Update: I have just started a free interactive conversational Hebrew course. It is very simple and requires no previous knowledge in Hebrew. Follow this fictional story of an American travelling all across Israel. Discover Israel and learn Hebrew. This story is very interactive, you can suggest places and activities for the characters to go/do. The story starts in Ramat Gan (Israeli city), and it goes next where you want it to go. Click here to start with the first lesson.
Learning Hebrew wouldn’t open too many closed doors for you, but those that actually open, open very wide! There are many opportunities laying behind learning the holy language, even secular opportunities!
Thanks to Pimsleur, I didn’t have to look out for many resources for learning Hebrew, I was able to speak Hebrew within two months of intensive learning. But however, Pimsleur Hebrew is a pricey product (though it is worth every penny). But let’s talk for a while about Hebrew-teaching freebies.
You can learn Hebrew free of charge using many methods, like LiveMocha, Flashcards, free e-books, word lists etc, but one method really caught my attention a few years back and I just realized it is still providing.
Foundation Stone:
FoundationStone, though I do not know much about its creators, is a brilliant software that teaches you Hebrew just like flashcards, but in an electronic way. Pretty much like BYKI.
How to learn Hebrew Free with FoundationStone? The Steps:
- You download the software from the official website.
- Choose a word list that you want to learn and load it into the software (there are tons of free word lists provided with the software itself)
- Start going through the words, they are usually gathered in themes, so words won’t be very alien from one another.
- After you start feeling that you have learned the vocabulary provided somehow, start testing yourself.
- If you get the word right, click the tick/right button, this means the word will not occur very often.
- If you can’t remember the meaning of a word, just click the cross/wrong button, this will make the word occur more often. Till you start flagging it with ticks a few times.
As you see, the program doesn’t quite teach you how to SPEAK Hebrew, but it really provides you with a wide range of very useful phrases and words that you would be interested in learning, either ancient or modern Hebrew.
Vocabulary is one important thing in a language, actually is the lifeblood of your language, but learning how to speak the Hebrew language should be prior to building your brain vocabulary list. There are too many sources out there that claim to teach you language in a week or two weeks etc, in exchange of sucking money out of your wallet.
Me, personally, I trust only a handful methods when it comes to Hebrew learning, specially when it asks me to pay some of my hard-earned cash (phew!).
So, try only the trusted (or at least trust-worthy) Hebrew courses and stick to them. My favorite as you probably noticed is Pimsleur, I feel like it could work for everybody, though I haven’t met too many Hebrew learners. If you have something to say about Pimsleur (positive or negative), just drop me a message or a comment. Though I highly doubt that someone would have anything against Pimsleur, except complaining about its price (which could be a real problem for some people).
Good luck and happy learning!
Shalom.my name is Sepideh from Iran and I want learning Hebrew sooo much.
Hello there Sepideh. I am glad you find Hebrew interesting. I wish you and all the peaceful and sweet people of Iran all the best.
So,
My wife and I are learning Hebrew using Pimsler.
I have two problems. One the man often speaks to fast for me to hear.
The more important problem, however, is the lack of a vocabulary list. Sometimes the pronunciation is hard to follow and having a spelled out word really would help. I also think a vocabulary list make sit easy to generate flash cards.