... :) If you want to start learning the language there are some very good links and lessons in this forum to help you start. About your question: Hebrew does have vowels, basicly we have 5 of them. The thing is that Hebrew uses a diferent kind of writing which is very diffrent from the Latin script used for most European languages. In Hebrew the letters you write indicates only the consonants (with some exeptions) and the vowels are indicated with \"punctuation marks\". Thses are some small dots and lines which are writen under, above or inside the letters. Usually Hebrew speakers don\'t write the punctuation marks but only the letters because they know the words and how they should be pronounced (and because it\'s REALLY annoyiong to write them). So theoretically, the senraince \"I heard Hebrew has no vowels\" will be written in Hebrew something like \"I hrd Hbrw hs no vwls\" but will be pronounced exactly the same as in English. The punctuation marks are writen only if there is a hard word that the writer isn\'t sure if the readers will be able to pronounce correctly (like forign names, extra-long words, professional words etc.) This is why many people think Hebrew has no vowel when actually we are just too lazy to write them... :) As for the name of God, It\'s actually pronounced like \"Jehova\" with the J pronounced like Y and the stress on the last syllable, but Jews are not allowed to pronounce this name or to write it, so I won\'t write the exact thing... forgive me. Anyway, welcome and don\'t be shy to ask questions. good luck with your Hebrew. roee
	chillee	Sunday 11th of June 2006 10:14:37 AM
	- hey thanks :) I found a website, kinda hard to understand, but i found one. Also, I just got from my friends Bar Mitzvah and he said he would be glad to help me on what he knows in hebrew.